Indian exports to the US will face a 10% tariff, down from 25%, for 150 days following a US Supreme Court ruling. However, uncertainty persists due to potential further tariff hikes and long-term implications.
The Israel-Hamas conflict is expected to impact the trade of gems and jewellery between India and Israel, exporters said on Monday. Colin Shah, MD, Kama Jewelry, said the war can "adversely" impact Indian exports to Israel. Total gems and jewellery trade between India and Israel stood at $2.04 billion in 2022-23 as against $2.8 billion in 2021-22.
Indian exporters are keeping their fingers crossed on account of rising Covid infections in China and other countries as it could again disrupt supply chains and affect demand for goods. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) director general Ajay Sahai said that if the cases continue to increase in the coming days, it may have implications on imports. "We are keeping our fingers crossed," he said.
Indian exporters shipping goods to Israel may face higher insurance premiums and shipping costs due to the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to experts. Israel witnessed a surprise and unprecedented multifront attack by air, land and sea by the Hamas militant group, which rules the Gaza Strip, in its southern parts on Saturday morning. The International trade experts said the conflict may reduce the profits of domestic exporters but will not impact trade volumes unless war escalates.
After contracting for six months in a row, the country's exports grew by 5.27 per cent to $27.4 billion in September, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.
The talks for a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and Canada may have taken a pause but will resume once the political row between the two countries is resolved as the pact has economic benefits for both the nations, trade experts and exporters said on Friday. However, they said that India may not hurry for the trade agreement as 60 per cent of New Delhi's exports are already entering Canada at zero duty. Earlier this month, India and Canada paused the negotiations for the agreement due to political reasons.
India's merchandise exports rose by 22.63 per cent year-on-year to $33.79 billion in September on better performance by key sectors like engineering goods and petroleum products, according to official data released on Thursday.
The country's exports dipped 8.74 per cent to $23.52 billion in November on account of contraction in shipments of key sectors like petroleum, engineering, chemicals and gems and jewellery, official data showed on Tuesday. Trade deficit during the month narrowed to $9.87 billion as imports too declined by 13.32 per cent to $33.39 billion.
Growing for the third consecutive month, the country's exports rose marginally by 0.67 per cent year-on-year to $27.93 billion in February even as trade deficit widened to $12.62 billion, according to official data released on Monday.
In the interview to Business Standard last week, Chary had stated that the government's proposal to merge was unwarranted and that FTIL shareholders did not benefit from higher dividends from NSEL.
The FIEO on Thursday reiterated that the Customs authorities at several ports in India had ordered a sudden examination of Chinese consignments without any official word from the government, and this may have led to the Chinese retribution.
India's exports rose marginally to $27.15 billion in December 2020, while imports surged 7.56 per cent to $42.59 billion, official data showed on Friday. The merchandise exports were valued at $27.11 billion in December 2019 while imports had totalled $39.59 billion.
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.
Sectors with positive growth during the month include rice, iron ore, oil seeds, oil meals, meat, dairy and poultry products, pharmaceuticals, coffee, engineering goods, and plastic.
Imports also fell for the eighth consecutive months, down 0.75 per cent to $41.14 billion in January, widening the trade deficit to a seven-month high of $15.17 billion.
Imports too tumbled by 58.65 per cent to $17.12 billion in April from $41.4 billion in the same month last year, according to the data by the commerce and industry ministry.
Out of 30 key export sectors, as many as 22 showed negative growth in September.
Export sectors that showed positive growth last month included chemical, iron ore, electronics, marine products and pharmaceuticals. Decline in overall imports, including oil and gold, led to narrowing of trade deficit.
Imports too declined 26 per cent to $29.47 billion in August, leaving a trade deficit of $6.77 billion.
After staging a strong recovery from COVID-induced slowdown in 2021, India's exports are likely to extend the growth story to the New Year also on increased demand in the global markets, boost in domestic manufacturing due to production-linked incentive schemes and implementation of some interim trade pacts. Expectations of positive growth in the country's exports are also backed up by the outlook of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which predicts a 4.7 per cent expansion in the global merchandise trade volume in 2022. Exporters believe that the outbound shipments would cross $400 billion mark in this fiscal going by the current momentum and may reach $475 billion in 2022-23.
Imports too declined by 16.31 per cent to $37.39 billion.
Import segments which recorded negative growth include gold, silver, transport equipment, coal, fertiliser, machinery and machine tools. However, exports of oil seeds, coffee, rice, tobacco, spices, pharma, and chemicals reported positive growth in June.
Imports too contracted by 28.72 per cent to $31.16 billion. Dip in exports and imports narrowed the trade deficit -- the difference between imports and exports -- in March to $9.76 billion, the lowest in the last 13 months.
With exporters' claim for over five months still pending, liquidity has been wiped out and the process of finalising new contracts has been held up.
Barring rice, spices, iron ore and pharmaceuticals, all the remaining 26 key sectors registered negative growth in May. Imports too plunged 51 per cent to $22.2 billion in May.
Investor forum wants govt to take over exchange, raises doubts on claims of matching stocks; NSEL says default by brokers to be dealt with legally.
The prime minister is likely to talk about its possible extension.
A special court on Thursday acquitted all accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam cases. The scam relates to the granting of 2G spectrum licence allocations in 2007-08 which caused, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore. Here is a detailed timeline of how the case came to light and how it has progressed over the years:
The court said a 'scam was created when there was none'.