India's exports slid for the 11th straight month in August by 19.7 per cent to $14.3 billion as global demand for merchandise remained sluggish.
For the third month in a row, exports rose in January, reporting 11.5 per cent growth to $14.34 billion, against $12.9 billion in the year-ago period, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said.
Talks for an India-European Union free trade agreement started in 2007 and the eighth round of negotiations was completed in New Delhi last month.
Sharma was speaking to journalists while returning with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from Cambodia last night on special aircraft after attending the ASEAN and East Asia Summits.
Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma has shrugged off the recent irritants that have cropped up less than six weeks before US President Barack Obama makes his visit to India as 'transient negativity', and predicted they would 'get dissipated' soon.
The Commerce Ministry, according to an official, has proposed interest subsidy for different sectors like engineering which are reeling under the impact of global economic slowdown.
India and China took their economic relationship a step forward today, signing a memorandum of understanding on 'Expansion of Trade and Economic Cooperation' and recognising the need for "balanced trade".
Saturday would mark the completion of a year of history being made in India-Pakistan trade relations.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will review the proposed bilateral trade and investment agreement between India and the EU at the meeting of the Trade and Economic Relations Committee (TERC) on May 29.
Exports are expected to grow by 10-15 per cent in the current fiscal, FIEO director general and chief executive officer Ajay Sahai said.
All those in the Union council of ministers with two portfolios are likely to lose at least one and major administrative changes are expected in a Cabinet reshuffle due on October 28 or 29 on the return of President Pranab Mukherjee from Durga Puja celebrations in West Bengal.
Worried over continuous decline in exports, the Commerce Ministry has stepped up its pressure on Finance Ministry to expeditiously notify a scheme which was announced in June to boost the overseas shipments.
India's exports, after declining for over a year, are expected to improve in the coming months even as global slowdown continues, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said on Wednesday.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht concluded another round of talks on Monday at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, which the Commission said 'provided a renewed momentum to bring the negotiations forward'.
India clearly told the EU it would 'not accept' any further concession, as far as the automobile sector was concerned.
India and Indonesia today agreed to fast track the ongoing negotiations for early conclusion of the proposed comprehensive market opening pact, aimed at enhancing bilateral economic engagement between the countries.
Reader Anand Sharma sends us his photograph with AR Rahman.
The meeting, which would have representation from the ministries of finance, external affairs and micro and small and medium enterprises, would suggest steps to prepare the way for the annual supplement to the Foreign Trade Policy (2009-2014), expected to be unveiled in April.
Sports fraternity mourns former PM Vajpayee's demise
'With Mirzapur characters, you don't know what's going to happen -- mid season, first episode, last episode -- you could be taken out anytime.'
A mild earthquake shook parts of Uttarakhand early on Wednesday. A slight intensity quake measuring 3.2 on the Richter Scale hit areas located along Uttarakhand-Nepal border in Pithoragarh district at around 10:00 AM this morning, MeT office Director Anand Sharma told PTI.
Ten states and Union Territories had endorsed FDI in the sector by August 13.
According to a schedule of her five-day visit provided by her Trinamool Congress, Banerjee is slated to meet Modi at 4 pm on Tuesday.
Prominent G-23 members including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal and Manish Tewari have not been included in the Congress list of star campaigners for West Bengal assembly elections.
"... An early conclusion of Doha Round is important; India is willing to take part in negotiations at the WTO provided the core concerns of the Round, namely development concerns of developing nations are addressed," commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma told Rajya Sabha.
When IKEA's CEO & India's industry minister sealed a deal in-principle last year, foreign investors took note.
The minister addressed the Global India Business Meeting organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the German city. CEOs of leading firms from India, Germany, the US and Saudi Arabia, including Siemens, Volkswagen, AirAsia, Bajaj Auto, Genpact India and Infosys attended the conclave.
DEA official writes to DIPP suggesting that govt needs to understand what has been left out, and why, in the revised application of the retailer.
The minister, who was in Brussels on a two-day visit, said that seven Chief Minsters including Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Assam, Rajasthan and Kerala have already given their written commitment on allowing FDI in the sector.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has written to chief ministers of Odisha, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, stating opening the multi-brand sector to the foreign direct investment would 'bring in investments, technologies and efficiencies to unlock the true potential of the agricultural value chain'.
India on Monday emphasised the need for resuming talks on the WTO's stalled Doha Round, stating that the negotiating text for global trade can be the staring point for further talks.
The Himachal Congress on Wednesday said party chief Sonia Gandhi will only decide the name of the chief ministerial candidate.
The government will unveil measures in the Budget for helping exporters who are hit hard by recession in the developed economies, new Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said on Friday.
India plans to cut transaction costs for exporters and ensure the availability of dollar finance, as it looks to reverse a decline in exports and double outbound sales of goods and services over the next five years.
Amid rupee's free fall and slowdown in western markets, the government is likely to announce incentives in the foreign trade policy (FTP), scheduled for June 5, to boost exports.
The centre will be cautious in withdrawing the fiscal stimulus packages given to key-sectors and will do so only after ensuring growth is sustainable in the economy, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma said.
India's exports grew by 9 per cent to $14.6 billion (around Rs 66, 250 crore) in December.
The country feels that the talks are necessary to revive the global economy.
The objection based on the fear that domestic industry in Pakistan would be swamped by imports from India is specious.
