India's government structure, political stability, and trade policy positions

India is a parliamentary republic, the largest democracy in the world with over a billion people and counting.

The head of state is a ceremonial position occupied by the President. The current President is Ram Nath Kovind, and vice president is M. Venkaiah Naidu, positions held since July-August of 2017 (CIA World Factbook, 2018). The president is elected by an electoral college, which is comprised of appointed members of both houses of parliament as well as members of state legislatures (CIA World Factbook, 2018).The President serves for a five year term, and there are no term limits on the position.
Far more important a role than president is held by the head of government, the Prime Minister. Members of parliament of the majority party elect the Prime Minister. The current Prime Minister of India is Narendra Modi, who was elected in 2014. Modi is leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The next legislative election will be held in 2022 (CIA World Factbook).

India has an enthusiastic, growing, burgeoning economy. Focusing on the positives, India’s economy is highly diversified and well poised for the information technology and service sectors as well as traditional manufacturing and agriculture. Since the 1980s, India has liberalized its economy steadily and continues to improve. Deregulation of most major industries and privatization of formerly state-owned enterprises has helped India join the free market economy with ease (CIA World Factbook, 2018). Although India once had tight controls on foreign trade and exorbitant tariffs, that is not the case anymore. Since the 1990s, India’s economy has grown rapidly—with GDP growth at about 7% per year—because of relaxed controls on foreign trade (CIA World Factbook, 2018; World Bank, 2018). Currently, the European Union is actually India’s number one trading partner, accounting for 13.5% of India\\'s overall trade with the world in 2015-16 (European Commission, 2018). China and the United States are a close second.

India’s India Central Board of Excise and Customs controls tariffs, which do fluctuate in response to market conditions. For example, in November of 2017, India imposed a whopping 50% import tariff on Canadian peas (Nickel & Jadhav, 2017). While it is understandable India might want to encourage more domestic pea production, “the short-term move to lift Indian market prices could impact India’s long-term food security needs,” (Nickel & Jadhav, 2017). India has also come a long way towards lifting import licensing requirements for “most consumer goods,” but some products continue to be heavily restricted—the biggest being motor vehicles (India Country Commercial Guide, n.d.). Therefore, India has liberalized and continues to liberalize trade but tariffs and other barriers to trade are proving to be major impediments.

India’s government under Modi has been remarkably stable, in large part due to the country’s increased openness with the rest of the world economically, and its commitment to democratic institutions. Modi has also made uprooting corruption a central goal of his administration (Goswami, 2017). India suffers from political strife in several areas, the most notorious of which is Jammu/Kashmir. Borders with Pakistan and China can be troubled, and India maintains a military presence in Bhutan in order to solidify its regional clout.

Unfortunately, corruption remains rampant in India. A recent survey ranked India as the most corrupt country in Asia (Goswami, 2017). Corruption indexes also place India in the bottom half of the world’s nations. Bribery is a primary concern, with the majority of citizens (7 out of 10) reporting bribing someone in almost every area of public service including public schools, police, and civil services (Goswami, 2017).

India has a strong military and also has nuclear weapons, and the country continues to invest in and improve its military capacity. The military is believed to be essential for ensuring India’s stability as it grows, to sustain economic development (Tyagi, 2006). India’s military also serves a politically strategic function in India’s regional leverage vis-a-vis Pakitstan and China.

Corruption in government is by far the biggest issue affecting business. However, a relatively restrictive trade regime and regulatory environment persist in spite of the progress being made over the past few decades (European Commission, 2018). Modi’s reforms have helped to increase foreign direct investment, which continues to flow to India.

Although India does have a liberal media and generally supports free speech, in many other areas related to human rights and freedoms, the country has a lot of room to grow.

The ruling BJP party has been accused of complicity in many of India’s most high profile human rights cases, including failure to investigate attacks on minority communities and even inciting violence against minority communities (Human Rights Watch, 2018). In fact, Human Rights Watch (2018) even goes so far as to accuse the BJP of interfering with the work of NGOs that have been “critical of government actions or policies,” (p. 1).

India continues to practice child labor throughout the country. Child abuse is also an issue in India, with some cases taking place in government-run hospitals (Human Rights Watch, 2018).

Gender issues are complicated in India, and misogyny may be among the most egregious of India’s human rights offences. On the bright side, the increased willingness to report rape and introducing rape into the public discourse has encouraged more robust responses to rampant sexual assault. However, “girls and women continue to face barriers to reporting such crimes, including humiliation at police stations and hospitals; lack of protection” and even subjugation to “two-finger” tests performed by healthcare workers and admissible in court as evidence that the victim was “habituated to sex,” (Human Rights Watch, 2018).
On the flip side, the government has been attempting to legislate rights for rape victims and also recently outlawed statutory rape, “regardless of whether she is married or not,” (Human Rights Watch, 2018 p. 1). Also, Indian parliament recently introduced bills to liberalize same-sex marriage rights and to give full rights to transgender people (Human Rights Watch, 2018). Women can in some cases be visible in the public sphere and in managerial positions, but India is far from being able to boast gender parity.

Bribes, Unauthorized Payments
Bribery is entrenched in Indian society, making it difficult to root out even via litigation. In fact, bribery is rampant in the judiciary itself with money being accepted in exchange for desirable outcomes (Goswami, 2017).

In an attempt to compete in the global market, India has been attempting to tighten controls on copyright infringement and intellectual property. Unfortunately, intellectual property is not sacrosanct in India. The laws are in place but they are not being enforced. “Despite positive statements and initiatives upon which the Modi Administration has embarked, the pace of reform has not matched high-level calls to foster innovation and promote creativity,” (India Country Commercial Guide, n.d.). In fact, the government has not made intellectual property a high priority. The lackadaisical attitude towards copyright infringement and intellectual property may deter foreign investors and make it challenging to do business long term in India.

Official labor laws and actual labor practices are two totally different things in India. Officially, India has a minimum wage, laws mandating overtime pay, laws mandating maximum work hours per week, and other means by which to improve worker rights in the country. These new labor rights laws are relatively new and may take some time to come into effect for the majority of the work force. In practice labor standards are low. India has a high poverty rate (above 20%) because of low wages, and millions work in unofficial positions that are not legally covered by labor laws such as domestic service. In fact, 80% of domestic workers are women, revealing the interface between gender, poverty, labor rights, and human rights (Batchelor, 2017).