Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said India and the European Union (EU) will begin negotiations for separate bilateral trade and investment agreements simultaneously under a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement as investments are an area of the EU’s interest while India is keen to get more market access for its goods and services there. The minister said trade and investment go hand in hand, and the two sides are committed to conclude the two pacts together at an early date.
Source: Economic Times
Continuing a positive growth, India's exports grew by 80 per cent to $ 7.04 billion during the first week of this month, according to preliminary data of the commerce ministry. Exports during May 1-7 last year stood at $ 3.91 billion and $ 6.48 billion in the same week of May 2019, data showed. Imports too rose by 80.7 per cent to $ 8.86 billion during May 1-7, 2021 as against $ 4.91 billion in the same period last year and $ 10.39 billion in 2019. India's exports in April jumped nearly three-folds to $ 30.21 billion from $ 10.17 billion in the same month last year. Major export commodities which are recording healthy growth include gems and jewellery, jute, carpet, handicrafts, leather, electronic goods, oil meals, cashew, engineering, petroleum products, marine products and chemicals. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President S K Saraf said that the exports growth is encouraging and order books of exporters are healthy. "I will urge the government to look into the issues of MEIS (merchandise export from India scheme). RoDTEP (remission of duties and taxes on export products) rates should allso be announced immediately to further push the shipments as profitability of exporters are getting impacted," he said.
Source: Business Standard
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on Saturday allowed businesses to import and export goods without furnishing bonds to the customs authorities until June-end, a move aimed at ensuring no delay or disruption in EXIM trade due to COVID-19. In a circular, the CBIC said importers and exporters will have to furnish an undertaking to the Customs authorities in lieu of the bonds till June 30. The indirect tax body said it has received representation from traders to accept undertaking in lieu of bonds in certain cases of Customs clearance, in view of the difficulties being faced in the ongoing lockdown/constraints imposed in different regions of India. To expedite Customs clearance of goods and for maintaining balance between Customs control and facilitation of legitimate trade, the CBIC said it has approved relaxation of the requirement to submit bonds. "The Board has decided to restore the facility of acceptance of an undertaking in lieu of bond by Customs formation till June 30, 2021. Importers/exporters availing this facility shall ensure that the undertaking furnished is duly replaced with a proper bond by July 15, 2021," the CBIC said in a circular. Last year too in the wake of COVID pandemic, the CBIC had allowed businesses to import and export goods without furnishing bonds to the customs authorities.AM RG & Associates Senior Partner Rajat Mohan said due to the resurgence of the pandemic, customs has yet again eased out certain customs procedures. "These measures would facilitate international trade and ensure continuance of business operations," Mohan added.
Source: Economic Times
Prospect of stricter curbs is threatening to weaken the currency, which is among Asia's top three performers this month. The Indian rupee’s recent gains could be short-lived as pressure grows on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration to announce a nationwide lockdown to curb a deadly wave of coronavirus infections. The prospect of stricter curbs is reviving memories of last year when similar measures dragged India’s economy into its worst contraction in four decades. It’s also threatening to weaken the rupee, which is among Asia’s top three performers this month, thanks to heavy foreign inflows for initial public offerings, a dovish Federal Reserve and a glut of dollars at state-run banks.“The recovery in the rupee in recent weeks reflects the softer dollar and weaker import demand as restrictions were imposed,” Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. “If a nationwide lockdown were to be implemented, we could see some near-term weakness in the rupee.” A technical gauge is also signaling that the rupee’s advance maybe losing momentum. The dollar-rupee’s slow stochastics, a momentum indicator, shows that the currency pair is in oversold territory. The rupee rose 0.8% last week to 73.51 per dollar. Goh forecasts the rupee to fall to 76 per dollar in the second quarter but expects further declines to be limited by a reduction in imports. India’s capital extended its lockdown for another week while the nation reported 403,736 new virus cases on Sunday, and more than 4,000 Covid-19 deaths for a second day. Modi’s political allies, top business leaders and even U.S. President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser have said lockdowns could be the only way to stem the world’s worst virus outbreak. Analysts have already trimmed India’s growth forecasts as individual states tightened restrictions, but a nationwide curb could deal a much larger blow to the economy. The Reserve Bank of India stepped in last week to provide loan relief and pledged to inject 500 billion rupees ($6.8 billion) of liquidity to support growth. Inflation data on Wednesday is expected to provide more economic cues. Consumer prices are forecast to have climbed 4.1% in April from a year earlier, the slowest pace since January, to stay within the RBI’s 2%-6% target range, which would provide room for more support measures. However, signs of more quantitative easing would be bad news for the rupee. The currency could remain supported as expectations of a surge in IPOs this year keeps inflows coming, although its near-term trend points to a downside as virus cases show no sign of slowing.
