Page 18 - India Trade Policy

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US Commerce Secretary Raimondo to visit India in March for trade talks

She will be accompanied by a very high-powered delegation of global CEOs of large multinational companies: Piyush Goyal

Modest expectations from India-US Trade Policy Forum meeting: Experts

The crucial India-US Trade Policy Forum meeting here is unlikely to make much progress, given the sharp differences, but would hopefully ignite trade talks between the world's two largest democracies, according to eminent trade experts. Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, who is in the US on an official visit, held a series of meetings with the CEOs of investment and financial giants in New York on Monday. He will attend the 13th Trade Policy Forum (TPF) meeting being hosted by US Trade Representative Katherine Tai in Washington on January 11. Goyal will also hold a bilateral meeting with Tai. TPF is a platform for continuous engagement between the two countries in the area of trade and to further bilateral trade and investment relations. The 12th TPF Ministerial was held in New Delhi on November 23, last year after a gap of four years. There was no TPF in 2022. There will be some glossing over of serious bilateral trade problems, positive language on the architecture

India exports 1.69 million tons of sugar till Jan 4 of FY23: Report

India has exported 16.92 lakh tonnes of sugar till January 4 of the ongoing 2022-23 marketing year, including 59,596 tonnes of the sweetener to neighbouring China, trade body AISTA said on Tuesday. Among other neighbouring nations, India has exported 1.47 lakh tonnes of sugar to Bangladesh, and 82,462 tonnes to Sri Lanka during October-January 4 of the current marketing year, All India Sugar Trade Association (AISTA) said in a statement. The sugar marketing year runs from October to September. The government has allowed export of 6 million tonnes till May of the 2022-23 marketing year. According to AISTA, mills have exported a total of 16,92,751 tonnes of sugar from October 1, 2022 to January 4, this year. Over 3.47 lakh tonnes of sugar is under loading, while 2.54 lakh tonnes of sugar has been delivered to refineries considered to be deemed export in the said period, it said. Of the total exports undertaken so far, maximum exports have been to Somalia at 1.70 lakh tonnes, followe

India-Australia FTA to provide relief to Indian textile exporters: CITI

The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, which came into force from Thursday, is set to provide a "big relief" to Indian textile exporters, the Confederation of Indian Textiles Industry said. Under the pact, Australia is offering zero-duty access to India for about 96.4 per cent of exports (by value) from day one. India's goods exports to Australia stood at USD 8.3 billion and imports from the country aggregated to USD 16.75 billion in 2021-22. Confederation of Indian Textiles Industry (CITI) Chairman T Rajkumar said he is hopeful that the "India-Australia ECTA (Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement) will help boost textile and apparel exports as the FTA is slated to provide a big relief to Indian textile exporters who had to pay about 10 per cent customs duty in countries like Australia, Canada, and the UK". Sharing that India's ready-made garment exports to Australia have seen a growth of an average of 11.84 per cent over the last five years, Rajkumar opin

India-Australia trade agreement to greatly benefit MSMEs: Piyush Goyal

The interim pact between India and Australia, also known as Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), has the potential to double bilateral trade to $50 billion in half a decade

DPIIT seeks views of ministries on draft national retail trade policy

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has sought views of 16 departments and ministries on its draft national retail trade policy, which is aimed at overall development of all formats of the sector, an official said. After getting comments of all the departments and ministries, DPIIT would seek approval of the Union Cabinet on the policy, the official added. The policy would focus on formulating strategies to provide a globally competitive and sustainable environment for overall development of retail trade through targeted efforts. The objectives of the policy include ensuring easy and quick access to affordable credit, facilitating modernization and digitization of retail trade by promoting modern technology and superior infrastructural support; development of physical infrastructure across the distribution chain; promotion of skill development and to improve labour productivity, and providing an effective consultative and grievance redressal mechanism

