In the June quarter of 2024-2025, smartphone exports hit $2 billion, well ahead of non-industrial diamond exports, which stood at $1.44 billion.
Data localisation, an overarching theme across recent government policy proposals, has been a thorny issue with industry
As the Union government explores ways to restrict import of laptops and other electronic devices starting with a 5 per cent reduction from the current level, it is working to ensure that there's no supply disruption in India even if an import cap is introduced, it is learnt. The caveat assumes significance in the context of the government's announcement of its plan in August 2023 to issue licences for import of select IT hardware products to reduce the country's dependence on China.
What stood out in his 15-year journey as a member of the political executive at the Centre was his glowing record as India's most successful and effective finance minister. Both as prime minister and finance minister, he understood the importance of gradualism, except when the economy or the polity was in a crisis.
He drew the roadmap of India's economic reform, unshackled it from the licence raj and pulled it back from the brink when even its gold reserve was pledged.
The two countries also signed a 'Memorandum of Agreement regarding the Assignment of Liaison Officers', which will facilitate the posting of one military officer from each country with the military of the other.
According to CAIT, e-commerce policy should take within its ambit not only foreign players but also domestic ones.
India's import of personal computers, including laptops and tablets, shot up in September by 42 per cent to $715 million, reversing a year-long downward trend after the government announced it would impose import restrictions on such electronic hardware items in August. The rise in such imports were led by the largest source China (33 per cent) and Singapore (188 per cent), according to data released by the commerce department. On August 3, the Centre had announced it was planning to bring seven products in the information technology hardware segment, such as personal computers, micro computers, mainframe computers, super computers, computer systems and data processing units under the 'restricted' label.
Eyeing $9 billion business opportunity in booming e-commerce business, India Post, which has the biggest network and serves the last mile, is boosting its infrastructure for real-time tracking of parcels through satellites using a new technology.
Ecommerce firms will have it tough as govt turns down FDI proposal.
The actor-turned-politician has been allotted Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, Environment, Forests, and Science and Technology portfolios.
India is expected to ramp up its purchase of crude oil from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the coming months following discussions between the two countries on the sidelines of the ongoing COP28 summit in Dubai, multiple sources in the know said. The UAE has historically been India's third-largest source of crude. It has suffered the largest drop in shipments since Indian refiners began to binge on Russian crude in 2022.
'The FSIB will conduct interviews for the SBI chairman position on May 21-22 as the tenure of the current chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara is scheduled to end by August.'
Govt's e-commerce portal asks sellers to specify country origin of products. Now, the commerce & industry ministry has mandated that the Government e-Marketplace, which has seen Rs 55,048 crore worth of transactions till now, adopt this approach in the interest of creating an 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'.
Following the disengagement, both sides will soon start the coordinated patrolling in their respective areas, sources added.
Sukanya Verma gives you some interesting options to choose from.
Ajit Balakrishnan offers a thinking man's guide to e-commerce controversies.
Ro Khanna, 32, has been appointed by President Barack Obama as the new deputy assistant secretary of commerce for domestic operations of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service, International Trade Administration at the US Department of Commerce.He is the first Indian American to be named for a senior position in the Department of Commerce in the Obama administration, whose portfolio will have a direct impact on US-India trade and commercial ties.
The finance ministry has turned down a proposal for shifting the exporters' tax refund plan to the commerce ministry, which has been lobbying hard to take charge of the duty entitlement pass book scheme.
The government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is likely to start levying user charges in the current financial year.
Three years and Rs 28,710 crore worth of transactions later, it has more than double the number of sellers than Flipkart.
The finance minister continues to be backed by the same policy team in charting out the broad strategy as in the few earlier Budgets.
The government is planning to tweak its procurement policy to give a fillip to domestic manufacturing. The industry department has floated a proposal to raise the minimum local content requirement for public procurement for Class-I and -II suppliers from 50 per cent currently to 70 per cent, and 20 per cent as of now to 50 per cent, respectively.
The delivery channel of India Post is being utilised primarily for small towns and cities.
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.
The e-commerce companies believe the government is using this exercise to take an unauthorised look into their financials, shareholding and operations.
Here is the complete list of ministers in Modi 3.0 and their portfolios:
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.
He also pointed out the high sums earned by the coaching centres leading to the commercialisation of education.
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
The commerce department has said that earnings through the new tax will equal the losses faced by Indian industry after the US tariffs on steel and aluminium.
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.
The Income Tax department has trained its scanner on the burgeoning 'e-commerce' business in the country.
'The overwhelming evidence from various studies and reports indicates that the current work culture in the IT sector, characterised by excessive hours, has severe consequences for health, productivity, and overall quality of life.'
Tax concealment in case of Walmart-owned Flipkart's unit is about Rs 650 crore while the remaining estimation is related to Swiggy.
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.
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.
"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.
We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
