The commerce ministry is preparing a note for the Cabinet proposing further relief for the rupee-hit exporters, especially those in the job-oriented textiles and leather sectors. The package is likely to be cleared by Commerce Minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday before it goes to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs later this week, he said.
The textiles ministry is in favour of a reduction in textiles tariffs under ongoing World Trade Organisation negotiations on market access, but said overall reduction in the case of developing countries should be lower than developed countries.
The production growth of eight key infrastructure sectors slowed to a six-month low of 7.8 per cent in November due to a decline in the output of crude oil and cement sectors. The growth rate in the production of coal, fertiliser, steel, and electricity also decreased during November this year. According to the data released by the government on Friday, the growth during the month under review, however, is higher than the 5.7 per cent recorded a year ago.
The commerce ministry recently announced that it intends to switch over to a small negative list for trade with India by the end of February and to phase out this regime by the end of the year.
With rising incomes, education, and health awareness in India, especially in the big cities, droves of people are saying no to sugar.
India, the US and 12 other members of the IPEF grouping have signed a supply chain resilience agreement that would help mitigate risks of economic disruptions from supply chain shocks and improve crisis coordination. The agreement would help member countries like India to reduce their dependence on China and provide timely information to the IPEF member countries about potential supply disruptions. The COVID outbreak severely disrupted the global supply chain, as most countries were dependent on China for various products like pharma raw materials.
The wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation eased in January to 0.27 per cent, mainly due to moderation in prices of food items. WPI inflation was at 0.73 per cent in December 2023. The WPI inflation was in the negative zone from April to October and had turned positive in November at 0.39 per cent.
Without making big-ticket changes in the economic ministries, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday shifted Law Minister M Veerappa Moily to the ministry of corporate affairs and inducted young Milind Deora in his council of ministers.
It is being suggested that apps, such as WhatsApp and Telegram, should share their APIs with each other to ensure there is interoperability, just as it exists across email services.
The wholesale price index-based inflation remained in the negative territory for the sixth straight month in September at (-)0.26 per cent, on easing prices of food articles. The WPI-based inflation rate has been in the negative since April and was (-)0.52 per cent in August. In September last year, it was 10.55 per cent.
The court said Shroff is a celebrity and this status inherently grants him certain rights over his personality and associated attributes.
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 finance ministry is of the view that all interests -- direct and indirect -- should be taken into account and that there should not be any threshold for calculating total effective foreign shareholding in a company.
India's imports from Russia rose 64 per cent to $36.27 billion during the April-October period this fiscal on higher shipments of crude oil and fertiliser, according to the commerce ministry data. With this, Russia has become India's second-largest import source during the first seven months of this fiscal. The imports were $22.13 billion during April-October 2022.
Paytm plans to induct 5,000 manufacturers and sellers; has started programmes to identify and train new sellers.
In a big push to the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, the government has nearly doubled (increase of 81 per cent) the allocation in five key industry segments from Rs 8,405 crore in the Revised Estimate of FY24 to Rs 15,198 crore in the Interim Budget for FY25. The segments cover over eight PLI schemes, including mobile phones, IT hardware, pharma (PLIs for medical devices, intermediates and pharmaceuticals), food processing, telecom hardware and, auto and auto components. In FY24, DPIIT officials, however, said that the disbursements would be much higher at around Rs 11,000 crore than what has been budgeted for the year.
This may be in line with Russia's private military company, Wagner Group, which was controlled until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia's president Vladimir Putin. The group used the infrastructure of the Russian Armed Forces.
The country's imports from Russia almost doubled to $25.69 billion during the April-August period this fiscal due to increasing inbound shipments of crude oil and fertiliser, according to the commerce ministry data. With this, Russia has become India's second-largest import source during the first five months of this fiscal. The imports were $13.77 billion during April-August 2022.
