Exports to India's key markets - the US, the United Arab Emirates, China, Singapore, Bangladesh and Germany - witnessed a sharp decline, resulting in a 12.69 per cent contraction in outbound shipments during the first month of the current financial year, commerce department data showed. India's biggest export market - the US - with 17 per cent share witnessed 17.16 per cent contraction at $5.9 billion in April. This was followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that saw 22.09 per cent decline at $2.23 billion exports.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Kathmandu on Tuesday to attend his first SAARC Summit, being hosted by the Government of Nepal.
Protectionist and exclusionary FTAs weaken multilateralism.
Their favourite alternatives: Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Note, India is missing from that list. And this is despite an attractive financial incentive scheme for OSAT players. The reason, said a senior executive of a US chip company who had a meeting in Taiwan just a few weeks ago, is that "they want more predictability in government policy because they plan to put in big money."
Aiming to give fillip to India's Look East policy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to announce new initiatives to take forward ties with the ASEAN by setting up a mission and appointing an ambassador for the 10-member grouping.
This is Modi's first visit to the Maldives as prime minister. The last visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the Indian Ocean island nation was by Manmohan Singh in 2011.
The road will help in transportation of goods and further development of SMEs in North East India
India Inc had cheered Donald Trump's decision to scrap TPP, but now there is a growing sense that it won't really lead to positive growth in trade with the US. Subhayan Chakraborty reports.
India has been forcefully raising the issue of market access as well as protected lists of goods mainly to shield its domestic market as there have been fears that the country may be flooded with cheap Chinese agricultural and industrial products once it signs the deal.
Had India agreed to join the trade pact, Indian markets would have been flooded with cheap Chinese products.
Bangladesh is in turmoil, which is not good news for India, which shares a porous 4000 km border with it. There is a danger of fundamentalism growing there, and India has to move in to reset its ties with the new dispensation before China and Pakistan make capital out of it, alerts Ramesh Menon.
"We see the Indian economy rebounding from our projected 6.1 per cent growth this fiscal year to something like 7 per cent in the next fiscal year (2020). We see the factors that will support growth, including monetary policy stimulus, working their way through the pipeline," Jonathan Ostry, Deputy Director, Asia Pacific Department at the IMF, told reporters.
These categories rank among India's top 10 export items by value.
India, China must further strengthen business ties for growth.
The BRICS summit made clear that China's support for Pakistan is unwavering. China will continue to pressure India to ease tensions with Pakistan and resolve the Kashmir dispute.
The Chinese envoy recommends an early harvest on the border issue while maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas, reports Ajai Shukla.
The trigger that led Japan and the Philippines to ink the deal was because of the deteriorating security situation in the South China Sea. China's coast guard increased the frequency and intensity of incursions into Philippine waters, provoking the Philippines to take countermeasures to deter China, explains Dr Rajaram Panda.
The US is currently Earth's most powerful country and a certain latitude of understanding -- a world view -- is popularly expected from its leadership. From a country identified with freedom, constitution, debate, democracy and the likes of Abraham Lincoln even as it had the most powerful military around, the US, following Trump's actions, seemed repositioned as militarily powerful with other qualities secondary, observes Shyam G Menon.
Modi will have limited choice other than stressing upon a request for more time to decide on tariff rates, especially with elections in 2019.
Atul Keshap, a senior Indian American career diplomat and one of the rising stars in the United States foreign service, has been picked by Nisha Desai Biswal, the newly appointed assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, to be her deputy.
Eyeing greater cooperation with South East Asian countries on economic and security issues, India on Thursday announced a separate Mission for ASEAN region to be set up in Jakarta with a full-time resident Ambassador.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to South Korea is considered essential in strengthening defence ties, enhancing economic cooperation and forging cultural ties between the two countries, says Dr Rahul Mishra
He underlined that Lok Sabha election results in India show that the Modi government kept alive and strengthened the 'expectation of change' in the country.
India said it firmly believes that a peaceful and secure neighbourhood will yield "rich dividends" for SAARC nations.
The agreement on services, if ratified by all member countries, could prove to be a game changer for Indian professionals in education, healthcare & IT.
We take a look at India's major imports and exports with Japan in recent years.
Vietnam is a key player in India's act east policy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From India's perspective, a strategic partnership with Vietnam will only deepen political, economic, and security ties and be a bulwark against China, say Melissa S Hersh and Dr Ajey Lele
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is very much aligned with the foreign policy priorities of the Modi 2.0 government, says Sana Hashmi.
A Collection of Services Trade Statistics Act is being thought of.
The government has to cover a lot of ground if it wants to achieve the target of generating 10 million new jobs in the sector over the next three years, says Shyamal Majumdar.
'Without bold action to deal with our banking crisis, count on the economy's doldrums to continue for much longer than most of us anticipate,' says Rahul Jacob.
Major General S C N Jatar, who passed into the ages on Monday night, thwarted anti-national forces at the peak of the Assam agitation. Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) salutes this officer and gentleman.
Thailand's importance to India's Act East policy is too significant to be overlooked.
'It is not possible for New Delhi to take sides between Beijing and Washington.'
China's white paper on Asia-Pacific security cooperation extends an olive branch to India. It mentions India 15 times -- a record in all Chinese white papers issued so far. New Delhi's response will need to be carefully calibrated, says China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
The Summit comes at a time when China is flexing its muscle to tighten its grip over the disputed South China Sea.
The 'Missing link in India's Act East Policy', as India's former foreign secretary Shyam Saran calls it, needs to be filled sooner rather than later, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
As US President Joe Biden launched a new trade deal with 12 Indo-Pacific nations, including India, to enhance trade, economic and investment opportunities, China, which sees the pact as a threat to its dominance in the region, went on the offensive against it, promising more opening up, while the official media here termed it as "economic Nato".
Modi will have a number of high-profile multilateral and bilateral meetings with global leaders including United States Vice President Mike Pence and Singapore premier Lee Hsein Loong.
'China feels India will be hard-pressed not to go after China because we are so badly dependent on them -- and that is the reality.'
