The IAS officer was later taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is expected to be produced before a magistrate seeking his remand, the sources said.
Among other things, taking note of complaints against several Chinese e-commerce players such as Shein, Ali Express etc for sending shipments as 'gifts' to customers in India and avoiding duties, the government has now mandated that all e-commerce sites and apps must have a registered business entity. This will be the importer on record and subject to customs rules, report Subhayan Chakraborty, Neha Alawadhi and Karan Choudhury.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden condemned Russia's annexation of Ukrainian territory on Friday.
India's recent move to remove additional 'retaliatory' duty on eight products from the United States (US), including apples and walnuts, would not have any negative impact on the domestic producers, the government clarified, even as the issue threatened to snowball into a political slugfest between the ruling and Opposition parties. The move would, in fact, result in competition in the premium market segment, ensuring better quality at better prices for consumers, especially for apples, a senior government official said. "There were certain concerns that were being raised on the mutually agreed solution that has come in, more specific to seven-eight agriculture products where we had levied additional import duties in retaliation to the steel and aluminum measures (imposed by the US)," Peeyush Kumar, additional secretary in the commerce department, told reporters in a briefing.
The delivery channel of India Post is being utilised primarily for small towns and cities.
Of the Rs 1.97 trillion that the government intends to spend on all 14 production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes, around Rs 41,000 crore remains unutilised as of now, according to a senior government official. This means that 80 per cent of the total allocated amount, or Rs 1.56 trillion, will be used to pay incentives to companies eligible to claim benefits over the next few years. The unutilised amount/savings result from undersubscription, lukewarm responses in the case of schemes such as textile, as well as a reduction in the allocation of schemes.
The government is formulating guidelines on the use of ethylene oxide (ETO) in samples of spices for the domestic market and exports, people aware of the matter said, as it plans to step up efforts to make quality checks more stringent. ETO, a flammable, colourless gas, is typically used as a disinfectant. It is also used as a sterilising agent and an insecticide to reduce microbial contamination in spices. However, its use is considered carcinogenic, beyond permissible limits.
The government believes that WTO's push for initiating negotiations on substantive obligations related to e-commerce will oblige India to permanently accept the current moratorium on imposing customs duties on products traded electronically.
Even as the government today gave Saurabh Chandra, secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP), the additional charge of secretary, Department of Commerce, Dinesh Kumar Mittal has emerged as the front runner for the post.
Sources within the Congress, including those who have been members of the teams that drafted its 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha poll manifestos, said the Karnataka government decision lacked any empirical basis.
After the government's online monitoring system for the import of electronic hardware items went live on November 1, inbound shipments of laptops and tablets slipped in November to a nine-month low at $225 million, contracting 17.15 per cent year-on-year. This decline was primarily driven by reduced imports from Singapore (down 43.7 per cent), Hong Kong (down 27.4 per cent), and China (down 14 per cent), according to the data released by the commerce department. China accounts for approximately 83 per cent of such imports.
The commerce and industry ministry has informed the Prime Minister's Office that the Bharti Group has conveyed to the government that its joint venture with Wal-Mart was in compliance with the existing FDI policy.
An unconscious United States Secretary of Commerce John Bryson has been hospitalised with injuries after he allegedly caused a series of traffic accidents in Los Angeles, the police said on Monday
Go-getter, ambitious, dynamic, workaholic are some of the adjectives that officials who worked closely with B V R Subrahmanyam use to describe him.
The Income Tax department has trained its scanner on the burgeoning 'e-commerce' business in the country.
Despite declining by three percentage points in 2022-23 (FY23) compared to FY19, Odisha's unemployment rate remains higher than the average in India.
Tax concealment in case of Walmart-owned Flipkart's unit is about Rs 650 crore while the remaining estimation is related to Swiggy.
The court said Shroff is a celebrity and this status inherently grants him certain rights over his personality and associated attributes.
"Not a single step has been taken by this government to empower small businesses in India," says Praveen Khandelwal, national secretary general of the Confederation of All India Traders and former treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Delhi unit.
Private labels remain big business for e-commerce marketplaces. They comprise almost 15 per cent of the total business of such firms.
'If businessmen should be included in the political process -- which is essential in my opinion -- they need to have the freedom to express themselves and to take stands against the government of the day, without fear of reprisals and attacks on their business.'
After 100% FDI, DIPP has put a condition an e-commerce entity will not be permitted more than 25% of sales through its marketplace from one vendor or their group companies
Nearly two million postcards and eight million letters pass through India's post offices daily.
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Government seeks stakeholders' comments by Jan 30 on discussion paper.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday told Russian President Vladimir Putin that a solution to the Ukraine conflict is not possible on the battlefield and peace efforts do not succeed in the midst of bombs and bullets even as he flagged concerns over a missile strike on a children's hospital in Kyiv.
The government will soon come out with guidelines for social media influencers, making it mandatory for them to declare their association with the product they endorse, sources said.
Some companies are already seeking review of the new norms.
In order to counter the growing penetration of e-commerce portals, the ICT industry in Gujarat is also mulling initiation of its own portal for selling products.
Exports declined for the fourth-consecutive month by 10.3 per cent year-on-year to $34.98 billion in May, while the trade deficit widened to a five-month high of $22.12 billion. According to the data released by the commerce ministry on Thursday, key export sectors recording negative growth include petroleum products, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, ready-made garments of all textiles and chemicals. Imports also declined 6.6 per cent, six-month in a row, to $57.1 billion against $61.13 billion in the same month last year, the data showed.
The department of personnel and training has asked the Union Public Service Commission to recruit such specialists through "lateral entry" mode in 12 government departments/ministries, he said.
Exports had risen over 11 per cent in July, year-on-year.
According to the police, the accused persons collected data, such as phone numbers and personal data from a portal, and the employees of the call centre randomly made calls using VoIP to US citizens.
Jack Ma is learnt to have discussed about e-commerce, mobile telephony
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
Floats discussion paper for stakeholders' feedback with a deadline of January 28.
'I found it unbelievable that L&T said 45,000 jobs were waiting to be filled because of unavailability of suitable skillsets.' 'So, when the Opposition sweepingly says there are no jobs, I'm sorry... I'm not saying it's raining jobs, but there are jobs. The (skill) gap has to be bridged.'
Rio also appointed 24 MLAs as 'advisors' to various departments in his opposition less government.
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