The fresh initiative by Commerce Minister Anand Sharma to meet ambassadors of the key members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva, in a bid to revive the deadlocked Doha round of trade negotiations, is well-timed though a positive outcome may be doubtful.
The Commerce Ministry wants the Reserve Bank to reduce interest rate for dollar credit in its forthcoming monetary policy to help sustain the fledgling recovery in the exports sector.
Officials in the government, however, said India could only lodge a protest and not take legal action against the US.
"Any country shouldn't be giving military aid to Pakistan until it works effectively in a demonstrative manner to dismantle the terror infrastructure," Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma told media-persons in New Delhi.
After the heat it faced on climate change stand for the Copenhagen summit, the government on Tuesday came under scanner as the Opposition felt that India might come under US pressure on the trade talks in WTO.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and to Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, the industry body has outlined its view on the climate change negotiations based on Indian industry's feedback and called for the prime minister to urge the developed world to provide technology transfer and funds to help mitigate the crisis.
India is negotiating for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Malaysia and Japan and a broad based trade and investment agreement with the EU.
In reply to a Rajya Sabha question, minister of state for information and broadcasting Anand Sharma stated that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had informed that a comparison of entry level package prices of a few DTH operators with CAS offerings reveals that DTH pricing in the country are not exorbitant.
Replying to supplementaries in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour, commerce minister Anand Sharma said, "There can be no negative impact of organised retailing on unorganised sector as 96 per cent of retail business is in unorganised sector.
Currently, trade between India and Africa stands at about $45 billion.
Sheela Bhatt explores and explains the Rahul Gandhi phenomenon and what it means for the Congress party and the nation's politics.
The agreement that provides for both India and ASEAN reducing tariff on agreed goods has come into force with all but Cambodia and Philippines.
The government's disinvestment programme made a muted re-start with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approving the part-sale of its stake in two power companies -- NTPC and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam -- but postponing a decision on the overall disinvestment policy.
Data on primary and fuel items would continue to be released on weekly basis.
US President Barack Obama would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Toronto, a top Indian official said Wednesday. "The Prime Minister would be traveling for the G-20, he will be meeting President Obama," Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma told Indian media-persons in Washington.
The country would also ink the free trade pact with Malaysia in the same week.
The zero-duty EPCG scheme is in addition to the 3 per cent EPCG scheme that was introduced last year.
These may weaken India's long-standing demand of easy, flexible rules.
The five-year Foreign Trade Policy, to be unveiled on August 27, is expected to give incentives to Indian exporters to widen their global markets beyond the United States, the European Union and Japan in the face of the economic crisis in these key destinations.
The pact on trade in goods under the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement was signed by Indian commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma and ASEAN economic ministers after more than six years of intense negotiations.
But the government rejected their demand and instead promised to hold an internal inquiry.
Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma warned against protectionist measures resorted to by developed countries saying those measures would further deepen recession and delay a recovery in the world economy.
For the second time since Press Note 2 and 4 were issued in February 2009, the Department of Economic Affairs in the finance ministry has raised questions on their implementation, this time over an application before the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.
The 10-member ASEAN described the Indo-US nuclear deal as an extremely positive step, hoping that the two countries would be able to conclude the pact soon.
The country is on track to surpass the export target of $200 billion for the current fiscal, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said in New Delhi on Monday.
India and the United Kingdom have agreed on the text of a landmark civil nuclear agreement and a formal pact may be signed within a week, Britain's Business Secretary Lord Peter Mandelson announced on Thursday. "The civil nuclear deal text has been agreed to and it will be signed soon, may be within a week after ministerial approvals," Lord Mandelson told a joint press conference with Commerce Minister Anand Sharma.
Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Monday amid protests by Opposition parties over their demand to revoke the suspension of 12 members of the House.
India on Monday condemned the deadly terror attack on a police training centre in Lahore and asked Pakistan to continue dismantling the terror infrastructure on its soil.
'The problems that the film explores still remain. It was a different time when we made the film. We were young and we thought we could change the world.'
Despite the robust growth in this country, Apple's India share in its overall global sales remained modest -- constituting 1.5 per cent of its overall turnover of $389 billion in FY23.
Continuing its association with the Aam Aadmi, the Congress's slogan for the 2009 Lok Sabha poll, which was unveiled on Friday, banks heavily on the common man. 'Aam admi ke badte kadam, har kadam par Bharat bulund', is the Congress' theme to woo the common man. Interestingly, the new slogan for the Parliamentary election has been penned by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anand Sharma and senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid.
India was fourth in 2008, in terms of FDI inflows, among developing countries, he said referring to UNCTAD World Investment Report (WIR) 2009.
Doesn't matter if Enron or Lehman didn't tell the truth - they aren't Indians, says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
A policy change on full convertibility of rupee is not possible at present, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said in New Delhi. Even finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday that 'we welcome the deal but it should in the context of existing laws of the land'.
On his maiden visit to New Delhi to attend the two-day informal ministerial meet on Doha round, Kirk told reporters in a teleconference that he would be back to New Delhi in just over a month for 'continued talks' relative to the Trade Policy Forum.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said he expected exports to reach $200 billion in the financial year ending March 2011.
India is the world's largest diamond cutting centre.
India on Thursday extended tax holiday and duty refund for exporters, while allowing duty free capital goods import under its Foreign Trade Policy to insulate them from protectionism induced by recession abroad. Unveiling the five-year policy, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma set a target of $200 billion worth exports for next fiscal, a feat that India failed to achieve in 2008-09 due to a slump in global demand in the face of financial crisis.
