The Union Government, for the primary time because it issued the Cotton Seed Price (Control) Order in 2015, has elevated the utmost sale price (MSP) of cottonseed by 5 per cent to ₹767 for a packet of 450 gm of Bollgard-II seed. The price of Bollgard-I is put at ₹635/packet.
The trade sells about 5-5.5 crore packets (of 450 gm every) of cottonseed each year. The price hike has evoked blended response from the trade and farmers. While the seed trade has welcomed the transfer, farmers stated it will additional enhance value of production for them.
Rasi Seeds, Kaveri Seed and Nuziveedu Seeds, which have an combination share of 26 million packets , stand to realize from the price hike.
“The stakeholders such as seed producing farmers, seed companies and distributors will get part of what we get. We pass on the benefit to them,” a seed trade consultant stated.
For the farmer, it isn’t a lot of a burden. Even if he have been to purchase 10 packets (for 5 acres), the whole further value wouldn’t be greater than ₹200, he contended.
Vijoo Krishnan, Joint Secretary of the All-India Kisan Sabha, condemned the rise within the seed price. “At a time when the cost of production is increasing, the Government’s decision would result in additional burden on the farmers. We oppose the decision,” he stated.
“The seed value component was reduced from ₹751 in 2016 to ₹730 in 2020. We asked for a correction of this and make it ₹810. But the Government increased it by only 5 per cent,” NSAI (National Seed Association of India) President M Prabhakara Rao instructed BusinessLine.
The affiliation represents the seed firms that take the Bollgard-II know-how from Monsanto, via its Indian three way partnership Mahyco Monsanto, to equip their hybrids with means to guard the crops from pink bollworm.
‘Remove price control’
“We are happy with the increase of five per cent in cottonseed price. This is less than the 10 per cent that we requested for, but we consider it as a good gesture by the Government,” Ram Kaundinya, Director General of Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII) and Alliance for Agri Innovation, instructed BusinessLine.
The FSII represents agri biotechnology firms within the nation.
“We represented to the Government that the cottonseed business was becoming unviable for the industry and research investments in developing new hybrids has dwindled significantly. If this is not corrected immediately it will adversely affect cotton yields and farmers profitability,” he stated.
Cotton production within the nation has to go to 57 million bales (of 170 kg) by 2027 from the present stage of 37 million bales with a view to help the aggressive plans by the textiles trade.
The trade argues that the price of seed production is growing tremendously. While the prices of different inputs equivalent to fertilisers and pesticides have gone up considerably, the price of Bollgard-II has not stored tempo with the price will increase.
“It has been reduced from ₹800 to ₹730 over the last five years, out of which the seed component (excluding the trait value) moved down from ₹751 per packet to ₹730,” he stated.
The FSII wished the Government to take away the price control utterly. “This will encourage more investments to flow into introduction of modern technologies and seed varieties into the market, which is crucial for the health of Indian cotton industry and the Indian cotton farmer,” he stated.
Source: NewswrapIndia
Several Indian products will enjoy the benefit of greater market access at concessional duties in Mauritius as the free trade agreement signed between the two countries will come into effect from April 1, the commerce ministry said on Wednesday.
India and Mauritius signed the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA), a kind of free trade pact, on February 22.
"Both sides have completed their internal legal procedures and the India-Mauritius CECPA will enter into force on Thursday, 01 April 2021," the ministry said.
The pact covers 310 export items for India, including food and beverages, agricultural products, textile and textile articles, base metals, electricals and electronic item, plastics and chemicals, and wood.
It said that Mauritius will benefit from preferential market access into India for its 615 products, including frozen fish, speciality sugar, biscuits, fresh fruits, juices, mineral water, beer, alcoholic drinks, soaps, bags, medical and surgical equipment, and apparel.
As regards trade in services, Indian service providers will have access to around 115 subsectors such as professional services, computer related services, research and development, telecommunication, construction, education, environmental, financial, tourism, yoga, and audio-visual.
On the other hand, India has offered around 95 sub-sectors from the 11 broad services sectors, including R&D, telecommunication, financial, distribution, higher education, environmental, health, and transport services.
It added that Indian exporters have to obtain a Certificate of Origin (CoO) from the authorised Indian agencies to avail the preferential benefits under the agreement.
An exporter has to submit this certificate at the landing port of the importing country. The document is important to claim duty concessions under a free-trade agreement. It is essential to prove where their goods come from.
"The online application for CoO for the India-Mauritius CECPA can be made from 01 April 2021 through the common digital platform for issuance of certificate of origin of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT)," the ministry said.
In such an agreement, two trading partners cut or eliminate duties on a host of products besides liberalising norms to promote services trade.
