Page 12 - Commerce Ministry

Comm min allows EPCMD to issue export registration, membership certificates

The commerce ministry has authorised the newly-established Export Promotion Council for Medical Devices (EPCMD) to issue registration-cum-membership certificates for exporters of specific items such as bandages and first-aid boxes. Under the foreign trade policy, a Registration-cum-Membership Certificate (RCMC) is required for exporters to avail benefits under the policy. Holding the certificate can also help exporters in availing benefits with respect to customs and excise. The certificate is issued by export promotion councils and commodity boards. The directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) in a public notice stated that the council has been included in FTP for "issuing RCMC for specific items". These items also include hot water bottles, ice bags, gloves, personal protective garments for surgical/medical use, surgical gowns and drapes, syringes, with or without needles, and stethoscopes. Raghuveer Kini has recently taken charge as the executive director of the council. ...

Govt seeks industry feedback on challenges in PLI to enhance effectiveness

Goyal urged officials to hold regular consultation and roundtables with PLI beneficiaries

Indian steel, aluminium products to get greater mkt access in US: Comm min

The commerce ministry on Friday said the US has agreed to provide greater market access to certain Indian steel and aluminium products, a development which would help increase outbound shipments of these goods. This was part of the agreement reached between the two countries which have decided to terminate six trade disputes at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The six cases are countervailing measures on certain hot-rolled carbon steel flat products from India, certain measures relating to solar cells and modules, measures relating to the renewable energy sector, export-related measures, certain measures on steel and aluminium products, and additional duties on some products from the US. "As a part of the agreement, the US has agreed to grant market access to steel and aluminium products under the exclusion process of Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act 1962," the ministry said in a statement. India has also agreed to remove the retaliatory tariffs on certain products. Howev

Backed by mobile devices, electronics up 2 notches to 4th place in exports

In this period, electronics exports touched $4.54 billion, an increase of 48 per cent from the previous year in the same period when it was $3.06 billion

GatiShakti must be leveraged to benefit sectors beyond infra: Piyush Goyal

He highlighted that the area development approach under PM GatiShakti can be used for engaging with aspirational districts of NITI Aayog

US secretary of state, commerce secretary to address 'India Ideas Summit'

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and several top members of the Biden administration will join powerful Congressional leadership and top corporate players from India and the US at this year's 'India Ideas Summit' next week. The theme for this year's two-day summit beginning on June 12 is Trust, Resilience, and Growth and will focus on how these three organising principles underpin the US-India economic partnership across sectors. The annual summit of the US India Business Council (USIBC), which is part of the US Chambers of Commerce, gains significance this year as it comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first state visit to the US which starts on June 21. On Monday, June 12th, we're gonna have the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, come and speak to our group. We are also gonna have a session with Deputy Secretary of State Rich Verma. We are looking to see how we can lift the ambitions of the United States and India for even greater .

Government accords priority to keep prices under check: Piyush Goyal

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said the government accords priority to keeping prices under check and that is the reason why inflation is low in India as compared to several developed nations. He said that a group of ministers regularly meets and discuss the price situation. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi gives priority to keep prices under check," Goyal told reporters here while briefing about increase of Rs 143 in the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy to Rs 2,183 per quintal for this year. He added that before 2014, the average inflation rate used to be at 10-12 per cent, but after the Modi government came to power the average rate of inflation in the last nine years has come down to 4.5 per cent. "On one side we are increasing MSP and on the other hand, we have kept the inflation under control," he said. The prices in India are much lower when compared to most of developed countries, where inflation is in double digits. Wholesale prices in India fel

DGTR recommends increasing import duty on iron alloy from S Korea for 2 yrs

The commerce ministry's investigation arm DGTR has recommended increasing customs duty on 'Ferro Molybdenum', used in steel, nickel, cobalt alloys, from South Korea in view of spurt in the imports under a free trade agreement. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the two countries was implemented in January 2010. In October last year, India initiated the probe to ascertain if a spurt in the imports from South Korea is hitting the domestic producers. After concluding the probe, Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) said the imports have increased in absolute terms and in relation to Indian production and total imports. The imports of Ferro Molybdenum, DGTR, said increased when the customs duties were eliminated. Imports of the products from Korea have increased and constitute increased imports within the meaning of the rules and Korea-India CEPA, it said in a notification adding that due to the spurt in the inbound shipments, domestic industry has