The Centre on Monday directed cooperatives NCCF and NAFED to sell tomatoes at a reduced rate of Rs 50 per kilogram from Tuesday in view of the decline in prices in the wholesale markets. Since July, both NCCF and NAFED have been selling tomatoes at a discounted rate on behalf of the consumer affairs ministry in Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar to boost domestic availability and contain price rise. Initially, the ministry had asked the two cooperatives to sell tomatoes at a subsidised rate of Rs 90 per kg and later reduced the price to Rs 80 per kg. Further, the price was cut to Rs 70 per kg.
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India's trade deficit widened to $20.1 billion in May because of high gold imports while exports declined by over a per cent, raising concerns about economic recovery.
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.
As Chandigarh braces for a fierce contest between Congress candidate Manish Tewari and the BJP's Sanjay Tandon, its industry leaders harbour a fervent wish: Replicate the success of the National Capital Region model in this Union Territory.
The Union ministry of food and consumer affairs proposes to insert a new clause in the fresh discussion note for the Cabinet on allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail.
The wholesale price-based inflation rate declined to (-) 4.12 per cent in June on easing prices of food, fuel and manufactured items. The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation in May was (-) 3.48 per cent. In June last year, it was 16.23 per cent.
A panel led by the secretaries of the DEA and the DIPP would conduct a quarterly review on the pending proposals.
India's imports from Russia rose by about 67 per cent to $30.42 billion during the April-September period this fiscal on higher shipments of crude oil and fertiliser, according to the commerce ministry data. With this, Russia has become India's second-largest import source during the first half of this fiscal. The imports were $18.24 billion during April-September 2022.
Students can then appear for a board exam in subjects they have completed and feel ready for.
Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday assumed charge as the Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister for the second consecutive term and is slated to soon present the final Budget for FY '25 that is going to set the tone for the Modi 3.0 government's priorities and direction for Viksit Bharat. Upon her reaching the North Block office, Sitharaman was greeted by Finance Secretary T V Somanathan and other top officials. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary was also present. Chaudhary assumed charge on Tuesday evening.
Major portfolios like home, finance and education were on Tuesday allocated to People's Democratic Party ministers by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed who will himself hold the charge of home ministry.
The grievance redressal mechanism of many big e-commerce players is not up to the mark as the number of complaints received by the National Consumer Helpline has risen sharply over the last four years, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said on Thursday. Addressing an event organised by the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI), Singh said the number of complaints registered on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) has gone up to 90,000 in November compared to 40,000 in the same month last year. "Four years back, the number of complaints pertaining to e-commerce transactions was 8 per cent of the total complaints.
In order to contain current account deficit, the Reserve Bank last month imposed restrictions on gold imports by banks and other authorised agencies.
Explore, engage, participate and excel in as many co-curricular activities and hackathons as possible to improve your self-confidence, communication skills and overall personality, advises rediffGURU Chocko Valliappa.
Pakistan's newly-elected President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday announced that he would not draw any salary during his tenure as part of his bid to help the cash-strapped country face the challenging economic hardship.
Wholesale price-based inflation remained in the negative territory for the fifth straight month in August at (-)0.52 per cent, but prices of food articles and fuel showed an uptick. The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation rate has been in the negative since April and was (-)1.36 per cent in July. In August last year it was 12.48 per cent. Inflation in food articles remained in double digit at 10.60 per cent in August, lower than 14.25 per cent in July.
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.
'People are willing to face temporary inconvenience as they are determined to support PM Modi's crackdown on black money,' Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tells Archis Mohan.
The government on Friday announced it will release onion from its buffer stock in the targeted regions with immediate effect to ensure prices remain under check till the new crop arrives from October onward. The government is exploring multiple options for disposal of onion: e-auction, e-commerce as well as through states at discounted rates via retail outlets of their consumer cooperatives and corporations, it said. The government has currently maintained 3 lakh tonnes of onion under the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) to meet any exigencies, if rates go up significantly during the lean supply season.
Exports of electronics goods has risen by 24 per cent from April to November as compared with the same period in the last fiscal, the largest increase out of India's top 10 export categories. The increase has been propelled by mobile exports under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme and has pushed electronics up from sixth to fifth position in the top 10. A gap of $200 million separates electronics from occupying the fourth position, currently held by drugs and pharmaceuticals at $17.9 billion.
