Page 8 - Commerce Ministry

Procurement through govt's GeM portal crosses Rs 4 trn so far this fiscal

The procurement of goods and services through government's portal GeM has crossed Rs 4 lakh crore so far this fiscal due to higher buying activities by various ministries and departments, a senior government official said on Friday. The Government e-Market (GeM) portal was launched on August 9, 2016, for online purchases of goods and services by all central government ministries and departments. "As of March 28, the procurement has crossed Rs 4 lakh crore. It is historic," GeM CEO P K Singh told reporters here. In 2021-22 the procurement value stood at Rs 1.06 lakh crore and it crossed Rs 2 lakh crore last financial year. He said that procurement of services from the portal has jumped from Rs 66,000 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 2.05 lakh crore so far this fiscal. Similarly, goods worth Rs 1.95 lakh crore have been bought from the platform till March 28 this fiscal. GeM has over 63,000 government buyer organisations and over 62 lakh sellers and service providers offering a wide range of

Trade policy calibrated with growth but open for expansion: Piyush Goyal

At Business Standard Manthan, Piyush Goyal added that in America and Europe, there are still high duties for several products

India has robust regulatory framework for seafood units: Commerce min

India has a robust regulatory framework for its 548 seafood units and it has set up world-class facilities in the fish processing sector, which are regularly inspected and monitored by various government agencies, the commerce ministry said on Saturday. The statement comes in the backdrop of some reports alleging food safety and bad labour conditions in the Indian shrimp industry. It said that all its units are registered with MPEDA (Marine Products Export Development Authority) and FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) and approved by EIC (export inspection council) as mandated by the law. Additionally, 46 independent pre-processing units are registered by the authority. The shrimp hatcheries and aquaculture farms are registered with the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA) and State Fisheries Departments based on their respective locations. MPEDA also enrols aquafarms to bolster the traceability system of aquaculture products and adhere to national and internationa

QCOs of only three ministries exempted from imports under AA/EOU/SEZ

When we get the EPCG authorization, we can get the bill of entry finalized by claiming the exemption under the relevant Customs notification

Wholesale inflation eases to a four-month low of 0.2% in February

The prices of manufactured products, which have a weighting of 64.2 per cent in the index, remained in deflation (minus 1.27 per cent) for the twelfth consecutive month in February

Govt waives penalty, approves interest-free loan of FCV tobacco growers

The Ministry of Commerce & Industry have announced measures to support tobacco growers impacted by heavy rainfall, drought in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka

WTO meet: India to seek permanent solution to food security issues

India will strongly oppose a China-led proposal for an investment facilitation pact besides pressing for finding a permanent solution to public stock holding of grains for food security and protection of the interests of fishermen at the WTO ministerial meeting beginning Tuesday. The Indian delegation is led by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. The four-day 13th ministerial conference (MC13) will start on February 26 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Trade ministers of 164 member countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are meeting against the backdrop of the uncertain global economic situation due to the Red Sea crisis, the Ukraine-Russia war and the Israel-Hamas conflict. The key issue of India's interests at the meeting relates to finding a permanent solution for its minimum support price (MSP) issue for food security, agricultural reforms, fisheries subsidies, e-commerce moratorium on import duties, dispute settlement, and WTO reforms. *Food securi

Exports venturing into uncharted territories of Africa, Asia, Europe: Govt

At a time when global trade is facing geo-political uncertainties, India's exports of goods like automobiles and gold jewellery have ventured into uncharted territories of Central Asia, Africa and Latin America, according to an analysis by the commerce ministry. The analysis has shown that India has penetrated into what are termed as "absolutely new markets" in regions such as Africa, Central Asia, Latin America and North America during April-December 2023. The "absolutely new markets" refer to areas where India did see any export during April-December 2022, but healthy growth of certain principal commodities like motor vehicles, two- and three-wheelers, petroleum products, sugar, gold and other precious jewellery were recorded in April-December 2023. Exports of these commodities to the absolutely new markets during April-December 2023 stood at USD 234 million as against nil shipments during the same period of 2022. It added that these commodities captured a greater number of marke

Piyush Goyal confident of interest rate cut by RBI in coming months

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday exuded confidence that the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates as inflation is under control. The RBI has been maintaining the benchmark interest rate at an elevated level of 6.5 per cent since February 2023. Goyal said that the economic fundamentals of the country are strong and inflation is under check. He said that the average inflation of 10 years in India is about 5 to 5.5 per cent. It was the best-performing decade and because of that, the interest rate came down "dramatically" and the central bank was strengthened and had the ability to bring down the interest rate. "Of-course in the last year and a half, post Ukraine-crisis, interest rates have again gone up by 250 basis points. But now that inflation is pretty much in control, I suspect we will soon see the reversal of the rate hikes starting in India, whether it happens in the next or the second monetary policy from now. I think it's only a matter of time," Goyal ...

