The Indian government is keen to woo major semiconductor players, but a global race to attract them to countries where there is already an ecosystem is making it difficult for India to attract the biggies in the business. On Wednesday the government decided to throw open the doors to more players to participate in its semiconductor scheme. It is now looking at not only 28 nanometre (nm) chips and below, but higher nodes like 40 nm.
Inviting EU lawmakers to J-K is the 'ultimate disrespect' to Indian Parliament's sovereignty, Sharma added.
A high-level meeting between the two sides will be held in New Delhi from Monday on the comprehensive economic agreement which aims at eliminating trade barriers to enhance commerce between India and the EU.
India and European Union will discuss issues of mutual interest during the first joint industrial energy conference in New Delhi next month.
The EU also feels that Tamil Nadu has adopted a restrictive practice for imported liquor. Significantly, a similar complaint by the trade bloc at the WTO led to the elimination of additional Customs duty on imported liquor in 2007.
During the talks, both sides failed to reach on a conclusion and has agreed to meet again in June.
India may formally approach the World Trade Organisation's dispute panel against the European Union following the seizure of low-cost generic medicine consignments in European ports meant for other developing countries. The two parties have failed to reach an amicable solution during the consultation process.
Despite all official assurances, the path towards a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union (EU) this year remains ambiguous, as both sides are unwilling to relax their stand on the biggest stumbling block - the issue of "data exclusivity".
Seeking to provide a "new dimension" to their otherwise "neglected" relations, the European Union said on Monday it is committed to expand its ties with India beyond trade and commerce to include issues of security and terrorism. "Not only in terms of trade, the EU is seeking fruitful dialogue with India on security, terrorism and climate change, apart from greater cooperation in energy security, cultural and people to people exchange," Graham Watson.
The European Parliament has urged India and Pakistan to resume dialogue in pursuit of a peaceful solution in Kashmir, while urging for 'normalcy' in the region.
"We expect to host the India-EU summit under the UK presidency in New Delhi and welcome the British Prime Minister to our country later this year," External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh said.
In the absence of progress on services negotiations in the WTO, India is sending a team of officials to Europe to strike a deal in the services area with the EU under the Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement.
The European Union, which will soon kick-off an energy dialogue with India, has said it is not opposed to a $4.16 billion pipeline project to pump gas from Iran to India through Pakistan.
Asserting that trade had to play a central role in the partnership between India and EU, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said there was a need for a liberal regime for free movement of "natural persons"
Commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal is set to attend a two-day meeting from October 23 at the World Trade Organization (WTO) headquarters in Geneva, that would focus on finding solutions and giving the 'necessary political push' for at least some crucial global trade issues. Next week's meeting comes ahead of the WTO's 13th ministerial conference (MC13), scheduled in Abu Dhabi in February 2024. It will see participation of senior government officials from all WTO member nations.
President Xi is also skipping the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and East Asia summits in Jakarta this week.
The European Union may back off from its insistence on including non-trade issues like human rights in the proposed free trade pact with India.
According to a source on the Indian side, New Delhi and Brussels have agreed to eliminate tariffs on 90 percent of all tradable goods. But, India wants the EU to up their offer to include 95 percent of goods, while the EU wants India to offer a slash in tariffs on 98 percent of goods.
For trust in democracy to be retained, elections need to be not just free of intervention -- ruling out Pakistan and Russia -- but also demonstrate the capability to both deliver ruling mandates and hold the potential for large swings in favour of the opposition, points out Mihir S Sharma.And, after an election is done, they need to see a mandate in order to go back to their lives and let their representatives get on with the business of government, points out Mihir S Sharma.
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On Monday, the EU had temporarily banned imports of Alphonso mangoes, the king of fruits, and four vegetables from India from May 1.
India on Thursday raised the contentious issue of higher GSP concessions to Pakistan with the visiting EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy.\n\n\n\n
India was apprehensive because EU was pushing for data exclusivity provisions that would have affected domestic pharma companies.
But the EU would like New Delhi to first fulfil certain 'necessary preconditions.'
The Congress on Tuesday stepped up its attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party government for allowing European Union MPs to visit Kashmir while denying permission to Indian parliamentarians, and termed it a "national embarrassment".
India is giving priority to boost trade with European Union and foresees no difficulty in signing a free trade and investment agreement with EU, notwithstanding wide differences between the two sides in the WTO over the Doha Round of trade talks. India and EU are negotiating a free trade and investment agreement aimed at phasing out and eliminating import duties on a large number of trade items.
With Beijing remaining intransigent on the withdrawal of additional troops deployed by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) since the deadly border clash in 2020 in eastern Ladakh, India's bilateral ties with China remained frozen in 2023 with no forward movement on the horizon despite several rounds of diplomatic and military talks.
India's import of cheap Russian oil scaled another record in May and is now more than the combined oil bought from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, UAE and the US, industry data showed. India took 1.96 million barrels a day from Russia in May, 15 per cent more than the previous high in April, according to data from energy cargo tracker Vortexa. Russia now makes up for nearly 42 per cent of all crude oil India imported in May.
John Clancy, spokesperson for the European Commission's trade directorate, told Business Standard this week's talks would focus on 'tariffs and services'.
India's imports of crude oil from Russia touched a new high of 1.64 million barrels per day in March and is now double of the purchases from Iraq - the nation's traditional top oil supplier. But the purchases appear to have plateaued as growth has slowed. Russia continued to be the single largest supplier of crude oil, which is converted into petrol and diesel at refineries, for a sixth straight month by supplying more than one-third of all oil India imported, according to energy cargo tracker Vortexa.
Today, India is clearly a confident nation at the top of its game; its economic growth is pegged at 7 percent this year, its first aircraft carrier is being built, and a seat on the United Nations Security Council is in the offing.
Swamy died at the Holy Family Hospital, where he was admitted on May 29, in Mumbai on Monday, a day after he suffered a cardiac arrest and was put on ventilator support.
Polyphonic and pluralistic, as the world's two most populous democracies, India and the European Union are beasts of similar temperament. Yet of all the countries that the EU has a strategic partnership with (there are six in total: the United States, Canada, Japan, China, Russia and India), its relationship with India is by far the least developed.Europe's eyes remain for the main part firmly trained on China.
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