The additional 25 per cent tariff imposed by US President Donald Trump on India is set to deliver a major blow to West Bengal's export-driven economy, with the state's labour-intensive leather, engineering and marine sectors expecting losses ahead of the festive season, stakeholders said. The increased levies on Indian products for the country's purchases of Russian oil came into effect on Wednesday, bringing the total amount of tariff imposed on New Delhi to 50 per cent.
For the first time, the event will take place across three locations in Delhi: Bharat Mandapam at Pragati Maidan, Yashobhoomi Convention Centre at Dwarka, and India Expo Mart at Greater Noida.
Closely watched by the world for any escalation, the Iran-Israel conflict is already showing early signs of stress for India Inc - longer deliveries, doubling freight rates, extended working capital cycles, and higher costs. For those yet to feel the heat, there is growing apprehension and nervousness over future developments, observed industry executives.
After the first quarter was washed out, exporters are now keeping their fingers crossed over a turnaround in outbound shipments to at least North America from September onwards. This comes even as other key destinations such as Europe may take longer to revive in FY24. Slowdown in key economies, as well as geopolitical tensions resulted in sluggish demand for Indian goods.
From toys, footwear and furniture to insulated flasks, smart meters, and air coolers - the Central government over the last decade has mandated higher standards for production and imports of such items. Sample this: Till 2014, there were 14 Quality Control Orders (QCOs) covering 106 products. By the latest count, there are 156 QCOs on 672 products.
The rising dependence on discounted crude oil has resulted in India's trade deficit with Russia hitting the second-highest place last year, after China, reveals Department of Commerce data. From April through January 2022-23 (FY23), India's maximum trade deficit was with China, at $71.58 billion. This was followed by Russia, where the deficit expanded sevenfold - from $4.86 billion in April-January of 2021-22 (FY22) to $34.79 billion during the same period in FY23.
Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of India has urged the Centre to extend lower corporate tax benefit to Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) and proprietary firms as it would make funds available with MSMEs and boost private investment cycle. A body of direct tax professionals also sought for reduction of tax burden on individuals and requested the government to raise the income tax exemption limit at Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh per annum in the upcoming budget for 2022-23 fiscal. EEPC India chairman Mahesh Desai claimed around 84 per cent of small businesses are being denied the benefit of lower corporate tax which was aimed at providing industrial units with more investible surplus.
Subdued demand from developed countries and blocs like the US and EU is impacting exports of key sectors including engineering, gems and jewellery and may have implications on India's exports in case the global situation does not improve in coming months. Global inflation, Russia-Ukraine war, simmering China-Taiwan crisis and supply disruptions are hurting economic growth worldwide, leading to poor demand, experts say. The world merchandise trade volume is expected to grow 3 per cent in 2022 against the earlier forecast of 4.7 per cent, mainly due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, according to the World Trade Organization forecast, released in April.
India pays 55% of the value of oil its imports from Iran in euro payments through Turkey's Turkiye Halk Bankasi.
A meeting of the Board of Trade, an advisory body to the Commerce Ministry, is likely to be held on October 11, a ministry official said.
Of the total $32.5 billion engineering exports in 2009-10, EU accounted for about 30 per cent.
Exporters are now looking at new markets.
However, during April-January FY'10, exports declined to $26.12 billion from $34.19 billion in the same period previous fiscal.
The issue has assumed serious proportions now. Suranjan Gupta, senior joint director, Engineering Export Promotion Council, said, many containers were being detained in Europe, to the extent that the steel ministry convened a meeting last week to discuss the matter. Europe accounts for 70 per cent of India's annual engineering exports of $33 billion.
The survey revealed that firms were using a combination of measures like internal cost control and investment in new technology to combat the problem and stay afloat. There was a shift to a more capital intensive and labour saving manufacturing process in the small and medium scale sector. This meant significant downsizing in labour force on account of rupee appreciation.
The exports stood at $4.21 billion in June in 2008. Engineering exporters are not hopeful of recovery in demand in the international market in the coming months.
The engineering exports in the first month of 2009-10 plunged to $2.78 billion from $3.8 billion in the same month a year ago, according to the Engineering Export Promotion Council. However, the decline in April was not as sharp as in March, when the exports contracted by 34 per cent over the same period last year.
National Aluminium Company Ltd has won the Engineering Export Promotion Council's All India Export award in the "star performer" category for 2005-06, the firm said on Friday.
Speaking at the function, Nath asked exporters to provide inputs for a mechanism for refund of local taxes to them. "We are in the process of formulating the scheme and will incorporate valid suggestions from exporters," he said.
Even as the engineering goods sector, which has the largest share in the country's export basket, registered an export growth of 22 per cent (dollar terms) in the April-July period of this year, a recent study has revealed that the volume of exports has gone down in majority of the products manufactured by the sector, leading to job losses.
India's exports grew by 67.39 per cent to $32.21 billion in May driven by healthy growth in sectors such as engineering, pharmaceuticals, petroleum products and chemicals, according government data released on Wednesday. Exports in May last year stood at $19.24 billion and in May 2019 it was at $29.85 billion, the commerce ministry's preliminary data showed. Imports in May rose by 68.54 per cent to $38.53 billion, from $22.86 billion in May 2020. In May 2019, imports stood at $46.68 billion.
Engineering Export Promotion Council has warned the government that growth in engineering exports will turn negative if the average rupee rate to a dollar falls below 40 during the year.
The steep depreciation of rupee will not give an immediate advantage to the country's exporters.
With the Covid-19 pandemic showing signs of ebbing and economic activity picking up, factory owners in Jalandhar had hoped that the worst was over. However, the heat wave in April and extensive power cuts that came with it, have crushed their hopes. The city's large number of micro, medium and small enterprises (MSMEs) are now gearing up for yet another struggle, this time to survive with the shortage of power that is severely impacting their operations.
Imports during October also rose by 17.62 per cent to $44.11 billion, leading to widening of trade deficit to $17.13 billion.
'His death is an irreparable loss to the nation'.
Exporters believe the situation will also have a grave outcome for employment, with large numbers of casual laborers looking at no work, as well as downstream units facing a loss of work, reports Subhayan Chakraborty.
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, last month urged small traders to compete with foreign retail chains through e-commerce.
With exporters' claim for over five months still pending, liquidity has been wiped out and the process of finalising new contracts has been held up.
To mark the first anniversary of the Sterlite firing anniversary -- 13 people died and several were injured when the Tamil Nadu police fired on a large crowd protesting -- various organisations will hold rallies and meetings in the port city.
As the liquidity crunch reaches crisis levels and getting tax refunds remain a big headache, exporters saw orders fall by 15 per cent till October.
Assocham expressed concern over the precarious situation that the manufacturing sector is in, observing that if the trend does not reverse with monetary and fiscal measures it would be difficult for the industry to generate jobs.
A combination of externalities such as global trade wars and slowing growth, continuing glitches in accessing offsets under the GST regime, which has created a liquidity crunch for smaller exporters, and the growing competitiveness of smaller countries are causing the slowdown.
Motherson Sumi, Tata Steel, Jaguar Land Rover will face higher cost.
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Depreciating rupee a silver lining for some businesses amid the economic downturn.
If the impact of the Greece crisis spreads across Europe and parts of the world which are more interconnected than ever before, India cannot hope to be insulated, says Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.
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