Source: The Business Standard
The government on Wednesday further extended the validity of the current foreign trade policy (FTP), which provides a road map for boosting external commerce in goods and services, by six months through September 30.
The latest move will enable exporters to continue to get incentives under a clutch of extant programmes — including the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (which replaced the flagship Merchandise Exports From India Scheme, or MEIS, from January 1), interest equalisation scheme and transport subsidy scheme (for farm exports) — without any hiccups.
The validity of the FTP for 2015-20 was already extended by a year through March 31, 2021 in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, mainly to maintain policy stability and soften the blow to exporters.
Exemption from the payment of IGST and compensation cess on the imports made under the advance/EPCG authorisations and by the export-oriented units has also been extended by six months through September 30. Similarly, the validity of “status holder” certificates for exporters will also be extended up to end-September. Such a certificate suggests an entity is recognised by the government as export house/trading house or star trading House. A statement by the commerce ministry suggested that the extension is aimed at providing “continuity in the policy regime” in view of the unprecedented situation arising out of the pandemic.
The government has budgeted Rs 13,000 crore for the RoDTEP scheme for FY22. But the actual outgo will likely far exceed the budgetary allocation, exporters have said. Similarly, under the interest equalisation scheme, the government has budgeted `1,900 crore for FY22, against Rs 1,600 crore (RE) for FY21. This scheme usually allows manufacturing and merchant exporters an interest subsidy of 3% on pre-and-post-shipment rupee credit for exports of 416 products (tariff lines).
The incentives are crucial to keep exports from sliding further in the aftermath of the pandemic, as supply chains have been hit and demand from key markets, too, has faltered. Goods exports in February grew by 0.7% on-year, although the contraction in the first 11 months of this fiscal was still to the tune of 12%.
FE had first reported on March 21 that the announcement of a new FTP could be delayed, thanks to not just Covid-induced disruptions but also a policy dilemma over the continuation of certain key export programmes that have been challenged successfully by the US at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Washington had claimed that these schemes were inconsistent with global trade rules and that “thousands of Indian companies are receiving benefits totalling over $7 billion annually from these programmes”.
India had appealed against the ruling of the WTO’s dispute body in response to the US plea in November 2019. But with the WTO’s appellate body remaining dysfunctional for over a year now, ironically due to the US’ blocking of the appointment of judges, the fate of India’s appeal remains uncertain.
The programmes that have been challenged include the MEIS and those relating to special economic zones, export-oriented units, electronics hardware technology parks, capital goods and duty-free imports for re-exports.
While India has already replaced the MEIS, the biggest scheme, with a WTO-compliant tax refund programme from January 1, others still continue. New Delhi believes that it has a strong case and the verdict of the appellate body, when it comes, should go in its favour. Unless a decision is made by the appellate tribunal on the appeal, the findings of the WTO’s dispute panel can’t be binding on India.
The pandemic has also forced the government to undertake a comprehensive review of its FTP architecture for the next five years, given the country now needs fresh policy responses to counter the massive damage caused by the pandemic.
Source: The Financial Express
The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) recently welcomed the initiative taken by the textiles ministry to convey to the commerce ministry to conclude a limited trade deal with the United Kingdom that includes textile and apparel products. The UK is one of India’s largest trading partners in the sector accounting for 24 per cent of such products exported to Europe.
“The textile & clothing industry is very keen that India should sign an early free trade agreement (FTA) with the UK as a duty free regime would be beneficial in creating a level playing field with other competing nations”, TEXPROCIL chairman Manoj Patodia said in a statement.
With the United Kingdom signing trade agreements with 62 countries, including rivals like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam, by January 1 this year, it becomes all the more imperative for India to conclude the limited trade deal without any delay as India stands to lose market share, TEXPROCIL said.
The proposed visit of UK secretary of state for international trade Elizabeth Truss offers an opportune moment for discussing the ‘limited trade deal’, which can get further cemented during UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s likely visit to India in April, Patodia added.
Source: Fibre2Fashion News
Goods and service tax (GST) revenue touched an all-time high in March 2021, with the government collecting nearly Rs 1.24 lakh crore, the finance ministry said on Thursday. GST collections for March are 27% higher than the same month last year and are 14% higher in January-March quarter FY21 versus the full fourth quarter for FY20.
“GST revenues crossed above Rs 1 lakh crore mark at a stretch for the last six months and a steep increasing trend over this period are clear indicators of rapid economic recovery post-pandemic,” the finance ministry said in a statement. The GST revenue witnessed a growth rate of (-) 41%, (-) 8%, 8% and 14% in the first, second, third and fourth quarters of this financial year, respectively, as compared to the same period last year, clearly indicating the trend in the recovery of GST revenues as well as the economy as a whole.
