The deficit would have been lower if gold imports hadn't shot up 85.16 per cent last month to $2.91 billion
"It will become clear in the next few days whether the US and other developed countries are serious to conclude the Doha negotiations, which have dragged for seven long years," a senior commerce ministry official told PTI. India along with other members of the G-33 (a group of countries with protective interest) is apprehensive of the US exerting pressure on the negotiating group to cut the number of Special Products.
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.
Potato, a daily consumable vegetable, witnessed maximum inflationary pressure at 60.58 per cent
The finance ministry is considering a suggestion by the Commerce Ministry to enhance duty neutralisation rates to make up for revenue lost by exporters due to sharp appreciation in the rupee.
With regards to continuing the anti-dumping duty on import of raw silk from China, the Commerce Ministry has ordered a sunset review investigation by the Central Silk Board in the matter. In face of the pending investigation, the duty has been extended for another year up to January 1, 2009. The silk growers in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir are concerned that this exercise may lead to opening up the silk imports from China.
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.
The commerce ministry is preparing a note for the Cabinet proposing further relief for the rupee-hit exporters, especially those in the job-oriented textiles and leather sectors. The package is likely to be cleared by Commerce Minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday before it goes to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs later this week, he said.
The Commerce Ministry is set to unveil the annual review of the Foreign Trade Policy on April 11. It would not be exports alone which would be the focus, but steps to ease imports are also likely to give a boost to supply of essential commodities.The government is facing political pressure from many quarters, including the Left parties, to check the rising prices within a couple of weeks.
The government has notified new rules to enforce Intellectual Property Rights at the imports stage. The notifications prohibiting import or export of goods that infringe on IPR have also been issued.
In a move aimed at checking the revenue loss stemming from Indian shoppers purchasing luxury brands abroad, the government on Friday said it could rationalise import duties."India has high tariffs and we recognise that if you go abroad and buy, then it is a revenue loss for India. So we are working on both duties and countervailing duties," Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said.
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.
The commerce ministry is currently firming up the annual supplement to the FTP, which is likely to be unveiled in April. Referring to the export performance during 2007-08, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said, actual export was likely to remain short of the target of $160 billion. The exports during the year were likely to reach a level of $152-155 billion, he added.
NSO has pegged economic growth at 5 per cent in 2019-20 in its second advance estimates.
The recent Foreign Trade Policy announcement to waive service tax for exporters had the backing of the Prime Minister, Commerce Ministry sources said on Tuesday.
The government's announcement to fund fashion initiatives is likely to provide a fillip to this largely unorganised sector.
The exercise is aimed at finalising India's position for a free trade agreement with BIMSTEC nations.
The eGoM on SEZ, headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee could not meet since January 2007, as controversies and violent protests broke out on the issue.
General Budget is a terminology earlier used to differentiate between the Union Budget with the Railway Budget. Full-fledged budgets are titled "Union Budget", while interim Budgets are titled just that.
eGOM is likely to reconsider the 5000 hectre SEZ land ceiling limit in the coming month.
"We will write to the Centre to scrap the eight proposals pending for approval while we will not notify the four (SEZs) that are already approved. About the rest three, we will take up the matter with the Centre to denotify them," said Chief Minister Digamber Kamat.
The commerce ministry had, in March, put on hold this change in the SEZ rules.
Joshi's decision to step down comes a couple of days after Home Secretary L C Goyal sought early retirement, 17 months before his term was to lapse
The commerce ministry will put up a note to the Cabinet for 100% FDI in speciality retail like electronics, building equipment etc.
The commerce ministry-promoted Spices Board is getting into retail by floating a company to market spices in India and abroad.
Exports from India to Pakistan increased by 95.63 per cent to $1.3 billion in 2006-07 against $690 million in the previous fiscal. Imports from Pakistan in the same year were worth $320 million, an 80 per cent increase over the year-ago figure of $180 million. Within the SAARC block, India has been the biggest trading partner of Pakistan in the last six years. According to analysts, India's share in Pakistan's total trade over the last six years stands at almost 50%
Some new sectors in which the commerce ministry has proposed to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) are credit information companies and commodity exchanges. The ministry is in favour of allowing up to 49 per cent FDI proposed in both these sectors. In proposing to open up the commodity sector, the ministry has said that FII investment be limited to 24 per cent, with a condition that a foreign investor cannot hold more than 10 per cent equity in the investing companies
The department of commerce may de-recognise the 247-hectare engineering special economic zone at Hazira, promoted by Essar Hazira SEZ Ltd.
The farm sector's contribution to Indian economy is just around 20 per cent and rural India is in a shambles.
China will open up service sectors such as education, finance and culture for FDI to remain an attractive destination for overseas investment.
The government will not stop companies from filing fresh applications seeking permission to set up special economic zones. However, it will not process any fresh applications until it clears the backlog of over 360 pending proposals.
French dairy major Groupe Danone has offered to pay the Wadia Group euro1 million ($1.34 million) as compensation to use its Tiger brand in international markets.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday favoured a compensation policy that ensures adequate return to farmers for giving up land holding rights in favour of any upcoming special economic zone project.
The commerce ministry has allowed the technical expert group headed by former Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Chief R A Mashelkar to correct the "technical inacuracies" in the patent law report and re-submit it within three months.
The highlights of the export package was the increase of drawback rates by an average 2 percentage to 3 percentage points with retrospective effect from April 1.
Government said on Wednesday it has extended by one year the in-principle approval to Reliance Industries' Maha Mumbai special economic zone but asked the promoters to cut the size of the zone to 5,000 hectares in line with the new rules.
Since no communication has been received from the Goan govt. on the cancellation of SEZs, the issue remains unresolved.
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