"Negotiations on the FTA will be commencing shortly. We believe that we will be able to conclude the EFTA trade agreement within one year," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath told reporters in New Delhi after meeting Swiss Federal Counsellor Doris Leuthard. EFTA states include Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. It is an inter-governmental organisation to promote free trade and economic integration between the four nations.
"We will not hesitate to take the strictest measures, including using legal provisions against hoarding and profiteering whether in food, cement or steel," Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said. The minister, who is in Singapore to attend the Incredible India @ 60 event showcasing the growth of a resurgent India, told reporters that though there was the provision of 18G of the Industrial Act, "we don't propose to use it."
India on Friday said it would lay down clear guidelines on imports of genetically modified crop varieties, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said.
Britain's new points-based immigration system may become a 'retrograde step' as it prevents India and other developing countries from exporting information technology systems and personnels to the country, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath has said. "The new regime can make it harder for software and other IT executives to travel back and forth between India and the UK, imperiling their ability to fulfill service contracts," Nath told the Financial Times.
Kamal Nath argued that Modi had 'overexposed himself': By constantly pushing his own image on social media and on TV, attaching his name to multiple promises, Modi had become the face rivals could easily blame for India's chronic dysfunction.
Justifying its stand on scrapping of Special Economic Zones projects in Goa, the state government has said the Centre has the power to denotify those which are not operational within the stipulated timeframe.
The government will invite bids by this year-end for three mega projects worth around Rs 14,500 crore (Rs 145 billion) in the road sector, Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath said on Friday. Earlier, he had said that 20 km of roads will be built in a day in the next two years amounting to an investment of Rs 2,00,000 crore (Rs 2,000 billion).
Sugar prices reached a four-month high on Tuesday after India, the world's largest consumer, lifted duties on the import of raw sugar to bridge a shortfall in domestic production.
NHAI chairman Brajeshwar Singh said the highways authority would recruit 400 people in the next 12-18 months to deal with the manpower shortage faced by it.
India has assured the world that Satyam Computer, embroiled in fraud by founder Ramalinga Raju, will continue to provide its clients world class services.
India has consistently demanded that about 8 per cent of farm tariff lines to be exempted from the tariff reduction commitments while 12 per cent of tariff lines to be subjected to a minimum cut below 10 per cent. The United States, Australia, Uruguay, Thailand and Malaysia, however, vehemently opposed India's demands during what are called the Walk in Woods meetings convened by the chair for Doha agriculture negotiations Ambassador Crawford Falconer last week.
Ruling out a government takeover of Satyam Computer Services, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath on said it is corporate India that must respond to the issue of governing business firms.
Even before the first votes are counted, the Congress seems to be crumbling in defeat.
The two media groups have been critical of the Covid-19 management in the country and have done numerous news stories on the subject during the second wave of the pandemic that hit the country between April and May.
Indian suppliers to GAP, a European and US apparel retail chain, have informed the Centre that they are not using child labour and their plants have been subjected to vigorous inspections by the overseas buyers. "The biggest suppliers have informed us that GAP officials have seen their plants and applauded their manufacturing practices," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said at the Fortune Global Forum in New Delhi on Tuesday.
"We do ask the Australian government to take a practical and realistic view of this. Australia is not the only source of uranium for India but (it should be considered) in larger context of global warming and of the broader relationship between India and Australia," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath was quoted as saying by the media in Melbourne.
Till such time as the study is complete, the plan to allow 51 per cent foreign direct investment in speciality retail sectors such as consumer electronics and sports goods has been put on hold.
Referring to high oil, food and metal prices across the world that has left an increased pressure on inflation, Nath said the present global food market scenario was a call on the economies of the South East Asian region to remap their positions and reallocate resources. Pointing out that several countries had taken steps to scrap export of food products, the minister said India had announced the National Policy for Farmers.
Concerned over a number of companies resorting to job cuts to curb their losses due to the global economic turmoil, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath has asked India Inc not to boost profits by resorting to firing staff.
The annual supplement to the Foreign Trade Policy, which will be released on Friday by Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, is likely to announce a host of measures for exporters to help them tackle the appreciation in rupee against the dollar as well as to achieve an export target of $200 billion for 2008-09. Significantly, this is the last year of the Foreign Trade Policy, which was introduced after the UPA government came into power in May 2004.
India has already sent its team of officials to negotiate on agricultural subsidies, which would be followed by talks on industrial tariffs or Non-Agricultural Market Access.
The extent of the government's concern about inflation was evident at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Prices, which started at 8 pm on Monday and went on past 12 midnight. Commerce Minister Kamal Nath challenged Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to explain why wheat import this season had been delayed.
Ahead of the crucial meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Prices for considering options to tame rising inflation, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said on Monday the government is looking at further cuts in duties on import of essential commodities. "Yes, we are looking at further cuts. There is increase in international oil prices and it has to be met with import duty caliberation which we are considering," Nath told reporters in New Delhi.
Launching the annual survey of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said the government has started a 'revolution' in farming sector by waiving farm loans of Rs 60,000 crore. He said improving the agriculture sector is an important challenge for the Asia-Pacific region & deserves a 'serious response'. The report would open up solutions to the socio-economic issues across the region Nath said on the occasion.
The statement came after chief ministers of West Bengal, Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh announced that the law is "unconstitutional" and has no place in their respective states.
The country received FDI of $14.6 billion during April-August 2008 against $6.5 billion a year ago. The FDI target for 2008-09 is 35 billion dollar, while the actual inflows during the previous year were $24.57 billion.
India will not be signing the ambitious Free Trade Agreement with the 10-nation economic bloc, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, at the 4th East Asia summit to be held in Thailand on April 11 and 12. Commerce Minister Kamal Nath will be attending the summit, where the seventh India-Asean meeting is also scheduled at the same venue.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday made a strong pitch for the party being given the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha contending that it is the single largest party in the opposition.
A joint economic group comprising commerce ministers of India and China is scheduled to meet in the first week of April to discuss the proposed India-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA), a commerce ministry official said today.
Indo-US investment protection pact is likely to come through by year end according to Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath.
This was announced by Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath at the conclusion of the 2nd meeting of India-Russia Forum on Trade and Investment, coinciding with the visit of Russian Prime Minister Victor A Zubkov in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Reacting to the revised draft modalities put out by the WTO in Geneva on February 8, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said while convergence has been achieved in some areas, brand new text with regard to many unresolved issues has also been brought out.
Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said that India will retaliate if faced with non-tariff trade barriers for its exports.
India and the 10-member ASEAN grouping on Thursday announced concluding a deal for a free trade agreement that will break duty barriers for goods in the 1.5 billion people strong market.
If approved, many proposals will have a significant impact on the SEZ policy, which came into force in February 2006. A crucial finance ministry proposal -- to be discussed by the group -- is imposing an export obligation in excess of 50 per cent on developers and units that will be eligible for duty and tax benefits.
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