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Sanctions won't hurt India, feels analyst

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

A number of sanctions are likely to be clamped on India by the United States in view of New Delhi's three underground nuclear tests on Monday.

According to Sreedhar of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, US State Department spokesman James Rubin has already announced that pending confirmation, Washington would implement sanctions on India for its underground nuclear tests. In the US's perspective, New Delhi has defied the Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty norms.

According to Sreedhar, Washington is likely to prevail on the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as well to curtail aid to India.

Talking of the impact the sanctions would have on the country, he said a number of studies have shown that India's dependence on international financial institutions for multilateral aid is insignificant and, therefore, it has no real leverage. He underscored that with US $ 20 billion of foreign exchange reserves, India is in a comfortable position to withstand any pressure on this count.

Similarly, India's self-reliance regarding technology is well-known and, therefore, New Delhi is not likely to be affected by technological sanctions, Sreedhar pointed out.

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