The exercise is aimed at finalising India's position for a free trade agreement with BIMSTEC nations.
The California walnuts shipped from the US to India have seen a sharp uptick with imports more than doubling from September to November against the same period last year. This comes after New Delhi removed its retaliatory customs tariffs on the key dry fruit. Two days ahead of US President Joe Biden's visit to New Delhi to attend the G20 Summit on September 9-10, India dropped additional customs duties on about half a dozen US goods that were imposed in 2019 in response to America raising tariffs on certain steel and aluminum products coming from India.
Even as the bilateral relationship between the two neighbouring countries remains hostile, there is growing coordination between India and Pakistan on one multilateral forum - the World Trade Organization (WTO). Both countries have made two joint submissions at the WTO as co-sponsors in the past two months. In June, Pakistan joined India, Cuba, and 44 African countries, seeking sufficient flexibility in intellectual property rights for developing countries to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12), Rs 550 crore (Rs 5.5 billion) was provided for promoting exports through Market Access Initiative scheme.
A high-powered inter-ministerial committee was expected to finalise the list based on the suggestions and recommendations from different chambers, business houses and trade experts, the Daily Star newspaper reported.
Overall exports in 2008-09 grow at slowest pace in 7 yrs.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade on Monday notified Duty Entitlement Pass Book Scheme (refund of local taxes) on cement exports. The commerce ministry had lifted the 46-day old ban on cement exports on May 27. However, it had allowed shipments only through ports in Gujarat. The state accounts for 95 per cent of the total cement exports.
India's exports and imports have together dipped for the first time in seven years, signalling weakening of domestic and external demand in the backdrop of global economic crisis. Government officials said the sale of Indian goods in overseas markets was likely to see a dip in February as well.
'Das is friendly, but he finally does what he does. The quality of engagement is very good.'
Hong Kong-headquartered Growth-Link Overseas has announced it would invest Rs 300 crore to build a manufacturing facility for Nike footwear at Cheyyar, near Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu.
In the previous fiscal, exports from the SEZs was Rs 99,689 crore (Rs 996.89 billion). Exports from Reliance Industries' Jamnagar refinery is likely to contribute substantially to the total shipments this fiscal, another official said.
A dip in petroleum product exports for the first time in the current fiscal has contributed to a 22 per cent decline in merchandise exports in January, commerce ministry data reveals.
Relief for exporters, additional incentives for export of farm products other than those in short supply and more steps to check inflation through hassle-free and cheap imports are likely to be announced on Friday in the last review of Foreign Trade Policy by the UPA government.
A revamped Electronic Data Interface system and easier norms for the Accredited Clients Programme are some features likely to be introduced to reduce the transaction time and costs of exporters. Some of the measures may figure in the annual supplement to the Foreign Trade Policy, which is being released on Apr 11. ComMin officials expect the new Electronic Data Interface System to become operational by the end of this fiscal. Exporters will have to submit lesser documents.
rediffGURU Geeta Ratra offers expert advice on international courses, student visas and immigration processes.
Initial commerce ministry estimates suggest a 10 per cent contraction in exports in December. Coming after 12 and 9.9 per cent falls in October and November respectively, India is unlikely to meet the export target of $ 200 billion in the current fiscal. The last quarterly dip occurred in 2001, when exports were in the negative territory for six consecutive months ending December that year, data provided by the Reserve Bank of India and the commerce ministry showed.
From toys, footwear and furniture to insulated flasks, smart meters, and air coolers - the Central government over the last decade has mandated higher standards for production and imports of such items. Sample this: Till 2014, there were 14 Quality Control Orders (QCOs) covering 106 products. By the latest count, there are 156 QCOs on 672 products.
The case has been registered against entities such as the Halal India Private Limited Chennai, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Halal Trust Delhi, Halal Council of India Mumbai, Jamiat Ulama Maharashtra and others for allegedly exploiting religious sentiments to boost sales by providing halal certificates to customers of a specific religion, the UP government said in a statement on Saturday.
Top gainers in the Sensex pack included Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, RIL, ITC, Vedanta, Asian Paints, HDFC and Infosys, advancing up to 3.02 per cent.
Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava had on Monday recommended the use of hydroxychloroquine for treating healthcare workers handling suspected or confirmed coronavirus cases.
The Centre will invest around Rs 200 crore over five years for the exploration and development of these mines.
Trade deficit marginally widened to $9.85 billion as against $9.72 billion in February 2019.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram has so far given three packages to exporters aggregating Rs 5,200 crore (Rs 52 billion) as the $160 billion export target for 2007-08 appears difficult to meet. He has expressed hope that exports target would be met. Palanimanickam said government was already providing 100 per cent tax benefits on profit on exports apart from indirect tax incentives.
The boom in world trade has ensured that export has grown by over 20 per cent. Has the FTP contributed to the stellar growth in exports? T N Rajagopalan thinks it did.
India's inflation rate shot up to its highest level in more than 16 years this month, increasing the chances of the fourth rise in interest rates in Asia's third-largest economy since June.
Since the SEZ Act was notified in February 2006, 22 SEZs have been up and running. In the last financial year (2006-07), these SEZs collectively exported goods worth Rs 33,000 crore (Rs 330 billion) , roughly 6 per cent of India's total exports of Rs 5,71,641 crore (Rs 5716.41 billion). Officials also pointed out that 52,000 people have found employment in the new SEZs set up after 2005.
While admitting India's persistent stand on the issue might delay the agreement, a top commerce ministry official said the talks were on track. "We will maintain a hardline stand," said the official. It is to be noted, the sixth round of EU-India trade negotiation in Delhi in March ended without any substantial progress because of the tariff-related issues. The EU is India's largest trading partner and the total bilateral trade stood at over $70 billion in 2008-09.
India's software exports suffered a severe setback in March declining by 96.6 per cent to $1 million from the year-ago period due to recession in world's major economies like the US and the Europe.
Inflation for the month of August stood at 8.51 per cent, according to the new Wholesale Price Inflation (WPI) series.
The country's exports rose by 48.34 per cent to $32.5 billion on account of healthy growth in shipments of petroleum products, gems and jewellery, and chemicals, leather and marine goods, according to the data released by the Commerce Ministry on Thursday. Imports in June too rose by 98.31 per cent to $41.87 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $9.37 billion as against a trade surplus of $0.79 billion in the same month last year. During April-June 2021, the exports increased by 85.88 per cent to $95.39 billion.
Iraq has urged the international community to help prevent ISIS from gleaning profits from oil smuggling
The US must make substantial cuts in farm subsidies and scale down demands for tariff reductions by developing countries to enable the stalled WTO talks to move forward, India's top trade negotiator said on Thursday.
The commerce ministry had, in March, put on hold this change in the SEZ rules.
The commerce ministry on Wednesday reiterated that the three notified special economic zones in Goa could not be scrapped by the Centre. It added that the issue had to be sorted between the state government and developers of the zones. Even as the Goa government has raised the issue of scrapping three notified special economic zones with the Centre, the state administration has till date not sent any formal communication to the SEZs in this regard.
In view of popular sentiments, the Goa government had decided to scrap 12 SEZs and sought denotification of three SEZs from the Centre. In view of popular sentiments, the Goa government had decided to scrap 12 SEZs and sought denotification of three SEZs from the Centre. The three SEZs for Meditab Specialities, Peninsula Pharma Research Centre and K Raheja Corporation had started work on the sites before the state government issued them stop-work orders.