Goa BRICS Summit: Does trade imbalance make India the weakling?

Back in 2001, former chairman of Goldman Sachs asset management Jim O'Neill coined the term Bric for four powerful emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India and China - in their 2001 paper called 'The World Needs Better Economic BRICs'.

O'Neill also predicted that by year 2050, Brazil, Russia, India and China would become bigger than the six most industrialized nations in dollar terms and would completely change the power dynamics of the last 300 years.

O'Neill's prediction could well be a reason for cheers for some Brics countries, but certainly not for India as it has been facing a major trade-imbalance challenge and year by year it has only been widening.

India's situation among five emerging economies is quite unique as it is the only Brics member in which total imports of the country outstrip its total exports.

What is more worrisome for Asia's third largest economy is the fact that it has not posted an annual trade surplus since 1977. The continuity in widening trade deficit for India is threatening the country's growth prospects ahead in future and India can no longer enjoy the economic prosperity if it fails to address it.

So, India's trade-imbalance is a major challenge and that's what Prime Minister Narendra Modi should remember as he hosts the 8the five-nation Brics summit this weekend in Goa.