This comes in the backdrop of declining demand from traditional export markets like the US and Europe due to the ongoing global economic crisis. The increase in allocation to MDA and MAI would be mainly towards developing nations like Brazil and South Africa.
The stormy second part of Budget Session continues. Both houses of Parliament have been facing continuous protests by opposition parties over issues like fuel price hike.
Mobiles phones without International Mobile Equipment Identity number are considered a grave security threat and concerns had been raised over their usage after terrorist attacks like the one in Mumbai in November last year. Despite the security threat, no government agency has till now approached the commerce ministry for a ban on import of such phones from China, a top source said on Thursday.
In more than a decade since 2002, 60 fugitives were extradited or deported by foreign governments to India, which received a major victory in its fight to bring the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks to justice when a US federal court agreed to the extradition of Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana to the country.
Demand for special economic zones (SEZs) appears to be reviving even as realty developers are shying away from developing these tax-free enclaves due to liquidity crunch, according to experts who are tracking SEZs.
So far, two rounds of negotiations have already taken place in this regard. India signed a Free Trade Agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in August, which will come into effect from January 1, and is committed to begin breaking duty barriers on goods.
Rentals for commercial complexes fell sharply and the land, developers felt, could be employed for other purposes.
A high-level inter-ministerial task force wants the business of narcotics to be simplified, something which, it said, would be an opportunity for the over $17-billion Indian pharmaceutical industry.
We have a government with an extremely weak economic team advising a PM who hardly pays attention to their thoughts, says Jayanta Roy.
The Department of Pharmaceuticals has submitted a freight subsidy scheme for exporters to the Commerce Ministry so that they could take alternate routes and avoid transit through Europe, which is a shorter route with better connectivity.
As sanctions-hit Russia increasingly relies on consumer products from India, outbound shipments to Russia have started picking up for the second consecutive month in October. This comes after it witnessed contraction for six consecutive months starting March, commerce and industry ministry data showed. During October, India exported goods worth $280 million, up 3.7 per cent as compared to a year ago. It was led by demand for items such as vegetables, tea, coffee, chemicals as well as iron and steel products.
Exports rise 36.4 per cent year-on-year, the highest in the past 33-months, to $22.5 billion in December 2010
The new Special Economic Zones, including the Reliance Industries' Jamnagar refinery, would help increase India's SEZ exports by 40 per cent this fiscal, righting partially the dismal picture of the country's total exports, according to government estimates.
According to initial estimates available with the commerce ministry, these sectors, which constitute a third of India's export basket, have posted a dip of 18-54 per cent in December 2008. Exporters claim they do not have orders beyond January 2009, adding that the situation could lead to 10 million job losses if things did not improve.
Imports were up by 19.8 per cent year-on-year to $37.7 billion in the month.
Earlier, this relaxation was given to only 'de-capacitated' employees or those who are travelling.
The applications for seeking withdrawal of approvals and extension of validity of clearances will be considered by the board of approvals in the commerce ministry in its meeting on October 5. Those seeking extension of time include Mumbai SEZ, promoted by Reliance Industries' Chairman Mukesh Ambani and his close aide Anand Jain, Gitanjali Gems, Jubliant Infrastructure and L&T Hitech City, an official said.
Imports during the period grew by 6.8 per cent to $27.68 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $9.72 billion, according to a Commerce Ministry data released in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The government on Thursday launched a Grievances Redress Cell for exporters and importers in a bid to improve the of the directorate general of foreign trade.
During the visit, the Prime Ministers will attend a community event in Sydney to celebrate Australia's dynamic and diverse Indian diaspora, "a core part of our multicultural community", the Australian government said in a statement.
Financial details of the project, awarded by the department of industrial policy and promotion, were not disclosed. The eBiz Project announced on Tuesday is among the 27 central, state and integrated mission mode projects under the National e-Governance Plan of the Department of Information Technology. Under it, Infosys will also do training, workshops, promotion and awareness campaigns.
Imports of sensitive items, including pulses and edible oils, went up by 42.2 per cent to Rs 40,281 crore (Rs 402.81 billion) in the April-August period this year.
All the three tax-free enclaves were given formal approval, which would have lapsed by end of this month. While the ministry granted extension of time 'on file', the decision has to be ratified by the inter-ministerial Board of Approval which is meeting here on June 17.
The Board of approval had given more time for Raheja's to develop their project in the state. The project is one amongst the three SEZs recommended to be denotified by the state government. Goa's Rajya Sabha member Shantaram Naik said he would meet new Union Commerce ministry Anand Sharma and brief him on the issue.
India's medical devices imports surged 41 per cent to touch Rs 63,200 crore in 2021-22, led by a 48 per cent year-on-year (YoY) jump in imports from China to Rs 13,538 crore, the commerce ministry data analysed by the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD) has showed. Local industry players say this has led to several small and medium units to shut shop. Rakesh Vaid of Usha Fabs, a garments exporter, had started making N95 masks in his Gurgaon factory during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Talks on an India-European Union Free Trade Agreement started in 2007. Six rounds of negotiations have been held but the two sides have not been able to arrive at a consensus on the level of trade to be covered under the FTA that will eventually eliminate duties on goods traded.
The government on Tuesday cleared nine fresh proposals for setting up special economic zones, most of which are related to IT and ITES, followed by the bio-technology sector.
Developers will now be able to get their land classified as an SEZ at the initial stage of approval by submitting legal documents that prove land ownership. With exports falling sharply in the last six months, faster development of SEZs is seen as one way of increasing overseas sales of Indian goods and services, an official said.
A feasibility study on the proposed Free Trade Agreement, officially known as the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, has long been finalised but cannot be acted upon in the absence of Russia joining the WTO.
Reeling under a cash crunch, the country's largest real estate player, DLF, has approached the government on surrendering its (DLF's) five of the nine IT-ITeS notified special economic zones (SEZ).
The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has named Ravneet Kaur, a Punjab cadre IAS officer of 1988 batch, as chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Kaur will hold the post for five years or until attaining the age of 65. She is the second woman to serve in an 'economic regulator' role after Madhabi Puri Buch, who was appointed chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India last year and the first woman to head the country's chief national competition regulator.
It is for the first time in the history of Independent India that not a single Muslim is part of the Union Cabinet.
Contracting for the third month in a row, India's exports declined by 8.8 per cent to $33.88 billion in February due to slowdown in global demand, even as the trade deficit touched about a year low of $17.43 billion during the month, according to official data released on Wednesday. Imports also declined by 8.21 per cent to $51.31 billion as against $55.9 billion recorded in the corresponding month last year. Cumulatively, however during April-February this fiscal, the country's overall merchandise exports rose by 7.5 per cent to $405.94 billion.
India's exports contracted by 13.7 per cent in February for the fifth consecutive month this fiscal, while imports too dipped by 18.2 per cent, continuing the trend that began in January when both exports and imports entered the negative territory, according to initial estimates available with the commerce ministry. Exports and imports in February are estimated at $13.04 billion and $17.02 billion, respectively.
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