Page 34 - Trade

India proposes slashing EV import taxes to clinch UK free trade deal

The UK's demand for import concessions on electric vehicles is one of the few outstanding issues in the free trade talks

Kuala Lumpur looking at accepting RuPay, UPI service: Malaysian FM

India and Malaysia are firming up a framework for conducting trade in national currencies and initiating a process to review the 12-year-old comprehensive economic cooperation agreement to include new domains and items, Malaysian Foreign Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir said. At the end of a three-day visit to India, Kadir told PTI that Malaysia is also in the process of accepting India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system and RuPay payment service that will boost overall financial engagement. The Malaysian foreign minister said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is likely to visit India in the first half of next year in reflection of growing upswing in overall ties between the two nations. He said both sides are keen to expand trade engagement in new and emerging areas such as electronics, semiconductors, fintech, renewable energy, new technology and startups besides joining hands in defence industrial cooperation. Ways to further boost the overall trajectory of ties were discussed ...

India, United Kingdom negotiations for proposed FTA going on, says Official

Negotiations between senior officials of India and the UK on the proposed free trade agreement are going on with a view to bridge differences on issues related to goods and services sector, a senior government official said. "Talks on the 13th round is underway virtually. We have not talked about any deadlines to conclude talks," the official said. India and Britain launched the talks for Free-Trade Agreement (FTA) in January 2022, with an aim to conclude talks by Diwali (October 24, 2022), 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. The investment treaty is being negotiated as a separate agreement between India and the UK. The Indian industry is demanding greater access for its skilled professionals from sectors like IT, and healthcare in the UK market, besides market access for several goods at nil customs duties. On the other hand, the

FM Nirmala Sitharaman seeks global help to nab smuggling masterminds

Export-import frauds threaten the global supply chain and are inimical to economic and national security

India, EU discuss progress in the Free Trade Agreement negotiations

The Group of Seven is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and the US

India pitches for clear definition of e-commerce trade in goods in WTO

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

India criticises safeguard measures on steel import by EU, UK at WTO meet

Certain WTO countries, including India, Switzerland, Russia, and Japan, have criticised the safeguard measures imposed by the EU and the UK on imports of certain steel products, stating it is inconsistent with global trade rules, an official said. The comments were made by these countries during the meeting of World Trade Organisation's (WTO's) Safeguards Committee on Wednesday. The Geneva-based official said, "Switzerland, Brazil, Japan, China, Korea, Russia and India criticised the European Union's decision to maintain its safeguard measure on imports of certain steel products, which was imposed by the EU after the US imposed additional duties on steel imports during the Trump administration. These members regretted the EU's decision not to terminate the measure during a recent review and argued the safeguard was inconsistent with WTO rules, the official said. However, the EU argued that the safeguard will expire at the end of June 2024. Further India, Korea, Switzerland, Japan,

India, Saudi Arabia commerce ministers discuss ways to promote trade ties

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday held discussions with his Saudi Arabian counterpart Majid bin Abdullah AlKassabi on ways to further promote trade ties between the two countries. Goyal was in Riyadh for two days to attend the seventh edition of Future Investment Initiative (FII). "Discussed how the robust India-Saudi trade ties can be further scaled to make global supply chains more resilient," Goyal said on social platform X. He also met Saudi Arabia Energy Minister Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Salman Al-Saud; Investment Minister Khalid A Al Falih; Industry and Mineral Resources Minister Bandar bin Ibrahim AlKhorayef; and Governor Public Investment Fund (PIF) Yassir Rummayyan. Goyal talked about the multiple opportunities offered by India. The bilateral trade between the countries stood at USD 52.75 billion in 2022-23 against USD 42.86 billion in 2021-22. India received USD 3.22 billion in foreign direct investment from Saudi Arabia between April 2000 and June 2

NCEL gets Rs 7,000 cr orders, to share profit with member farmers: Shah

Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Monday said the newly established National Cooperative for Exports Ltd (NCEL) has bagged orders worth Rs 7,000 crore so far and the export body will share at least 50 per cent profit with member farmers over and above the support price. NCEL, which was established on January 25, is negotiating orders worth Rs 15,000 crore, he said after launching a logo, website and brochure of the cooperative export body. NCEL will help cooperative societies tap the global export market and handhold them to produce and manufacture products that comply with international standards, he added. There are about 8 lakh cooperative societies in the country with over 29 crore members. "Currently, NCEL is operating from a temporary office. We are recruiting staffers. So far, we (NCEL) have received orders of Rs 7,000 crore and negotiating orders worth Rs 15,000 crore," Shah said while addressing a national symposium here. NCEL will purchase commodities to be exported from

Senior officials meet of WTO members to begin from tomorrow in Geneva

From India, senior officials, including Additional Secretary in the commerce ministry Peeyush Kumar, have reached the WTO headquarter in Geneva

