International Trade Law in Healthcare Services: The Indian Scenario.

Abstract

The Indian economy has surged on the back of its exports in services, particularly information technology services. As the nature of trade in services has diversified over the decades, India now trades internationally not only in transport, communication, finance, and business services, but also in services like health and education. While the former set of services have immediate forward and backward linkages to other sectors of the economy, sectors like health and education have a more implicit and long-term impact on the economy. It thus becomes crucial to assess what the prospects of an increasing trade in basic services like healthcare hold. This study is an attempt at describing India’s participation in international trade in healthcare services, testing assumptions based on drivers of this trade, and reflecting upon the policy conundrums that India stands to face as this trade expands. The study uses the Modes of Supply classification given by the General Agreement on Trade in Services to conduct the analyses. It finds that trade in healthcare services has a tendency towards regional polarization. In addition, relative cost advantage in terms of factors of production was also indicated. The study emphasises on the need for a policy framework that keeps pace with the rapidly evolving nature of health services traded internationally.