. After Independence, the Indian government had put barriers on foreign trade and foreign investment. . Initially, Indian industries were just coming up after Independence, so competition from imports wouldn’t have allowed these industries to come up. . In 1999, the government decided that the time had come for Indian producers to compete with the producers around the globe. . It was felt that competition would improve the performance of domestic producers since they would improve their quality. . Thus, barriers on foreign trade and foreign investment were removed to a large extent. . Now, goods could be imported and exported easily and foreign companies could also set up factories and offices here.