Govt to ensure trusted supply chain for digital ecosystem: Official

India is determined to ensure a trusted supply chain for its digital ecosystem and will not compromise on the security of the internet, an IT Ministry official said on Wednesday, after the US, China and Korea raised concerns over the decision to impose import curbs on laptops and computers at a recent WTO meeting. These concerns were flagged in the meeting of the WTO Committee on Market Access. It was chaired by Renata Crisaldo of Paraguay on October 16 in Geneva. The senior IT Ministry official on Wednesday affirmed that India is determined, indeed justified, in ensuring that the digital backbone and ecosystem are trusted and without any compromise. "...We are very clear and determined that we want an absolutely trusted supply chain for the Indian digital ecosystem, and especially, when we are just going to take off, and the entire internet is going to be built on servers, clouds and data centres," the official said in response to a question on the US and Korea raising concerns ove

Hopes of sealing India-UK trade deal this month may be fading: Report

The hope that the ongoing 13th round of negotiations towards an India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) could conclude with a deal for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to sign off in time for the India versus England World Cup cricket clash in Lucknow on October 29 seem to be fading, according to a UK media report on Wednesday. The Financial Times' quoted officials briefed on the negotiations to say that a lack of movement towards opening up of the Indian market to British professional services in the field of law and accountancy is among the factors for the slowdown. So much so that cricket fan Sunak's proposed return visit to India after an inaugural visit as UK Prime Minister to New Delhi for the G20 Summit last month is looking very, very unlikely to happen. The discussions are not where we want them to be, the newspaper quoted a British official familiar with the talks as saying. The Prime Minister has said he will not sign a trade deal on arbitrary deadlines. He's going to do t

Govt maintains basmati rice floor price as grain export curbs continue

India imposed a $1,200 per ton minimum export price (MEP) on basmati rice shipments in August to calm local prices ahead of key state elections

Govt extends 20% tax on exports of parboiled rice until March 2024

The 20 per cent export duty on parboiled rice was imposed on August 25 till October 16 to maintain adequate local stock and keep domestic prices under check

India, Brazil target over 3-fold rise in trade to $50 bn: Commerce secy

India and Brazil are looking at an "aspirational" target of increasing the two-way trade by over three-fold to USD 50 billion by 2030, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Friday. He was in Brasilia from October 1 to 4 to discuss ways to promote trade between the two countries. He chaired the sixth meeting of the India-Brazil Trade Monitoring Mechanism (TMM). At present, the bilateral trade stood at USD 15.2 billion. "We are looking at USD 30 billion in the next 3-4 years and by 2030, we are looking at an aspirational target of USD 50 billion. There is a huge potential for trade growth," he told reporters here. He added that during his visit, the two sides also discussed market access issues as well as new areas of cooperation. Two working groups have been formed - market access issues and sectors of cooperation. "Biofuels and renewables are important sectors which we will be looking at...Ethanol and biofuel blending is another area of cooperation," he said. Brazil has adva

FTA talks between India and UK at advanced stage, says Commerce Secy

The negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement between India and the UK are at an advanced stage, and both sides are working to iron out differences on the remaining issues, a top government official said on Friday. Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that negotiations on tough issues are underway. "These negotiations are in the advance stage. These are going on, and we are ironing out the differences. We should wait till these negotiations are over because the 13th round is going on," he told reporters here. These remarks assume significance as both sides are expected to conclude the talks this month and may sign the deal in the last week. A majority of the 26 chapters are closed and for the remaining issues, high-level engagements at various levels are ongoing. An official delegation from the UK is here for the negotiations. A team led by Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal was in London recently to give an impetus to the talks. The UK team dealing with investment-rela

India will not impose restrictions on laptop imports: Trade secy Barthwal

"India will not impose restrictions on laptop imports," Trade Secretary Sunil Barthwal told a press conference on Friday

Govt mulls extension of parboiled rice restrictions ahead of key polls

The govt is considering an extension to a 20% export levy, which is due to expire on Oct. 15, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified as the talks are confidential

Exporter status certificates to be issued based on available data: Govt

Exporter status certificate will now be issued based on the available electronic data, and traders will not have to apply to get the recognition, the commerce ministry said on Monday. These certificates provide certain privileges, including simplified procedures under foreign trade policy (FTP) and priority custom clearances on a self-declaration basis, exemption from compulsory negotiation of documents through banks, and exemption from filing bank guarantees for FTP schemes. Upon achieving prescribed export performance, status recognition as one, two, three, four and five-star export houses is accorded to the eligible applicants as per their export performance. The new system-based automatic 'Status Holder' certificates under the FTP 2023 were unveiled in a meeting of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal with the Export Promotion Councils here. "Now, the exporter will not be required to apply to the office of Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) for a Status Certific

Govt considers lowering minimum export price on rice to $850 per tonne

The government is considering reducing the minimum export price (MEP) of basmati rice to USD 850 per tonne from USD 1,200 per tonne at present. The issue was flagged by various food product importers here during a meeting with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. "We are very seriously looking at it. I have had many meetings with rice exporter associations in India. We have compiled the data of basmati rice exports to different parts of the world and different varieties of basmati rice," Goyal said. "And we hope that very soon we'll be able to come up with a very fair price, which all of the industry is very happy about," he told reporters here. He was replying to a question about whether the government is considering their demand to cut the MEP on basmati rice. The Indian rice industry has also demanded the same. Rajya Sabha member from Punjab Vikramjit Singh Sahney has also urged the Centre to rationalise the USD 1,200 per tonne minimum export price on basmati rice as i