Trade in Financial Services: India's Opportunities and Constraints
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A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Chanda, Rupa Working Paper Trade in financial services: India's opportunities and constraints Working Paper, No. 152 Provided in Cooperation with: Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) Suggested Citation: Chanda, Rupa (2005) : Trade in financial services: India's opportunities and constraints, Working Paper, No. 152, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/176174 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. 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Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. www.econstor.eu WORKING PAPER NO. 152 TRADE IN FINANCIAL SERVICES: INDIA’S OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS Rupa Chanda JANUARY 2005 INDIAN COUNCIL FOR RESEARCH ON INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS Core-6A, 4th Floor, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi-110 003 Website : www.icrier.org TRADE IN FINANCIAL SERVICES: INDIA’S OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS Rupa Chanda JANUARY 2005 The views expressed in the ICRIER Working Paper Series are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). Contents FOREWORD...................................................................................................................................................................................I 1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................................1 2. AN OVERVIEW OF FINANCIAL SERVICES IN THE WORLD ECONOMY...............................................3 3. FINANCIAL SERVICES IN THE INDIAN ECONOMY: CHARACTERISTICS AND TRENDS...........16 4. CONSTRAINTS TO INDIA’S TRADE IN FINANCIAL SERVICES................................................................57 5. GATS AND FINANCIAL SERVICES ........................................................................................................................59 6. INDIA’S NEGOTIATING STRATEGY IN FINANCIAL SERVICES ..............................................................75 7. DOMESTIC REFORMS AND MEASURES ..............................................................................................................78 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................................................................82 APPENDIX TABLES .................................................................................................................................................................88 Foreword The financial service sector has been gaining increasing importance in today’s rapidly globalising economy. This importance has been recognized in theoretical literature in terms of its contribution towards long-term growth and efficiency given its intermediate role in channeling resources to all sectors of the economy. This sector has seen massive internationalization due to widespread liberalization around the world which includes domestic financial deregulation, capital account liberalization and opening up to foreign competition. This globalization of financial services has however led countries to be more concerned about the potential risks of opening of this sector and is forcing them to be more cautious by strengthening their prudential regulatory and supervisory standards and capability in line with international best practices and standards. This study explores the trends and structure of the financial services sector, both globally and in India, with particular focus on India’s prospects for liberalising financial services under GATS. It also discusses in detail the nature of India’s financial sector, its strength and weaknesses, and its trade and investment prospects, with specific reference to ongoing reforms in various regulatory and institutional spheres. The paper also makes us aware about the history of GATS negotiation on financial services, the resulting commitments with specific reference to the commitments made by India in this sector, and the latest developments in financial services under the request-offer process of the Doha Round Negotiations in services. The author discusses India’s negotiating strategy in Doha Round and the scope for leveraging India’s offer in financial services to obtain more liberal commitments in other areas and modes that are of export interest to India. Given the importance of this sector for over all economic growth of the country, the author has suggested various domestic reforms and measures in both policy and institutional edifice which manages our financial sector to make it strong and dynamic. The study suggests suitable negotiating strategies for leveraging our substantial autonomous liberalization in this sector. We are very grateful to the Sir Ratan Tata Trust for supporting our research on WTO issues. Arvind Virmani Director and Chief Executive ICRIER January 2005 i 1. Introduction** The financial services sector accounts for a significant share of economic activity in most countries. The sector is recognized for its contribution towards long-term growth and efficiency given its intermediate role in channeling resources to all sectors of the economy. Improved provision of financial services enables greater efficiency in other sectors by expanding the range and enhancing the quality of such services, by lowering costs of funds, and by encouraging savings and more efficient use of these savings. The financial services sector has undergone important structural changes in recent years with growing numbers of worldwide cross border mergers and acquisitions and increased competition among different types of financial institutions. These structural trends are evident from rising cross border trade and foreign investment flows in financial services, with the developed countries being the main exporters of such services. As a result, the financial services sector has become an important part of the overall globalization of the service sector. The internationalization of financial services has mainly been driven by the liberalization of this sector around the world, which includes domestic financial deregulation, capital account liberalization, and opening up to foreign competition. In addition, technological advances have also made possible a wider range of services and competitors in this sector. Liberalization of financial services across countries has in turn been prompted by the growing recognition of the need to have an efficient and globally competitive financial sector with international practices and standards, and a high quality and wide range of financial services, that enables efficient intermediation of financial resources. Studies indicate that openness to foreign competition puts pressure on domestic financial firms to improve their productivity and services and also gives them access to new technologies1. However, internationalization of financial services has also raised concerns about the potential risks of opening up this sector. The 1997 Asian crisis and other emerging market crises in recent years * Sincere thanks are due to Mr. BK Zutshi for his guidance in writing this paper, to Ms. Niranjana Srinivasan, my research assistant, for compiling data and background material, and to Mr. T C Venkat Subramanian, Chairman & Managing Director, Export-Import Bank of India for helping me with internationl data sources. 1 See, Claessens and Glaessner (1998) and Claessens, Demirguc-Kutz and Huizinga (1998) for a discussion on the impact of liberalization on the financial sector. 1 have raised concerns about the appropriate speed and extent of financial sector liberalization and the impact of such liberalization on governments’ ability to undertake prudential supervision, conduct monetary policy, and manage volatile capital flows. Such financial crises have also aroused concern about the requisite legal and regulatory framework and economic conditions to ensure that financial sector liberalization does not jeopardize macroeconomic stability. In view of such considerations and also the fact that the financial sector has historically been under state monopoly in many countries, international trade and investment in financial services remain subject to numerous regulatory constraints. These include prudential regulations, such as capital adequacy ratios, provisioning