India and the US on Thursday said they are looking forward to the reconvening of the India-US Trade Policy Forum later this year to further enhance trade relationship and identify new areas for engagement.
It emphasised that agricultural infrastructure needs considerable investments and hence Section 80IA benefits must be extended to all such investments like IT infrastructure, computers, VSAT, solar panels, water harvesting facilities, storage etc.
Cumulatively, the eight core sectors grew by 4.2 per cent in 2017-18, lowest in the last three financial years.
The expansion in September is highest since April, when the core sectors' growth stood at 2.6 per cent.
After recording positive growth in September, India's exports declined 5.4 per cent to $24.82 billion in October on account of dip in shipments of petroleum products, gems and jewellery, leather, and engineering goods. Trade deficit in October narrowed to $8.78 billion as against $11.76 billion, as imports also fell 11.56 per cent to $33.6 billion during the month under review.
Fertiliser production dropped sharply by 11.5 per cent, crude oil by 5 per cent and natural gas by 0.9 per cent in October over the year-ago month
The time is opportune for doing away with the practice of a separate rail budget, and for replacing the railway ministry with an umbrella ministry of transport.
However, in recent times, the clout that trader bodies such as CAIT and other organisations like Swadeshi Jagran Manch and Laghu Udyog Bharati has is steadily increasing. Earlier this year, trader bodies were able to convince the government not to extend the deadline for implementation of the new norms in FDI policy on e-commerce.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved revision in guidelines for providing direct to home (DTH) services in the country under which licenses would be issued for 20 years, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said. The Union Cabinet has also approved 100 per cent FDI in the DTH broadcasting services sector, Javadekar said, adding that while the commerce ministry had spoken of 100 per cent FDI in the DTH sector, the guidelines of the information and broadcasting ministry needed to be changed.
Inflation print for food articles, as a basket, remained nearly flat at 7.47 per cent during the month.
After rallying 543 points in the morning session and touching the 40,000-mark, the BSE Sensex surrendered all gains to close at 38,628.29, showing a loss of 839.02 points or 2.13 per cent. Similarly, the NSE Nifty tanked 260.10 points or 2.23 per cent to end at 11,387.50.
Infra segment, refinery product impacted the most, even as contraction narrows in latest month.
The prime minister, who is visiting the US at the invitation of President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, will join them for the state banquet along with a number of dignitaries on Thursday.
The output had expanded by 4 per cent in March 2014.
The government on Thursday tweaked curbs on imports of laptops and computers as it allowed importers to bring in shipments of IT hardware from overseas on a mere 'authorisation' upon detailing quantity and value. The new 'import management system' is aimed at monitoring shipments of laptops, tablets and computers into the country without hurting market supply or creating a cumbersome licensing regime. The announcement is likely to provide relief to companies in the IT hardware segment in India as they had flagged concerns over the imposition of a strict licensing regime for importers.
The wholesale price-based inflation in February rose to 13.11 per cent on hardening of prices of crude oil and non-food items, even though food articles softened. After two months of mild easing, WPI inflation accelerated in February and remained in double digits for the 11th consecutive month, beginning April 2021. WPI inflation last month was 12.96 per cent, while in February last year, it was 4.83 per cent. The rise in crude oil and natural gas prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, beginning February 24, has put pressure on the wholesale price index, even though food articles saw softening across categories of vegetables to pulses to protein-rich items.
Mobile phones, televisions, refrigerators, laptops and stationary items will be allowed to be sold through e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal from April 20 during the lockdown, officials said on Thursday. The clarification from a senior home ministry official came a day after Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla issued revised guidelines for the extended lockdown period till May 3.
Gogoi and Sarma have been locked in a war of words on 'X' since Wednesday on the issue of the chief minister's wife's company allegedly being given a credit subsidy of Rs 10 crore.
A certain segment of the US pharma industry have become vocal about Indian policies on domestic content requirements and IPR.
Singapore-based e-commerce platform Shopee - that launched in India only in December 2021 - has decided to close operations in the country. The official reason given by Shopee, which is controlled by NYSE-listed Sea Ltd, is changing global sentiments. In a statement, it said, "In view of the global market uncertainties, we have decided to close risks of our early-stage Shopee India initiative." The e-commerce platform has been hit by growing opposition from trade associations led by Praveen Khandelwal as well as homegrown social commerce start-ups.
