Speaking to The Financial Express, secretary, Cifti, Vijay Sardana said that high import duty on capital goods prevents Indian manufacturers to go for the latest international technology. When technologically-superior foreign goods enter the market, it is natural that people will go for the imported item, says Sardana. "If the government does not take a decision to lower duty on technology, then Indian manufacturers will definitely lose out."

Food laws prohibiting the use of variousadditives like certain flavours and colours is also going to work against Indian manufacturers, feels Sardana.

"It is ironical that the government is allowing import of products which contain the additives while preventing the domestic industry from using them."

Sardana says that the government does not have any firm ground on the basis of which it can prevent the use of additives. "What database does the government have to disallow the use of ingredients allowed by the international food code Codex."

Indian products appear dull when compared to foreign products which use the additives, says Sardana. "The consumer is definitely going to pick up the attractive foreign product from the shelf and ignore the drab Indian products.

Criticising the inclusion of vegetables in the OGL list, Sardana says that Indian farmers whose productivity is extremely low would not be able to face competition from countries where productivity is 20-30 times higher. "Though custom duty has not yet been reduced, I am afraidthat the countries lobbying for it will get their way in the next exim policy." Sardana says that when import duties on vegetables come down, the Indian farmer would not be able to compete with the high productivity level of producers in Europe or the US and finally there will be no buyers for Indian vegetables. "If the country imports one lakh tonne of vegetables, what will happen to the one lakh tonne of vegetables produced domestically which the imported vegetables would replace? It would lie unsold with the farmers and would rot. Does the government understand the political and economical implication of this?"

Sardana says that just making statements that the government is trying to help farmers increase productivity would not improve things. "No targets have been set for agricultural colleges according to which their performance can be measured. This kind of attitude does not foster growth."

Prices of the imported commodities is going to be very competitive and will cut on the profits of thedomestic manufacturers, says Sardana.