India's pricing policies for petroleum products -- end-user price caps -- are increasingly causing 'oil product adulteration' and 'pollution' in addition to severe imbalances in demand and supply for oil products as well as rising subsidy bill and heavy financial losses by refineries, says Paris-based International Energy Agency.
India's chief trade negotiator Rahul Khullar yesterday warned that the much-planned ministerial meeting, which the World Trade Organisation Director General Pascal Lamy wants to convene soon, can succeed only if there was a revised Doha Rules text reflecting the concerns of all the members and an immediate resolution of TRIPS-CBD issue.
On Monday, the world's biggest food company and the leading Swiss giant Nestle announced an impressive growth of 6 per cent in the first quarter sales that touched over $25.21 billion (Swiss francs 25.7 billion). The company is confident that its full year growth forecast is on target.
UBS is completely focused on India and especially on gaining a foothold in the wealth management space. The Swiss bank has operation centers in Hyderabad and is entering into projects in Mumbai. The latest subprime calamity struck deep wounds on UBS' management, forcing its Chairman Marcel Ospel to step down. The Swiss bank raised about $13 billion from investors in Singapore and West Asia last year.
India has been excluded from a high-profile meeting of the European Union, the US and Brazil on the Doha trade negotiations in London. The two-day senior officials' meeting began on Monday at an unknown destination in London to address the specific concerns among the three members. It was 'unusual' that such a meeting is taking place without the participation of India. The three members will talk about industrials and agriculture packages ahead of next month's Geneva meeting.
Brazil, Russia, India and China, also known as the BRIC group of countries, are expected to overtake the rich countries in primary energy consumption by 2030 and worsen their environmental calamities, Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has warned. The OECD estimates suggest that 63 per cent population in the BRIC countries is living under medium to severe water stress and this share is expected to increase to 80 per cent by 2030.
Iran says it is confident that the proposed "peace pipeline" project to transfer natural gas from the rich Iranian fields to Pakistan and India will be constructed once the negotiations between New Delhi and Islamabad are concluded.
India has performed poorly in international patent filings last year compared to its neighbour China, according to data released by the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organisation.
Over the last 10 days, negotiators have burnt the midnight oil to study the revised draft modalities (parameters) issued by the chairs of the negotiating bodies for Doha agriculture and industrial products. After all, these parameters, which are essentially figures and textual language, will ultimately become commitments depending upon the final agreement among the 151 members of the WTO.
India's core demands in the Doha agriculture package -- flexible treatment of special farm products and instruments to contain unforeseen imports -- have been properly reflected in the revised draft modalities text issued on Thursday.
A World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel has dismissed the United States' complaint against India over the excise duties on foreign wines and spirits, according to sources.
India has made it clear that it will not relinquish the leverage on agriculture and NAMA until a services deal is finalised by the WTO.
In the ongoing World Economic Forum, Kamal Nath asserted that US recession will not slow down India's economic growth.
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis is buoyant about growth prospects and further protection of intellectual property rights in India, despite the setback it suffered in the patent dispute for its cancer drug Glivec last year.
The chair for Doha agriculture negotiations, Ambassador Crawford Falconer, circulated the working documents on different elements of the market-access pillar that include the treatment of special farm products.
Even after UBS Global Asset Management's $220 million deal to acquire Standard Chartered Bank's mutual fund management business in India fell through, the Swiss financial services giant exuded confidence that it will beef up its asset management business operations in the sub-continent.
A World Trade Organization (WTO) arbitrator on Friday pronounced that Antigua and Barbuda can slap trade retaliatory measures against the world's mightiest power - the United States - to the tune of $21 million because of the loss of benefits the two countries suffered due to the restrictions imposed by Washington on cross-border supply of gambling and betting services on the Internet.
Developing countries' coalition G-20 on Tuesday upped the stakes by circulating proposals to arrive at "balanced solutions" on some of the most difficult and unresolved issues of the Doha agriculture mandate.
India on Wednesday castigated a draft Doha Rules text for seeking to legalise the controversial practices of "one member" - the United States - against the "overwhelming view" of all other countries in imposing anti-dumping measures.
India has opposed a proposal by a group of industrialised countries led by the United States and the European Union at the World Trade Organization on addressing the issue of market access for industrial goods in the Doha trade negotiations.
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