Source: Business Standard
India and the European Union plan to support regional connectivity, beginning with the member states of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). This was decided as part of their Connectivity Partnership initiative for third countries, announced at Saturday's Summit.
Source: Economic Times
India and EU on Saturday announced a comprehensive Connectivity Partnership on supporting resilient and sustainable connectivity both in India and in third countries and regions, including Africa, Central Asia and the Indo-Pacific that will provide an alternative to China's mega Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This is India's first such connectivity initiative with any foreign partner that will cover three geographical zones and therefore has global ramifications amid BRI that has pushed certain countries into debt trap.
Source: Economic Times
Gas heat recovery has become the name of the game for efficiency in the textile and garment industry to remain competitive in business and for a green transformation to save the environment and the next generation. A majority of the big spinning, dyeing, washing and weaving mills have adopted new heat recovery technologies to utilise waste heat energy from gas burners installed to run the factories. Previously, the burner exhausts used to be released in the air but now the millers capture it to boil water and run air conditioning and other purposes for which they can save both energy and money. The waste heat recovery system offers textile industries an economic and green solution to save valuable energy. The system extracts and reuses waste energy from industrial processes instead of dissipating it into the environment, according to the Partnership for Cleaner Textile (PaCT), a programme led by International Finance Corporation (IFC). The PaCT said more than 338 factories are using the waste heat recovery systems and gas consumption has annually reduced by 1.26 per cent to 12,74,983 cubic metres from 12,91,122 cubic metres. Industry operators said the recovered heat can be used for onsite power and steam generation and preheat combustion air. "By using exhaust gas boilers, we have reduced natural gas consumption and increased engine's overall performance and annual savings of $1.04 million," said MA Jabbar, managing director of DBL Group, a leading textile and garment group. The DBL's 90 MW natural gas engine's current efficiency is 56 per cent and it is working on the heat recovery to increase it to 61 per cent. "I regularly review our energy efficiency level every month for further improvement to save the environment and also continuation of production," said Jabbar, adding that he plans on solar energy accounting for 10 per cent of the group's power consumption by 2025. One of the processes involve converting the exhaust fuel into steam which is fed into a turbine to produce electricity, said A Matin Chowdhury, managing director of Malek Spinning Mills. However, these steam turbines can only convert 35 per cent of the steam into electricity, he said.
Wherever the industry uses captive power units, steam can be additionally generated for various other uses, such as for chillers, dyeing and availing hot water, which would have otherwise required consuming additional gas, he said. The overall gas consumption in such industries attains efficiencies of 81 per cent to 86 per cent. Where combined cycle power plants are run, the efficiency is higher, at 47 per cent to 52 per cent, Chowdhuy said. Chowdhury said he has been making savings capturing waste heat energy from gas usage in his three units including Knit Asia, Salek Textile and JM Fabrics at Shafipur in Gazipur.He produces 50 tonnes of fabrics a day to produce garment items at Knit Asia. Md Anarul Islam Sarker, deputy general manager for utility and maintenance at Fakir Apparels, operates four natural gas-fired generators to run facilities. The generators emit large volumes of exhaust gases at high temperatures, which the company is utilising to run boilers and produce steam for garment ironing, dyeing and finishing units. The waste heat recovery system has significantly reduced the company's energy and boiler fuel demand by 27,456 kWh/year and 2,595,840 m3/year, respectively. The factory is said to be enjoying $208,615 in annual savings from waste heat recovery, on which it invested $177,000, Sarker said.
