Cement and steel prices have shot up sharply in the past four months, with steel prices rising 10 per cent and cement increasing 34 per cent since January.
Freebies do not seem to have attracted many buyers, as both property prices and lending rates continue to remain high.
Big Bazaar stores have sold 900 Nano cars since February, when Tata Motors made the arrangement.
The India-Asean free trade agreement (FTA) in merchandise goods has failed to realise its full potential, even as the deal was implemented in January 2010 to facilitate greater trade in the region. As a result, reduction of duties on several products might get delayed.
The US has emphasised on the need for an "ambitious and balanced outcome", even as the World Trade Organization (WTO) is gearing up to circulate another set of texts to push all its 153 members to wrap up the Doha Round of global trade talks by the end of this year.
FDI is essentially long-term investments that come with added benefits such as better technology, management and marketing assistance, says the study.
The revised version of the FDI policy, which will be released on March 31, is expected to do away with Press Note 1, 2005, to bring in the above-mentioned change.
Under the services sector, India had been demanding greater opening, so that more professionals like doctors, nurses, chefs, accountants get greater job opportunities.
Ministry will give relief to exporters through a mechanism that will enable a timely refund of credit balance and time-bound refund of additional duty of customs.
India and the US are set to address some of the prickly issues that have acted as major irritants in the commercial relations between both countries recently, to ensure greater flow of trade and investment.
Pantaloon Retail, the country's largest retailer, is looking at increasing the prices of its apparel products up to 18 per cent, to improve margins in the coming quarters, said a top group executive.
Kishore Biyani's Future Group will hive off its electronics business into a separate company, as continued promotions and increased competition are taking a toll on its margins.
We welcome all companies from India to come and invest and do business there. We have almost no restrictions in any sector at all. However, we expect similar reciprocity in India for our apples, pistachios, helicopters, and disaster relief materials, besides other products. We do not restrict such items from entering the US markets.
The finance ministry said it would wait for RBI guidelines, a development which will provide much relief to ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank. Both are already known as Foreign Owned Indians Controlled entities, after foreign investment in them rose much above 50 per cent, following new norms of calculations by the commerce ministry.
The government is likely to extend interest subvention for some export-oriented sectors for another year to sustain the current growth in exports. This will be announced during the coming Union Budget for 2011-2012.
The government is set to announce some significant measures to reduce the high transaction costs faced by the country's exporters in their day-to-day operations. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will be unveiling the measures on February 8.
Raheja-owned Hypercity plans its growth on the back of quality merchandise rather than cheaper price points.
The government is unlikely to extend any more incentives to exporters this financial year, with the export growth rate at an impressive 36.3 per cent in December, even as they complain of a high interest rate eating away competitiveness.
Despite all official assurances, the path towards a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union (EU) this year remains ambiguous, as both sides are unwilling to relax their stand on the biggest stumbling block - the issue of "data exclusivity".
The long-awaited move to bring urea under the Nutrient-Based Subsidy (NBS) scheme is likely to be announced in the coming Union Budget, to be unveiled on February 28, even as the government would decontrol its prices gradually.
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