The human race is in the grip of its worst crisis since the Second World War. The US more particularly has plunged into the worst crisis since the Great Depression. The countries that had embraced the globalization process are now suffering from the fear of the unknown.

With due apologies to Charles Dickens, consequent to the global meltdown we can safely lament that we have landed from the best of times to the worst of times. Was it the age of wisdom or was it the age of foolishness? If it was the period of light and hope to mankind, are we today in despair worrying about the future of our global village which seems to be in darkness? Are we to wonder that we had everything going for us but nothing before us? Were we led to believe that we were living in heaven while we were on the cul - de - sac to hell? Is it so dismal and pessimistic? Let us set out to examine the issues that confront us in the aftermath of the global meltdown.

If globalization was to be defined as the tendency of investment funds and businesses to move across national and international markets, then India and the world are in for tough times. Due to this globalization, there will be a marked decline in international trade and India will definitely feel the impact on its export revenues leading to a fall in its foreign exchange reserves. The bailout package of our government for the export sector will only marginally help. Ultimately exports have to at least get back to the levels that were prevalent in March 2008 and this is unlikely to happen in the short future. The aimed stimulus of the government will not help increase external revenues but will enable exporters to tide over their liquidity crunch at the cost of smaller returns.

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