Source: The daily star
(MENAFN - Trend News Agency) In Q1 2021, Uzbekistan exported $637.7 million worth of textile products to 54 countries, reports citing. The figure is more by $174.9 million compared to the same period last year, the Statistics Committee said. According to the committee's report, a total of 5,080 textile enterprises produced 11.5 trillion soums worth of goods during the period under review. In the total volume of items produced by textile enterprises in the country, Fergana (15%), Kashkadarya (9.8%) and Tashkent (9.1%) regions have the highest share. In 2020, Uzbekistan exported textile products for $1.9 billion to 70 foreign countries.
Source: Menafn
Utenos trikotažas is establishing a new subsidiary for its innovative clothing brand About. A team of professionals will look after the further development of the brand. All the rights and responsibility for the international development of the About clothing lines will be transferred to the new company for a value determined by an independent appraiser. “The board of the company has made an ambitious decision to move the brand, which was being developed for almost a decade, to the next level. In order to maximise the accumulated input, we have decided to apply the business philosophy typical to start-ups – finding fast, creative and bold decisions. I have no doubt that the team with the full support of Utenos Trikotažas and an experienced leader will soon surprise with significant achievements,” Petras Jašinskas, CEO of Utenos Trikotažas, said. All the rights and responsibility for the international development of the About clothing lines – About Baltic Underwear and About the Sensology of Wear – will be transferred to the newly established company for the value determined by an independent property appraiser. The team will be led by experienced e-commerce and digital marketing strategist Giedre Vilke. She will also own 20 per cent of the newly established subsidiary‘s share capital, which will be paid in shareholder funds. “The About brand has gone through many important stages that have helped to gain valuable experience, so we have a significant competitive advantage and potential for global growth. Together with Utenos Trikotažas, we will take big steps towards innovation in textile production, ensuring high product quality and exceptional sustainability throughout the supply chain. Our nearest plans include changes in the range of products and significant investments in international digital marketing,” Vilke said. Utenos Trikotažas will become a strategic partner of the new company providing production-supply services under a bilateral agreement and finance the company's activities under market conditions according to the need established in the business plan. The founders of the subsidiary will, under the agreement of the shareholders, provide for possible options agreements, ie under certain conditions, Utenos Trikotažas will commit to transfer up to 10 per cent of the shares of the subsidiary to a minority shareholder, as well as will have the right and obligation to redeem the shares held by the minority shareholder. The exclusive clothing of the About brand developed by Utenos Trikotažas of the SBA Group has been stocked by prestigious shopping centres around the world - KaDeWe in Germany, Le Bon Marche in France, Shinsegae in South Korea, Framework in Japan, and Need Supply Co in the US. Lithuanian products are also traded on the global luxurious fashion e-commerce platform Matchesfashion.
Source: Fibre2fashion
English engineer and economist Eric Anderson, who has been researching Kalinga material culture in the country for the past seven years, has included Kalinga textile in the world list of renowned woven products. Weavers of Kalinga textile use indigenous raw materials from banana, cogon, abaca and maguey and braid them with polyester or cotton textile. New innovative products that are finding competitive demand in international markets include dining accessories such as table runners and place mats. Common items produced are skirts, loincloths, sashes, capes, headbands, blankets, blouses and underskirts, bags and pouches. Anderson produced a monograph, Kalinga Culture, which features Kalinga woven textile. He also made a presentation of his research work at the People's Ethnographic Museum in Stockholm and at the Textile Society of Hong Kong. Anderson is said to possess one of the largest collections of Kalinga items with more than 100 documented antique textiles in his kitty. Kalinga weaving, which can be traced back to the 18th century, had an Indonesian influence. Through centuries, it has evolved into its more fashionable fit called Ginamat design. Predominantly styled by the Lubuagan weavers, Ginamat is a twilled pattern decorated with silk embroidery.
Source: Fibre2fashion
