The growth of eight key infrastructure sectors rose to a 14-month high of 12.1 per cent in August 2023 against 4.2 per cent a year ago, mainly due to expansion in production of coal, crude oil, and natural gas, according to the official data released on Friday. The expansion in August is the highest since June 2022, when it was 13.2 per cent. The production of refinery products, steel, cement and electricity also grew in August, the data showed.
On the back of rising crude oil purchases, India's bill for imports from sanctions-hit Russia jumped 3.5 times in a year in April to $2.3 billion, showed data from the commerce ministry. In April, India's crude oil imports from Russia were valued at $1.3 billion, 57 per cent of India's total inbound shipments from Russia. Other major imported items during the month included coal, soybean and sunflower oil, fertilisers, and non-industrial diamonds. That month, Russia was also the fourth-largest crude petroleum supplier to India, after Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Centre on Friday said it will sell 'Bharat Rice' in the retail market at Rs 29 per kg from next week to give relief to the common man and has also directed traders to disclose rice/paddy stock, as part of its efforts to control prices that have risen by around 15 per cent in the last one year. In a press conference, Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra exuded confidence that these two measures along with the various restrictions of exports will help in cooling down the prices. Seeking to dispel market rumours, he categorically said the government has no plans to lift restrictions on rice exports any time soon.
In September, 2010, the country's outbound shipments were valued at $18.2 billion.
The department of commerce has urged the agriculture ministry as well as the diplomatic mission in Tehran to apprise it of details as to why Iranian buyers have stopped import of rice and tea from India, a senior government official said. Exporters said that exports of items such as high quality tea and rice have stopped since last week. As of now, there has been no confirmation from the authorities and the response from the embassy in Tehran is also taking time, they said.
The government will announce the annual Foreign Trade Policy on April 8, which will aim at giving a boost to exports of pharmaceutical, auto components and services.
The government has constituted a high-powered committee, headed by Planning Commission Member NK Singh, to set new guidelines for regulating film financing.
Telecom firms earning foreign exchange on incoming overseas calls, Internet services and rentals from cable networks are not entitled to duty sops under an export promotion scheme, says the government.
The items prohibited for import into India from the neighbouring country would include chocolate and chocolate products, candies, confectioneries and food preparations with milk as an ingredient.
The next Budget is likely to see significant changes in the duty structure for the gems and jewellery sector
The commerce ministry has mandated bar coding on all medicine packs meant for exports from July 1, to trace and track these medicines to its source of origin. The move is in response to quality concerns raised against Indian drugs by some African countries.
Breaking its silence on reports that Chinese telecom equipment makers are being banned in India on security reasons, Beijing on Monday urged New Delhi to remove restrictions and said such curbs amount to discrimination.
Imports grew at a faster rate of 20.25 per cent to $40.1 billion.
According to data released by the commerce and industry ministry, exports stood at $25.01 billion in the month. The fall is only the second time exports contracted in the past year.
There was a wide fluctuation in the growth rate for exports when the basis of comparison was changed from provisional-to-provisional to provisional-to-provisionally revised or final.
For the purpose the ministry will rope in the private sector companies to give a boost to Indian tea abroad.
Cumulative exports during April-August of 2017-18 rose by 8.57 per cent to $118.57 billion
Increase in gold imports pushed the country's trade deficit to a five-month high of $ 15.33 billion in April.
Scores of leading SEZ promoters, including Infosys Technologies, CMC Ltd, Hindalco Industries, NIIT Technologies, HCL Technologies, Orient Craft Infrastructure, L&T Phoenix Infoparks and K Raheja Corp, have sought more time from the Board of Approval, which is meeting in New Delhi on June 2.
Is Guar the next commodity that is likely to be banned by the Forward Markets Commission?
According to industry experts, there are more than 10,000 drug manufacturers in the country and most of them are small-sector units operating in the generic segment. With a large number of drugs going off-patent in developed markets like the US and Europe, Indian companies are expected to garner a lion's share in the segment.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in the commerce ministry has asked state governments and central ministries to re-examine and streamline existing procedures, so as to provide a hassle-free environment for business.
China which recently emerged as the world's second largest economy has now become the fifth biggest global investor even as Foreign Direct Investment into the country is set to cross $100 billion this year.
India's exports are growing at 20 per cent an year and will cross the target of $92 billion set for 2005-06, according to the annual report of the commerce ministry released on Thursday.
A combination of externalities such as global trade wars and slowing growth, continuing glitches in accessing offsets under the GST regime, which has created a liquidity crunch for smaller exporters, and the growing competitiveness of smaller countries are causing the slowdown.
The economy clocked a robust 7.9 per cent growth in the second quarter, catapulted by a stimulus packages-powered strong industrial growth. And, manufacturing grew by 9.2 per cent against 5.1 per cent in the year-ago quarter.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the nodal department that handles intellectual property rights (IPR) related matters under the commerce ministry, is launching an ambitious Rs 300-crore (Rs 3 billion) project to sensitise all stakeholders, including law enforcement agencies, scientists, companies, ministries and the general public on IPR issues.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a directive that telecom operators will have to refund the duty sops availed under the commerce ministry's export promotion scheme for services -- Served From India Scheme.
India on Tuesday banned exports and imports of all items from North Korea that can be used in nuclear or ballistic missile plans. The Commerce Ministry imposed a blanket ban on "all items, materials, equipment, goods and technologies which could contribute to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's nuclear-related, ballistic missile-related and other weapons of mass destruction-related programmes".
According to the Morcha, the demands which Delhi Chalo has been called include: MSP should be guaranteed as per C2+50 percent formula and, as promised, a law should be made to guarantee it; all the farmers should be made debt free, and all agricultural loan must be waived.
Negotiators from the two sides will meet in July either at Brussels or Geneva, additional secretary in the commerce ministry D K Mittal told PTI.
Wholesale inflation rate eased to 34-month low of (-) 0.92 per cent in April on easing prices of food, fuel and manufactured items. The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation has been on a declining trend for 11 months in a row and entered the negative zone in April. In June 2020 WPI was at (-) 1.81 per cent.
However, the countries did not take up the issue of proposed withdrawal of export incentives by the US to Indian exporters under Generalized System of Preference.
The wholesale price-based inflation declined to 4.95 per cent in December 2022, mainly due to fall in prices of food articles and crude petroleum. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was 5.85 per cent in November 2022 and 14.27 per cent in December 2021. Inflation in food articles was (-)1.25 per cent, while in fuel and power it was 18.09 per cent during December 2022.