Huge opportunities will open up when exports touch $2 trn by 2030: Goyal

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said huge opportunities for people and businesses will be opened up when the country's goods and services exports touch USD 2 trillion by 2030. In the last two years, he said the country's exports jumped from USD 500 billion to USD 767 billion in 2022-23. India is a USD 3.5 trillion-economy today and will become at least USD 35 trillion- economy by 2047 and "imagine what opportunities it will open up for all the people of India," he said. According to him, by 2030, "we will see USD 2 trillion of exports from India, imagine the opportunities that it will open up". At the Times Network India Economic Conclave here, the minister also said the country's economy is growing at a faster pace and it is clearly reflected from the 7.2 per cent GDP growth in 2022-23. "India is in the mode of stability with a proactive government strengthening every element of the economy in a manner which will hold us in good stead in our pursuit to mak

Negotiations on supply chain agreement under IPEF conclude: Ministry

Members of the 14-nation bloc IPEF have 'substantially' concluded the negotiations on the supply chains agreement, including improving logistics and connectivity; promoting investments in critical sectors and cooperation for mitigation of disruptions to ensure business continuity, the commerce ministry said on Sunday. The IPEF was launched jointly by the US and other partner countries of the Indo-Pacific region on May 23 in Tokyo. The framework is structured around four pillars relating to trade, supply chains, clean economy and fair economy (issues like tax and anti-corruption). India has joined all the pillars except the trade one. The talks on supply chains, clean economy and fair economy were held on May 27 in Detroit, US. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal virtually participated in the ministerial meeting. At this meeting, negotiations under the Supply Chains (Pillar-II) were substantially concluded; while good progress was reported under the other IPEF Pillars, the .

Commerce ministry addressing issues of exports through ecommerce: Official

The commerce ministry is trying to address issues pertaining to the promotion of exports through ecommerce medium, a senior government official has said. Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi also said that while the USD 2 trillion export target by 2030 is ambitious as it entails an annual growth of 14.5 per cent (CAGR), it is not impossible. "We trying to address issues on seamless e-commerce for export promotion. We are in touch of the Department of Revenue, RBI, Icegate, and the Department of Post on the issues which entails remission of duties and incentives, ensuring postal bills flows into Icegate, building a regulatory system which addresses return back, etc, he was quoted by TPCI in a release. The DGFT was addressing the TPCI's inaugural edition of India Business and Trade Annual Conclave 2023 here on May 23. The Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI), government, industry and academic deep dive to explore ways to reach USD 2 trillion in ...

Commerce Ministry to hold Chintan Shivir to discuss ways to promote trade

The Commerce and Industry Ministry will hold a two-day Chintan Shivir to discuss ways to promote manufacturing trade, investments, startups, logistics and import substitution, among others, an official said on Thursday. On May 19, the Department of Commerce will be holding a series of sessions on issues such as team building; expediting trade and investment promotion efforts; export strategy on goods and services; import substitution, reducing sub-standard imports and promoting manufacturing through PLI (production linked incentive). Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Ministers of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash and Anupriya Patel will address the ministry officials. On May 20, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will hold sessions on subjects like innovate in India (startups and intellectual property rights) and the future-ready logistics sector, the official said. India's exports contracted by 12.7 per cent, the third month in

Commerce ministry may import monitoring system for leather products

The commerce ministry is considering introducing an import monitoring system for the leather sector, under which a trader will have to provide advance information about the imports and obtain a registration number, an official said. "Talks are at an early stage on the issue at present," the official said. Normally under the system, importers are required to submit advance information in an online system for imports of items and obtain an automatic registration number by paying a certain amount of registration fee. Earlier, the government introduced similar system for sectors like coal and steel. Imports of leather and leather products dipped by 26.32 per cent to USD 61.62 million. During 2022-23, these imports have recorded a growth of 25.62 per cent to USD 1.02 billion as against USD 819 million in 2021-22. The ministry is also considering extending some initiatives such as the production-linked incentive scheme to the leather and footwear sector to further promote the growth of