India committed to improve trade facilitation: Nirmala Sitharaman

The Centre is committed to improve trade facilitation for every stakeholder, including Customs Department personnel and those involved in the trading communities, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here on Sunday. Beyond construction of a new building, these days emphasis is also given on how energy-efficient the buildings would be so that there is no pollution or disturbance to anyone, she said at an event here. "I am extremely happy to lay the foundation stone for new office complex 'Vaigai' which is aptly named and actually comes out of the commitment that the nation has made to improve trade facilitation", Sitharaman said at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of new office complex 'Vaigai' at Customs House here. "There was a time when we thought that we have to build office space based on officers, staff and requirements. These days, it is also looking at how green our buildings are going to be, and how energy-efficient these buildings will be," she said. "In tra

Modi govt is sounding friendlier toward free trade for some nations

In recent months, senior Indian officials have insisted that their nation intends to integrate further with the global economy

India has to compete to gain from 'China Plus One' strategy: Eswar Prasad

Companies, investors around the world looking at India's policy trajectory, says the professor of trade policy at Cornell University

Trade settlement in rupee: Govt, RBI devise country-specific plan

To start with, a small number of banks will be allowed to manage cross-border transactions in domestic currency with a particular country

India-Australia free trade agreement to come into force from Dec 29

Trade between the two countries is expected to cross $45-50 bn in five years

US industry associations red-flag India's 'restrictive' trade barriers

The Association raised concern over use of strict quality control orders during the pandemic that effectively limited imports of US-designed and manufactured products in various sectors

Statsguru: Six charts show India is rapidly on FTA-signing spree

The Australian Parliament ratified the ECTA with India on November 22, as a stepping stone to a more ambitious CECA

RBI permits banks to open 12 special vostro accounts for trade in rupees

So far, not a single overseas trade transaction directly involving the rupee has taken place

RBI, UAE central bank discuss mechanism to trade in local currencies

Negotiations between India-GCC FTA expected in Jan-March quarter

ECTA: The dawn of a new era in Indo-Aus relations

Indian exports and manufacturing will be equally benefited with the duty-free import of raw materials from Australia for their competitiveness

Binding commitments on new issues in FTAs may hamper India's exports: Rpt

Taking binding commitments on new issues like environment, labour and sustainability in the proposed free trade agreements (FTA), being negotiated by India, may hamper the country's exports in the future, according to a report by Global Trade Research Initiative. India's already "weak" FTA outcomes may worsen if it takes obligations in the new issues, the report -- FTAs: Fabulous, Futile, or Flawed? An evaluation of India's FTAs with ASEAN, Japan and South Korea -- said. It added that like many developing countries, India has an evolving regulatory framework on most new issues. "International commitments must be taken only after the domestic regulatory framework is in place. And both must be in sync. New non-trade issues may serve as non-trade barriers and hamper our exports in the future," GTRI (Global Trade Research Initiative) report said. Developed regions like European Union and the UK are pushing to include these new issues in the proposed trade pact with India. Former India

Next round of India-UK trade agreement talks in coming months: Com ministry

The next round of talks between India and the UK on a proposed free trade agreement, which aims at boosting trade and investments between the two regions, is proposed to be held in the coming months, the commerce ministry said on Tuesday. India and Britain launched negotiations for the free-trade agreement (FTA) in January with an aim to conclude talks by Diwali (October 24), but the deadline was missed due to political developments in the UK. There are 26 chapters in the agreement, which include goods, services, investments and intellectual property rights. According to sources, the ministry has now fixed an internal deadline to conclude the talks on the trade agreement by March next year. Reduction or elimination of customs duty under the pact would help Indian labour intensive sectors like textiles, leather, and gems and jewellery to boost exports in the UK market. The UK is seeking duty concessions in areas like Scotch whiskey and automobiles. According to a presentation made b

India may stop releasing early trade data estimate, says official

The move aims to dispel any confusion over divergence between the two sets of data, federal trade secretary Sunil Barthwal told reporters in New Delhi