Explore Business Standard
International Trade
Efficient logistics and paperless system are critical to boost international trade, and strong connectivity is key to foster trade and economic development, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal has said. However, while making such efforts to bolster connectivity projects, it is essential to build trust as well as transparency in the cooperative efforts, he said addressing meeting of Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on Thursday. The secretary noted that it is of utmost importance that "we uphold the principles of SCO Charter including respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of the member states." "Barthwal focused on the importance of efficient logistics for international trade, in which, paperless trading is a critical step towards streamlining cross-border transactions," the commerce ministry said in a statement. He congratulated Pakistan for its Presidency of the Heads of Government of the SCO and welcomed Belarus on becoming the new member of the ...
Sustained disruptions in the Red Sea route is likely to raise the freight and forwarding (F&F) cost by 25-30 per cent for corporates largely dealing in international trade, a report said on Friday. Moreover, the working capital cycle is likely to aggravate by 15-20 days, and the impact could be higher for sectors such as agriculture and textiles, credit ratings agency Ind-Ra said in its report. Working capital cycle refers to the period between payments made to suppliers and revenue received from sales. The report also said that pressures on cash flow, although moderate for large entities, will further increase borrowings, especially for sectors such as iron and steel, auto and auto ancillaries, chemicals and textiles, which have seen a year-on-year rise in net leverage in the first half of the current fiscal. "The challenge is significant for the entities having low value addition therefore thin margins. Although large entities have adequate elbow room to accommodate such ...
India has asked the WTO members to work on a clear definition of e-commerce trade in goods and services as it would help provide developing countries a policy space to make decisions on the fast-growing sector, an official said. At present, there is a difference of understanding about the subject between developed and developing member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The issue came up for discussion during a recent meeting of senior officials of WTO members in Geneva last week. "India stated that the definition should be clear about digital goods and services because customs duties are there on goods and not on services. The Western world wants no customs duties, and on the other hand, developing countries want that policy space to impose the duties," the official said. Customs duties help protect domestic industries and provide a policy space to support the growth of MSMEs. Though certain WTO members have been discussing the e-commerce issue since 1998, there is
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das has said that the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), which is being promoted by the central bank, can play an important role in cross-border payments without much difficulty. The Reserve Bank, he said, has undertaken pilot projects with regard to promotion of the CBDC and the results have been "excellent". The CBDC as a pilot was introduced in the wholesale and retail segments and will now be extended to overnight money markets. "The learning has been excellent and more than what it was one year ago. We are even more convinced that CBDC can prove to be the most effective and efficient mode for cross-border payments in particular, other than of course domestic transactions. And this is not something which is very difficult," he said at an interaction at IMF Governor Talks at Marrakesh, Morocco early this month. He emphasised that while paper currency will continue, the CBDC is going to be the future currency of the world. "CBDC is going to be