Policies related to India’s sugar sector are facing adjudication in a case brought to the World Trade Organization. It is alleged that India provides market price support on account of fair and remunerative price and other measures to the sugar sector in excess of maximum applicable permissible limit under the Agreement on Agriculture. Without these policies, the sugar sector, employing over 50 million farmers, would face a tremendous challenge. Irrespective of the legal outcome and given the minuscule policy space available under the amber box, this paper finds the provisions of the blue box feasible and worthwhile to explore for the distressed sugar sector. Further, it highlights the asymmetries and imbalances in the AoA that adversely impact the policy space of developing members, including India.
