India's trade policy review at the World Trade Organization on July 21 and 23, 2026 exposed a practical tension: New Delhi defended measures supporting farmers and manufacturers, while trading partners sought greater certainty about how those measures operate. The Commerce Ministry recorded 1,094 written questions from 44 members and interventions by 68 members.
Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal argued that agricultural tariffs protect small and low-income farmers, while industrial tariffs support manufacturing and resilient supply chains. He also defended Quality Control Orders as serving public-policy objectives and pointed to India's use of the lesser duty rule in anti-dumping investigations.
Reporting from Geneva, Third World Network's D. Ravi Kanth described concerns identified by the review's chair about abrupt tariff changes, export restrictions, licensing and investment approvals. On product standards, members sought clearer implementation timetables, explanations for factory-inspection delays and greater recognition of foreign laboratories and certification bodies.
The same report described questions about minimum support prices, input subsidies and public grain stocks, together with restrictions on wheat, rice, sugar and onion exports. Digital-trade questions covered implementation of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, cross-border transfers and localisation requirements. Members also requested details of production-linked incentives, including eligibility and local-content conditions.
The lesser duty rule addresses a different question: the size of an anti-dumping remedy. In its January 2023 final findings on certain imported vinyl tiles, India's Directorate General of Trade Remedies explained that it recommends the lower of the dumping margin and the injury margin.
That investigation produced a specific recommendation: five-year duties of USD 2.05 per square metre for covered China-origin tiles and USD 1.44 for Taiwan-origin tiles. The regulator found that dumped imports had hindered establishment of the domestic industry, with underused capacity and unsold inventories. These were the regulator's 2023 findings and proposed rates, illustrating the remedy mechanism India defended in Geneva.
