Govt to launch AI-backed data analytics platform for better trade insights

The government is working towards developing a data analytics platform with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) to get better insights on trade data, commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Wednesday.

 

“Whether there is a consistency in our growth or not, whether resiliency has come in our exports or not. These kinds of insights are now coming. We are working in that direction….There will be a launch of a platform, which will give us better data analytics,” Barthwal told reporters.

 

A committee, comprising officials from commerce and finance ministries, has been formed to create a mechanism for publishing consistent and accurate data, following calculation errors in gold import data.

 

FTA progress

 

India and the United Kingdom are exploring convenient dates to resume the talks for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) in early February. The talks for the proposed FTA began in January 2022, a commerce department official said.

 

As far as the review of the India and ASEAN FTA is concerned, the next round of meeting is scheduled from February 10 onwards in Indonesia. There is progress in the negotiations, but there are some issues in goods, additional secretary Rajesh Agrawal said.

 

Regarding India-Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) FTA, the commerce department said that they are currently in the process of finalising terms of references for the pact. Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.

 

DPIIT officials meet PE, VCs and Pension Funds on FDI reforms

 

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) officials on Wednesday held a stakeholder consultation with private equity, venture capital and pension funds to discuss foreign direct reforms in the country. The meeting comes against the backdrop of the industry department targeting annual foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows worth $100 billion, on an average for the next five years. In the last five years, the annual average was $70 billion.

 

FDI has been falling over the last few years. “Today’s focus was regarding feedback from the industry and suggestions on FDI reforms, mainly because FDI inflows have been declining over the last few years,” a person aware of the matter told Business Standard.

 

Last week, DPIIT held similar discussion meeting with lawyers and industry associations.