Commerce ministry to extend benefits under RoDTEP scheme to SEZ units

The commerce ministry has decided to extend export benefits under the RoDTEP scheme for companies in the special economic zones (SEZs) and export oriented units (EOUs). This decision was communicated to the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on February 16. The DGFT may issue a formal notification soon amending the foreign trade policy on the same. "Post rolling out of ICEGATE (Indian Customs Electronic Data Interchange Gateway) in SEZs, the RoDTEP scheme may also be extended to SEZs," according to an office memorandum of the commerce ministry. The government in August 2021, announced the rates of tax refunds under export promotion scheme -- Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP), for 8,555 products such as marine goods, yarn and dairy items. As SEZs and EOUs were kept out of the scheme in the list notified that time, the industry was demanding to include them in the scheme. Under RoDTEP, various central and state duties, taxes, and levies imposed on in

Govt sets up task force to resolve non-tariff barriers, says Piyush Goyal

The government has set up a task force under the Department of Commerce to identify, categorise and develop tailored strategies for the resolution of non-tariff barriers, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. Such barriers include prior registration requirements in the exporting country, cumbersome testing and certification requirements and unreasonable domestic standards/rules. Different countries enforce various regulatory measures to ensure the safety and quality of the products placed in their territory. These measures apply equally to domestic manufacturers and importers. However, such measures may sometimes act as trade barriers due to various reasons like gaps in the regulatory frameworks and quality compliance requirements of the trade partners, lack of transparency, arbitrariness or differing interpretation of the rules, and improper implementation. "Taking cognizance of the challenges involved in mapping the trade barriers, and to give increased focus, a task force has

Budget 2024: PM GatiShakti to be utilised for 3 major railway corridors

PM GatiShakti aims boost multimodal connectivity while moving towards logistics efficiency and reducing carbon footprint in rail movement

Govt continues to be bright spot of world despite challenges: Piyush Goyal

The global economic uncertainties have impacted foreign direct investment (FDI) but despite these challenges, India will continue to be the bright spot of the world for overseas players, says Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. While signing free trade agreements (FTAs) or bilateral investment treaties (BITs), the government always ensures the terms are best for India, Goyal told PTI in a post-budget interaction. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech on Thursday said India is negotiating BITs with different countries in the spirit of 'first develop India'. She said that geopolitically, global affairs are becoming more complex and challenging with wars and conflicts. "The global uncertainty has certainly impacted FDI, particulary considering that the interest rates in the US and other developed countries have massively seen a spike," Goyal told PTI. He said that because of the high interest rates, there was a reverse flow of capital towards developed ...

We are worried about the ongoing Red Sea crisis, says Piyush Goyal

Exporters are now able to stand up on their feet and we have been able to move away from the mindset of export incentives, said Union Minister Piyush Goyal

Core sector growth hits 14-month low of 3.8% in Dec due to high base

Only fertilisers and cement sectors see acceleration in output

Interim Budget 2024: Commerce department seeks 10% hike in Rodtep

For the current financial year, the finance ministry had allocated Rs 15,069 crore towards the scheme. A 10 per cent jump will make the allocation for the scheme Rs 16,575.9 crore

Govt working on reforms for Special Economic Zones: Commerce secretary

The government is working on reforms in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) domain so that movement of goods between domestic tariff area (DTA) and SEZ space is carried out smoothly without affecting the competitiveness of goods in the export markets, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Saturday. During the pandemic two years ago, many office spaces in the SEZ areas had been vacated due to 'work from home' practice initiated by the occupants. Barthwal said this had led to the demarcation of SEZs into SEZ and DTA spaces. "Scale economies have become very important nowadays. Reforms in the SEZ are in the offing so that movement of goods from SEZ to DTA and vice-versa are not affected rendering goods produced become less competitive", Barthwal said at a symposium organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce. The official said that the foreign trade policy (FTP) of the government had been framed keeping in mind the global value chain. "Our FTP has been designed for exporters to take

As many as 75,000 patents granted in last 10 months, says Piyush Goyal

The Indian Patent Office has granted a "record" 75,000 patents in the last 10 months and it reflects India's ability to innovate, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday. Interacting with innovators and entrepreneurs on the eve of the 75th Republic Day here, the minister also said that 40,000 compliances have either been eliminated or simplified to ease the burden on entrepreneurs. "The Indian Patent Office has granted a record 75,000 patents in the last 10 months," he said, adding the government is making it easier to do business and make it less burdensome to meet the requirements of the law and comply with rules and procedures. There has been a significant push to reduce the burden of criminalisation of many laws regarding business in India and the Jan Vishwas law was the first step in that direction and gave the comfort to people and businessmen that the government trusts them, he said. "If you make a small mistake, you do not have to worry about criminal ...

PM GatiShakti spurs planning, implementation of Ayodhya bypass: Govt

The 67.57-Km Ayodhya bypass project in Uttar Pradesh was planned and implemented under the PM GatiShakti initiative, the commerce and industry ministry said on Friday. It said that the project would facilitate uninterrupted freight flows and decongest Ayodhya. It "will cover key districts such as Lucknow, Basti, and Gonda. This project will facilitate improvement in connectivity to economic, social and logistics nodes, including tourist and pilgrim sites, across these three districts," the ministry said in a statement. Ayodhya is situated between two economic hubs (Lucknow and Gorakhpur) and major commodities such as leather, engineering goods, building materials, iron and steel, pass through the city therefore the construction of this bypass route will facilitate uninterrupted freight flows and decongest the city. An idol of the new Ram Lalla was consecrated at the Ayodhya temple on January 22, a landmark event led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who also gave a clarion call to go

Commerce ministry backs import tax cuts on gold bars: Govt officials

"India's customs duty on gold is among the highest globally," said Vipul Shah, chairman of the GJEPC