During the month, revenues from import of goods were 70% higher and the revenues from the domestic transaction (including import of services) are 17% higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year. The upward trend over the past few months has emerged owing to closer monitoring against fake-billing, deep data analytics using data from multiple sources including GST, income-tax and customs IT systems and effective tax administration has also contributed to the steady increase in tax revenue over the last few months.
“In addition to the trend of higher overall GST collections over the past six months, all major states have shown a significant increase compared to the previous year,” said MS Mani, senior director at Deloitte India. Further, the increase in collections on imports accompanied by the increase in domestic transactions would indicate that the overall production/consumption cycle is back to normal, he added.
The gross GST revenue collected in the month of March 2021 stands at Rs 1,23,902 crore of which central GST is Rs 22,973 crore, state GST is Rs 29,329 crore, integrated GST is Rs 62,842 crore, including Rs 31,097 crore collected on import of goods. Of the gross, cess is Rs 8,757 crore, including Rs 935 crore collected on import of goods. The government has settled Rs 21,879 crore to CGST and Rs 17,230 crore to SGST from IGST as a regular settlement.
In addition, the Centre has also settled Rs 28,000 crore as IGST ad-hoc settlement in the ratio of 50:50 between Centre and States/UTs. The total revenue of Centre and the States after regular and ad-hoc settlements in the month of March 2021 is Rs 58,852 crore for CGST and Rs 60,559 crore for the SGST. The gross amount also includes the release of compensation of Rs 30,000 crore during the month of March 2021.
Source: The Economic Times
Indian exporters of sugar, cotton and yarn are awaiting the fine print of Pakistan’s decision on Wednesday to lift a one-and-a-half-year ban on imports from India to meet its domestic demand.
Pakistan’s newly-appointed Finance Minister Hammed Azhar told the media that Islamabad had decided to import cotton and sugar from India as the commodities imported from other countries were priced higher.
“The price of sugar in our neighbouring country is cheap,” he said, adding that cotton imports from India would be permitted from June this year.
Cotton export prospects
On the other hand, cotton and yarn exporters prefer to await the Pakistan notification. “The cotton situation in Pakistan is bad and the Indian government has not imposed any restrictions to export (to Islamabad),” said Cotton Corporation of India Chairman-cum-Managing Director PK Agarwal.
Cotton prices in Pakistan are literally on fire as its production for the current marketing year (August 2020-July 2021) is 24 per cent lower at 60.19 lakh bales (of 170 kg). It is expected to import at least 10 lakh bales from India.
Agarwal said CCI was open to Pakistan traders bidding for its global sales tender. “It will take a couple of days before we get a clear picture,” he said. “We are the most competitive in the global cotton market and the developments over the next couple of days could even see domestic cotton prices moving up,” said Rajkot-based Anand Poppat, a trader in raw cotton, cotton wastes and yarn.
Cotton prices in New York are ruling at 79.13 cents a pound (₹45,800 for a candy of 356 kg) compared with India’s export benchmark Shankar-6 price of ₹45,000-45,200. Raw cotton or kapas is priced around ₹6,000 a quintal against the minimum support price of ₹5,515 fixed by the Centre for this season.
For the current season, the Committee on Cotton Production and Consumption (CCPC), a body comprising all stakeholders including the government, has projected the output at 371 lakh bales (of 170 kg). The CCPC has also projected cotton exports at 75 lakh bales (50 lakh bales) and a carryover stock of 97.5 lakh bales (120.95 lakh bales).
Source: The Hindu Business Line
The Federal Republic of Germany has provided up-to € 7,500,000 as contribution for the improvement of labor, social and environmental standards in textiles industry of Pakistan for the period of three years.
Ministry of Commerce and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Germany signed an Implementation Agreement in pursuance of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) earlier signed between Economic Affairs Division (EAD) on behalf of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Federal Republic of Germany on December 23, 2020.
According to MoU, the Government of Germany agreed to support two projects and one is on “improvement of Labor, Social and Environmental Standards in Pakistan’s Textile Industry (TextILES)”.
The signing ceremony was participated by Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razaq Dawood,Special Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Dr. Sohail Rajpoot from Pakistan side and Principle Advisor GIZ, . Romina Kochius from Germany side.
The technical cooperation on this project aims to increase value-addition and competitiveness, and foster innovation by synergizing the environmental, social, and economic dimension of sustainability in the textiles and apparel industry.
The outcome of project would be to support digitalization of Labor and Human Resource Department’s (LHRD) downstream institutions like Punjab Employees Social Security Institution (PESSI), formulation and implementation of measures to ensure sustainable production, transform 15-20 companies which made use of good environmental practices, innovative technologies or labor standards to move to higher value addition or entered new markets.
