India, Dec. 7 -- It is fabulous for a newsroom when the finance minister talks about a key priority of the budget on its platform. The only thing which can make it even better is if it's something that's fabulous for the economy as well. Nirmala Sitharaman's Saturday's declaration at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit that customs reforms is going to be a big priority of the next budget exemplified this double windfall. The news point aside, a big-bang customs reform is indeed very good news for the economy for several reasons.

The first is the hope that this will further facilitate the ongoing pivot from what is known as an inverted duty structure where importable inputs are taxed more than exportable outputs. The tariff differential...