India and the United Kingdom have agreed on the text of a landmark civil nuclear agreement and a formal pact may be signed within a week, Britain's Business Secretary Lord Peter Mandelson announced on Thursday. "The civil nuclear deal text has been agreed to and it will be signed soon, may be within a week after ministerial approvals," Lord Mandelson told a joint press conference with Commerce Minister Anand Sharma.
Cong leader Anand Sharma said the PM should provide a 'healing touch' and should call a meeting of all CMs at the NIC to discuss this matter.
The zero-duty EPCG scheme is in addition to the 3 per cent EPCG scheme that was introduced last year.
The centre will be cautious in withdrawing the fiscal stimulus packages given to key-sectors and will do so only after ensuring growth is sustainable in the economy, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma said.
India's exports grew by 9 per cent to $14.6 billion (around Rs 66, 250 crore) in December.
These may weaken India's long-standing demand of easy, flexible rules.
Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad made this assertion outside Parliament while speaking to reporters and said the revocation of suspension of the Opposition Rajya Sabha MPs was not a demand, but a 'request'.
The five-year Foreign Trade Policy, to be unveiled on August 27, is expected to give incentives to Indian exporters to widen their global markets beyond the United States, the European Union and Japan in the face of the economic crisis in these key destinations.
The pact on trade in goods under the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement was signed by Indian commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma and ASEAN economic ministers after more than six years of intense negotiations.
Exporters, facing slump in demand in the major markets of the US and EU, are expecting incentives in the foreign trade policy, to be unveiled in the second half of the month. The FTP broadly spells out the segments of priority in external trade and also gives incentives and disincentives, depending on the country's needs.
India was fourth in 2008, in terms of FDI inflows, among developing countries, he said referring to UNCTAD World Investment Report (WIR) 2009.
But the government rejected their demand and instead promised to hold an internal inquiry.
"... An early conclusion of Doha Round is important; India is willing to take part in negotiations at the WTO provided the core concerns of the Round, namely development concerns of developing nations are addressed," commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma told Rajya Sabha.
"Any country shouldn't be giving military aid to Pakistan until it works effectively in a demonstrative manner to dismantle the terror infrastructure," Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma told media-persons in New Delhi.
Batting for the worried SEZ developers who fear withdrawal of incentives in the new direct tax code, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Friday said his ministry would ensure that the sops continue.
In reply to a Rajya Sabha question, minister of state for information and broadcasting Anand Sharma stated that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had informed that a comparison of entry level package prices of a few DTH operators with CAS offerings reveals that DTH pricing in the country are not exorbitant.
The minister addressed the Global India Business Meeting organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the German city. CEOs of leading firms from India, Germany, the US and Saudi Arabia, including Siemens, Volkswagen, AirAsia, Bajaj Auto, Genpact India and Infosys attended the conclave.
Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma warned against protectionist measures resorted to by developed countries saying those measures would further deepen recession and delay a recovery in the world economy.
For the second time since Press Note 2 and 4 were issued in February 2009, the Department of Economic Affairs in the finance ministry has raised questions on their implementation, this time over an application before the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.
Besides addressing a high-level meeting of the US-India Business Council at Washington on June 17, Sharma will hold discussions with the US secretary of state Hillary Clinton. During his three-day engagements, the commerce and industry minister would meet US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and US trade representative Ronald Kirk.
India on Monday emphasised the need for resuming talks on the WTO's stalled Doha Round, stating that the negotiating text for global trade can be the staring point for further talks.
The government will unveil measures in the Budget for helping exporters who are hit hard by recession in the developed economies, new Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said on Friday.
India will intensify its global economic engagement in sync with the country's profile and the government will take 'every possible step' to give a filip to the industry, new commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said on Friday. Sharma is taking charge of the trade ministry at a time when India's exports have suffered a severe setback due to the global downturn.
A policy change on full convertibility of rupee is not possible at present, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said in New Delhi. Even finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday that 'we welcome the deal but it should in the context of existing laws of the land'.
At present, there is no direct air connectivity between India and Myanmar.
Deadlock in Rajya Sabha continued for the fourth day on Thursday as opposition kept demanding a reply by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a debate on religious conversions, which the government steadfastly rejected.
On his maiden visit to New Delhi to attend the two-day informal ministerial meet on Doha round, Kirk told reporters in a teleconference that he would be back to New Delhi in just over a month for 'continued talks' relative to the Trade Policy Forum.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said he expected exports to reach $200 billion in the financial year ending March 2011.
India is the world's largest diamond cutting centre.
India on Thursday extended tax holiday and duty refund for exporters, while allowing duty free capital goods import under its Foreign Trade Policy to insulate them from protectionism induced by recession abroad. Unveiling the five-year policy, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma set a target of $200 billion worth exports for next fiscal, a feat that India failed to achieve in 2008-09 due to a slump in global demand in the face of financial crisis.
India on Monday condemned the deadly terror attack on a police training centre in Lahore and asked Pakistan to continue dismantling the terror infrastructure on its soil.
The body of the former minister, wrapped in a tricolour, was brought to the crematorium in the afternoon from the BJP headquarters, where it was kept for few hours for people to pay their respects.
It appears that the focus of commerce minister Anand Sharma, when he unveils the new foreign trade policy, will be to eliminate unnecessary paperwork and thereby help reduce transaction costs for exporters, while retaining the basic framework of the present FTP.
Continuing its association with the Aam Aadmi, the Congress's slogan for the 2009 Lok Sabha poll, which was unveiled on Friday, banks heavily on the common man. 'Aam admi ke badte kadam, har kadam par Bharat bulund', is the Congress' theme to woo the common man. Interestingly, the new slogan for the Parliamentary election has been penned by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anand Sharma and senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid.
Patel, 71, who was critical for a few days, was admitted to the Medanta hospital in Gurugram on November 15 after he developed complications. His son Faisal said he died at 3.30 am.
The advertisement rates had gone up substantially in recent months with a 24 per cent increase effected in October last year, minister of state for information and broadcasting Anand Sharma said. The government has also withdrawn customs duty on import of newsprint as well as glazed print magazines, he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday assured at the all-party meeting that the government is ready to discuss all issues.
The downward slide in Indian exports following recession in major markets of the United States and Europe, has been arrested, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Wal-Mart chief S Robson Walton met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sharma last week and discussed the foreign direct investment scenario in the retail sector in India.
"Indian foreign direct investment in the US is more than America's FDI in India."
