The Import Licensing System

Anwar: In India, there were two pillars of trade policy. One was the import licensing system and the other was the tariffs system. Anwar: If you wanted to import a few goods which acted as an intermediary good into your final product, you had to find a domestic alternative or start manufacturing those intermediate goods yourself. He says Tata's initially spent so much money on importing that the cost of a truck was equivalent to the cost of the pen that you imported to design that truck.