Officials from India and the United Kingdom (UK) are working overtime to address the contentious issues related to the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the two nations, in a final push to conclude the deal by the year-end. Commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal was headed to London on Thursday after completing his four-day visit to Brazil. Other key officials from India's negotiating team will be joining Barthwal in the UK capital, hoping to make headway in the FTA negotiations, which started in January last year, a person aware of the matter told Business Standard.
"The Nazi Party started using a Hindu symbol and abused it. That's not the fault of the Hindus. For us swastika is a sacred symbol implying peace and prosperity."
India would have to put at least 10 percent of scientific, managerial and industrial inputs in the project.
The Greece package is aimed at rescuing foreign investors and delays the inevitable "rolling crisis" in that country
With Beijing remaining intransigent on the withdrawal of additional troops deployed by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) since the deadly border clash in 2020 in eastern Ladakh, India's bilateral ties with China remained frozen in 2023 with no forward movement on the horizon despite several rounds of diplomatic and military talks.
The David Cameron government has accepted the recommendation of the Migration Advisory Committee to specialist jobs such as pharmacists, veterinary surgeons, and speech and language therapists.
Gunmen launched an attack on the European Union military mission's headquarters in the Malian capital, Bamako, the apparent latest in a string of attacks on Western interests in the region.
Underlining the contribution of non-resident Indians, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said remittances sent to the country by overseas Indians were about $100 billion for the year 2022, an increase of 12 per cent in one year. Speaking at a session during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) convention in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city, she described NRIs as the "real ambassadors of India" and appealed to them to use made in India products and services as far as possible so that the country's individual brand can be promoted across the globe. Sitharaman also said that after the "China plus one" policy, the world is now talking about the "European Union (EU) plus one" policy.
Come December, India may have to re-evaluate purchases of Russian oil if a price cap on crude oil proposed by the US and the European Union (EU) comes into effect. That impacts nearly a quarter of India's oil purchases that come at a discount, helping limit marketing losses for India's state refiners and enabling New Delhi to manage inflation by freezing pump prices of motor fuels. In September, India imported 1 million barrels a day or 24 per cent of its overall imports from Russia, which became the biggest supplier of oil to India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden are set to hold bilateral talks on Friday evening with a focus on further solidifying the India-US comprehensive global and strategic partnership.
India, Russia, the US, China and several other countries would meet in Moscow later this month to decide on whether to take retaliatory measures against the EU on its 'unilateral' decision to impose carbon tax on air travel.
The EU should eliminate tariffs on 95 per cent of the goods under the Free Trade Agreement instead of the 90 per cent being targeted by the India-EU High Level Trade Group, the industry body said.
John Clancy, spokesperson for the European Commission's trade directorate, told Business Standard this week's talks would focus on 'tariffs and services'.
India's import of cheap Russian oil scaled another record in May and is now more than the combined oil bought from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, UAE and the US, industry data showed. India took 1.96 million barrels a day from Russia in May, 15 per cent more than the previous high in April, according to data from energy cargo tracker Vortexa. Russia now makes up for nearly 42 per cent of all crude oil India imported in May.
Citing the latest statistics from Eurostat, the ministrysaid trade between China and the European Union totalled Euro35.6 billion ($49.4 billion) in July, allowing the countryto overtake the US.
"We expect to host the India-EU summit under the UK presidency in New Delhi and welcome the British Prime Minister to our country later this year," External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh said.
The European Union has recently introduced a condition on exporters to give a certificate with dispatches that they contain traditional Basmati rice to avail a rebate of 250 Euro per tonne, Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.
The European Union, which will soon kick-off an energy dialogue with India, has said it is not opposed to a $4.16 billion pipeline project to pump gas from Iran to India through Pakistan.
Macron's office said the President will travel to Delhi to participate in the G20 Summit on September 9 and 10 following which he will leave for Bangladesh for a bilateral visit.
European Union presents India with a huge opportunity to tap the services sector there including the information and communication technology, but Indians need to overcome the language barrier, said a senior official on Thursday.
Deadline to submit convincing reform plans is this week.
Oil producers cartel OPEC's share in India's oil imports fell to an all-time low of 46 per cent in April as purchases of cheaper Russian oil peaked, industry data showed. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations, mainly in the Middle East and Africa, had a 72 per cent share of all crude oil India imported in April 2022. This share slid to 46 per cent in April 2023, according to energy cargo tracker Vortexa.
Within a week of a British court striking down the interim cap on professionals from India and other non-EU countries, the Home Office made necessary changes to the measure and announced that the cap until April 2011 was 'legal and up and running'.
European Union leaders are expected to clear the way for releasing 31.5 billion euro ($41 billion) in urgently-needed financial assistance for debt-stricken Greece at their two-day summit which opens in Brussels today.
Bangladeshis say it is easier in Portugal to get Residency papers, which give them access to all EU countries, reports Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
India on Thursday raised the contentious issue of higher GSP concessions to Pakistan with the visiting EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy.\n\n\n\n
But the EU would like New Delhi to first fulfil certain 'necessary preconditions.'
The team originally comprised 27 parliamentarians, mostly from extreme right or right wing parties, but four did not travel to Kashmir and have reportedly returned to their respective countries, officials said.
Our government shows a benign mask to the world behind which its fangs are bared against its own citizens, observes Aakar Patel.
There is no official word either from China or from India on who will represent Beijing at the upcoming G20 summit.
In 2007, India slashed the additional customs duty it charged on imported (which were up to 150 per cent of value of imports depending on the spirits), but simultaneously hiked the basic customs duties to 150 per cent from 100 per cent.
The long-pending issue of seizure of Indian generic drugs by European Union countries has been resolved, with the EU accepting India's position and agreeing to amend the rules to plug the loopholes that led to the seizure of shipments.
A new rule by the European Union on duty-free purchases has raised strong protests from India's duty-free retail owners.
India is negotiating for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Malaysia and Japan and a broad based trade and investment agreement with the EU.
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