The government is working towards further review and simplification of the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy to facilitate the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) secretary Anurag Jain said on Thursday. The final decision will be taken by the Cabinet. The industry department is working together with the finance ministry's department of financial services (DFS) and department of investment and public asset management (DIPAM) towards a successful listing of the life insurer on the domestic bourses, which is expected to be the largest in India.
The central government and the Reserve Bank of India have devised a country-specific plan towards implementation of overseas trade in rupee, people aware of the matter said. To start with, a small number of banks will be allowed to manage cross-border transactions in domestic currency with a particular country. "Small countries that are dollar-deficient have shown interest in doing trade in rupee.
The growth of eight core sectors slowed down to 2.6 per cent in August mainly due to contraction in steel output.
HCL Tech was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 3 per cent, followed by Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Wipro, NTPC and Titan. Nifty advanced 187.05 points to 16,801.25.
The Commerce and Industry Ministry has circulated a draft Cabinet note for inter-ministerial consultations.
Around 55 per cent of land in the 36 operational special economic zones (SEZs) in Tamil Nadu is lying vacant owing to various reasons, including the recent economic slowdown.
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After a high-level meeting held on Friday chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, it has been decided that the Commerce and Industry would soon start a consultation process to address 'dangers inherent' in the current model of FDI in brownfield pharma units.
The apex body for liquor firms Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies has urged the government to gradually reduce customs duties on British alcoholic beverages under the proposed India-UK free trade agreement to support domestic players. India and the UK have formally launched negotiations for an FTA, under which duties would be reduced or eliminated on several goods traded between the two countries. The Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC) has also suggested the government to ensure that the UK allows the selling of domestic whiskies as 'Indian Whisky', irrespective of whether they are made from malt, grain spirits or molasses-based spirits.
Giving major relief to budding entrepreneurs, the government on Thursday allowed startups to avail tax concession only if total investment including funding from angel investors does not exceed Rs 10 crore.
The other sectors where inflows have declined include pharmaceuticals ( $680 million).
The government is believed to be working on a strategy to resolve the matter related to Wednesday's Supreme Court order asking Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee to appear within six weeks before the Ghaziabad trial court in a pending payment case.
The probe is being conducted under various sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) after the central probe agency recently received a communication from the commerce ministry seeking "necessary action" against e-commerce players like Amazon and Flipkart pertaining to certain multi-brand retail businesses and an observation made by the Delhi High Court in relation to Amazon.
Gold imports surged by nearly four-fold to $4.17 billion in October to meet the festival season demand.
Violation of the provisions entails a punishment of a jail term up to five years or with fine up to Rs 1 crore or with both, the ordinance released by the Ministry of Law and Justice on Thursday said.
The growth rate of eight infrastructure sectors of coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity was 5.7 per cent in January 2016.
The country's exports for the first time crossed the $400 billion mark in a fiscal on healthy performance by sectors such as petroleum products, engineering, gems and jewellery, and chemicals, according to the commerce ministry's data released on Wednesday. The merchandise exports rose by by 37 per cent to $400.8 billion in 2021-22 until March 21 against $292 billion in 2020-21. Previously, the outbound shipments had touched a record of $330.07 billion in 2018-19.
The country's exports rose by about 6 per cent to a "record" $447 billion during 2022-23 on account of healthy growth in the outbound shipments of sectors such as petroleum, pharma and chemicals and marine, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday. The country's imports also grew by 16.5 per cent to $714 billion in 2022-23 as against $613 billion in 2021-22. He said that the exports of goods and services together scaled "new heights" and has increased by 14 per cent to $770 billion in 2022-23 as against 676 billion in 2021-22.
Automobile dealers' body FADA has urged the government to formulate a task force to monitor the compensation structure being worked out by Ford India for its dealer partners across the country. In a letter to Heavy Industries Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey, FADA president Vinkesh Gulati also requested the government to instruct Ford India to keep the industry body in the loop regarding the compensation structure for the dealerships. "We humbly request your Ministry's intervention... Create a task force which takes day-to-day updates from Ford India to monitor the compensation plan for automobile dealers and dealership employees," Gulati said in the letter.
In the draft rules, among 681 listed professions, armed security guards, supervisors, surveyors, and carpenters (class I) are proposed to be treated as highly skilled professionals; electricians, tailors and drivers are skilled; cooks and cobblers as semi-skilled and dairy coolies, office peons and sweepers as unskilled.
West Bengal's industry minister Partha Chatterjee, arrested in the SSC scam, should be removed immediately from his post and expelled from the Trinamool Congress, the party's state general secretary Kunal Ghosh demanded on Thursday.
