RAS question
India became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in:
Correct answer: (D) 1995.
India became a founding member of the World Trade Organization on 1 January 1995, making 1995 the correct year.
Explanation
India became a founding member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 1 January 1995. The WTO's page about member countries records India's membership from that date. The WTO replaced the earlier General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) framework, and India had already been a GATT member since 8 July 1948. India's post-independence participation in GATT and the economic reforms of the early 1990s form the pre-WTO context. The sequence is therefore clear: India participated in GATT from 1948 and became a member of the new WTO when it began in 1995. Hence, option D, 1995, is correct.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) 1994 is too early because India became a WTO member on 1 January 1995, not in the preceding year.
- (B) 1991 belongs to the pre-WTO period, when the older GATT framework was still in place; WTO membership began in 1995.
- (C) 2000 is too late because India had been a WTO member since 1 January 1995.
Concept
This question tests the shift from the GATT framework to the WTO within the post-1991 changes in India's external-sector and trade policy. The topic recurs in RAS because WTO, trade policy and institutional timelines are standard Indian Economy facts that can be asked directly in MCQs.