Commerce min reviewing existing guidelines for elections of EPCs, FIEO

The commerce ministry has decided to review the eligibility criteria for the election of office bearers of export promotion councils (EPCs) and apex exporters body FIEO to make them more inclusive and representative. According to an office memorandum, a three-member panel has been constituted to review the existing guidelines and make suitable recommendations about representation of different stakeholders in the managing committee and other posts. The panel is likely to take about two months to complete the exercise and submit its recommendations. The memorandum said that till amendment of the existing guidelines on the basis of the recommendations of the committee, EPCs/FIEO (Federation of Indian Export Organisations) may put on hold all the elections which are in process, including those where no results have been declared with immediate effect. FIEO already elected a vice-president in March. Election for the president post was due this year. Different export promotion councils

Rejection rates of DGTR's proposals by FinMin to impose duties rise

The rejection rate of the commerce ministry's recommendations to impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties on different imported products by the finance ministry has gone up substantially between September 2020 to October 2022, according to a report. The report of the 'Centre for Digital Economy' also said that the rejections are almost invariably without giving any reasons. From September 2020 to October 2022, as many as 70 anti-dumping and countervailing duties recommendations of the commerce ministry were rejected out of 120. From 1991 to 2020, only seven recommendations were turned down by the finance ministry out of 1,052 cases recommended by the commerce ministry's investigation arm -- Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR). DGTR is a quasi-judicial body which deals with anti-dumping duty, safeguard duty, and countervailing duty. These duties are trade remedy measures, provided under an agreement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to its member countries. They a

Commerce Min urges export promotion council to meet targets set for FY23

The commerce ministry has asked export promotion councils to work on export targets for current fiscal year and chalk out a detailed road map to achieve that. According to exporters, issues related to the country's outbound shipments were discussed during a meeting chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on April 24. India's goods and services exports together touched an all-time high of USD 770 billion last fiscal year.While merchandise exports touched USD 447 billion, services exports are estimated at about USD 322 billion. "The ministry has asked us to work on new exports target for this fiscal and explain ways to achieve," an exporter said. He said it was emphasised that states and Indian missions abroad be involved in achieving the new target. There was also a discussion on organising a major buyer-seller meet to showcase India's prowess in exports. Latin America and African countries hold huge potential to boost exports. Apparel Export Promotion Council Chai

Piyush Goyal marks importance of small countries in global supply chain

The Union Minister appealed to all to aim for a 47 trillion dollar economy when India reaches the year 2047

You may soon have to pay more for soaps, detergents, shampoos. Here's why

A new proposal may impose duties on raw material required to produce cleaning products, making them more expensive

Commerce ministry terminates anti-dumping probe on Chinese chemical imports

The commerce ministry has terminated an anti-dumping investigation into the import of a chemical, used in dying industry, from China following a request from the domestic industry. On September 30, 2022, the ministry's investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) initiated a probe into alleged dumping of 'sulphur black' from China, following a complaint by a domestic firm Atul Ltd. However on April 15 this year, the applicant has withdrawn its petition and has requested for termination of the investigation citing certain reasons. "The authority hereby terminates the investigation...against the imports of Sulphur Black originating in or exported from China," the DGTR has said in a notification. It is mainly used for dying cellulose fiber, viscose staple fiber and yam. Anti-dumping rules have a provision for termination of a probe in certain situations which include withdrawal of application by the affected domestic industry at whose instance the investigation was

World is looking at India, grasp this opportunity to grow exports: Goyal

Union minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said the world is now looking up to India and its industries and this is the right time for entrepreneurs and industry players to grasp the opportunity and grow exports. Entrepreneurial abilities in the country with innovation, new ideas, new ways of marketing and branding products can unleash the true potential of the country, the Commerce and Industry Minister said while addressing the 49th India Gem and Jewellery Awards. "On April 24, I have a meeting with ministers of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), consisting of four countries including Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, who are keen to negotiate with India. "Other Gulf countries and Russia are also keen to negotiate with India. The world is now looking up to India and its industries, and this is the right time for the industries and entrepreneurs to grasp the opportunity and grow exports," Goyal said. Further, Goyal said jewellery exporters have shown good promise