It also aimed to initiate 2 campaigns on Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) particularly for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to achieve international certification in labor and environmental standards.
The Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Abdul Razzaq Dawood met with Principal Advisor GIZ , Romina Kochius and acknowledged the government of Germany and her for the valuable support in respect of technical cooperation to Pakistan’s textiles and apparel industry in order to improve labor conditions, compliance standards and resource efficiency.
Source: Business Recorder
In a volte-face, Pakistan’s Cabinet on Thursday rejected a proposal of its Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) to import cotton and sugar from India, according to a Cabinet minister.
“Cabinet stated clearly NO trade with India,” Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari said in a tweet soon after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday.
“PM made clear there can be no normalisation of relations with India until they reverse” their actions viz Kashmir of August 5 2019, tweeted Mazari, who is known for her hawkish stand on Kashmir.
The Cabinet decision comes a day after Pakistan’s new Finance Minister Hammad Azhar on Wednesday announced that the country will lift a nearly-two year long ban on the import of cotton and sugar from India after a meeting of the ECC chaired by him.
Ahead of the Cabinet meeting, Mazari had said that all ECC decisions have to be approved by Cabinet and only then can they be seen as “approved” by the government.
“Just for the record – All ECC decisions have to be approved by Cabinet & only then they can be seen as “approved by govt”! So today in Cabinet there will be discussion on ECC decisions incl trade with India & then govt decision will be taken! Media shd be aware of this atleast!” Mazari tweeted.
Azhar’s announcement on Wednesday to import cotton and sugar from India had raised hopes of a partial revival of bilateral trade relations, which were suspended after the August 5, 2019 decision of New Delhi to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
India is the world’s biggest producer of cotton and the second biggest sugar manufacturer.
In May 2020, Pakistan had lifted the ban on import of medicines and raw material of essential drugs from India amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ties between India and Pakistan nose-dived after a terror attack on the Pathankot Air Force base in 2016 by terror groups based in Pakistan. Subsequent attacks, including one on an Indian Army camp in Uri, further deteriorated the relationship.
The ties strained further after India’s war planes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp deep inside Pakistan on February 26, 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack in 2019 in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.
India’s move to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August, 2019 angered Pakistan, which downgraded diplomatic ties with India and expelled the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad. Pakistan also snapped all air and land links with India and suspended trade and railway services.
Source: The Financial Express
TWD Fibres, a specialist manufacturer of polyester and polyamide coloured yarns, has released the new trend colours for 2022, under the theme ‘Elements of Nature’. All shades of this season’s collection are available in Polyester Yarns Diolen and PA 6.6 Yarns Timbrelle in many yarn thicknesses. The company is a fully integrated filament yarn producer.
The first colour trend is Element of Nature-Fire. Fire can not only be calm, but also wild and loud. From soft yellow to bright magenta, a closer look at the colours reveals a breath-taking game of flames. Soft yellow tones provide warmth by candlelight and shine on sunny days. Warm orange lets us look optimistically into the future at sunset and bright red shows us the power that can emanate from fire, but also the life that is in it, according to TWD Fibres.
The second colour trend is Element of Nature-Water. Regardless of whether it is the sea or a lake, the water immediately gives us that holiday feeling, with the gentle rustling of the waves, the splashing of the fish, the fine sand beneath your feet. The third colour trend is Element of Nature-Earth. Whether it is mountain biking, hiking, or going for a walk, the hectic pace of everyday life is reduced. We go out into nature.
On the way through forests, meadows and fields, we enjoy their diversity. We walk out of the city on narrow paths in the midst of well-tended fields. To the left of us a field has just been freshly plowed and shines in a rich brown, while on the right at the edge of the path the first plants are poking out of the earth and shining in a delicate green. On the way into the forest, more and more lush green moss pervades the sandy path under our feet. While the floor now shines in a warm olive green, the fir trees all around shine in their strongest green. We feel the pristine nature and feel the significant effect that the forest has on the landscape, the soil, water and air and on us humans, TWD Fibres said in a press release.
The fourth colour trend is the Element of Nature-Air. Depending on the weather or the time of day, the sky offers its viewer variety and a real play of light. While we are woken up in the morning by delicate pink tones, light yellow tones, or clouds of different grey accompany us during the day. Soft apricot tones in the evening make the sunset an eye-catcher that you don‘t want to miss. But as tender as the air can be, the more it impresses us with its power. How quickly does a mild breeze turn into a full-blown thunderstorm, or a delicate cloud into a threatening front. These colours are harmony over all the contrasts.
Source: Fibre2Fashion News
