The Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) Friday raised by about three-fourths its annual surplus transfer to the Centre, beating both market estimates and the government’s conservative budget projections. Revaluation gains of forex reserves and a decision to maintain aggressive contingency-risk buers likely helped increase the dividend payout to nearly Rs 1 lakh crore. The central bank’s board decided to maintain the contingency risk buffer at 5.5%, which is at the lowest end of the 5.5-6% range prescribed by the Bimal Jalan Committee that had reviewed the RBI’s economic capital framework. The board approved the transfer of Rs 99,122 crore as surplus to the government for the accounting period of nine months ended March 31. In the scal year ended June 2020, the RBI had transferred Rs 57,128 crore……….
Source: Economic Times
Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday urged the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to adopt a ‘free market’ approach and become a market-friendly regulator to help businesses recover from COVID-19’s adverse effects. “Referring to the challenges of post-pandemic revival of enterprises, the Finance Minister stressed on the need for the CCI to proactively engage with industry so as to ensure that their legitimate claims are patiently heard while also making sure that knowingly or unknowingly, by omission or by commission market processes are not undermined,” the Corporate Affairs Ministry said in a statement. The Minister, speaking at the competition watchdog’s annual day commemoration, said the CCI’s emphasis on creating a ‘trust-based system’ was important for economies like India that are still ‘transitioning to a free market’ economy. But in view of the ‘ever-widening contours of the economy and the new-age India’, she urged the Commission to ‘evolve with the speed, scale and visionary look needed for the economy to thrive and for fair genuine market practices to flourish’.As the CCI steps into ‘a more sturdy’ role, it should ‘progressively forward the cause and help free market to thrive, in letter and spirit’, Ms Sitharaman said.
Source: The Hindu
Latest data from the Commerce department for FY21 shows that relatively low value commodities, including both unprocessed raw materials and processed bulk goods, managed to hold their own throughout the pandemic-ridden year. A rise in global commodity prices and unused capacity due to drop in local manufacturing meant many commodity exports even managed to grow in 2020-21. he 7.2 percent fall in India's exports during the pandemic-ridden 2020-21 financial year may have been much worse had it not been for a steady outflow of across the board commodity exports such as chemicals, ores, plastic, cotton and pulses steadying the trade figures. Despite continuous government push over the past 5-years to increase exports of highvalue manufactured goods across major markets, India’s export basket remains dominated by the commodities category. Ironically, this comes even as the Commerce Department has been aggressively trying to raise the share of value added manufactured goods in the overall export basket. "We have believed for some years now that long term dependence on raw materials would be inherently detrimental to the export sector. At the least, it would rob the industry the chance to transition to higher value products, up the value chain," a senior Commerce Department official, said. Global prices soaring One of the reasons for the government's hesitation in backing commodities is the high volatility in global prices, which have been on display in the last financial year. The sudden rise in global commodity prices over the past 3 months of key input materials such as steel, chemicals and plastics have helped India's exports recover. The largest consumer of metals and other construction products on earth, China has seen prices of hot rolled steel coils, cement and copper all climb by more than 30 percent, according to Reuters. Covering a broad basket of globally traded raw materials, the Bloomberg Commodity Spot Index, has risen more than 21 percent since the beginning of the year and has scaled a high not seen since 2016. According to IHS Markit, the spiraling inflation began in January mainly due to a buildup of global supply chain issues due to the coronavirus pandemic and a lack of global freight containers. However, prices have continued to build on those levels as industries in many nations begin to fire up after and widespread input shortages become evident subsequently. Agri commodities such as sugar and cotton have also seen prices shoot up. As a result, the government has reduced the central subsidy on sugar exports from Rs. 6,000 per tonne to Rs. 4,000 per tonne beginning immediately. Meanwhile, while the trade in gold has suffered due to non-availability of duty free gold, diamonds have stabilised after the industry opened up after the lockdown, according to the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). "Improved international market demand in the third quarter owing to a robust holiday season, stimulated manufacturing across all product segments and overall gross exports," GJEPC Chairman Colin Shah said. On the other hand, the sudden rise in commodity prices have raised the cost of manufacturing and hit exporters hard even as most are facing a liquidity crisis. In a series of meetings, exporters have asked the government to consider temporary price caps on input materials, restrictions on export of primary goods such as raw steel and financial assistance to the sector. "There has been a substantial jump in export of primary steel in recent months while many value-added steel products shipped from the country have seen a 15-35 percent decline. We have therefore suggested the government to take non-tariff and tariff measures as part of the raw material export policy," said Engineering Exports Promotion Council India Chairman Mahesh Desai. Policy framing. The latest shift in global flows is not expected to change trade policy soon, officials and industry insiders say. "The government believes widening the export basket is crucial to diversify and increase foreign exchange earning potential and catch up with nations like Vietnam (electronics), Malaysia (components) and Bangladesh (textile) who have focused heavily on labor intensive manufactured exports," a senior Delhi-based government trade advisor, said. Instead, India has decided to take things up a notch and take a leaf out of China’s trade playbook and intensively specialise, produce and ship out a select category of ‘network products’ (NPs) such as computers, electronic and electrical equipment, and telecommunications goods. A report by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has pointed out that since 2012, China’s exports have increasingly moved up the value chain, with accelerated growth in high-technology items, such as telecommunications equipment, automotive products, cellphones, etc. India needs to take a leaf out of China’s trade playbook and intensively specialise, produce and ship out a select category of ‘network products’ (NPs) such as computers, electronic and electrical equipment, and telecommunications goods.
Source: Money Control
India remains the "greatest rising power" on the planet and has a number of fundamental strengths that will make it one of the "most powerful" countries in the world, according to report. Despite the damage caused by the record rise in COVID-19 cases, India remains the "greatest rising power" on the planet and has a number of fundamental strengths that will make it one of the "most powerful" countries in the world, according to report published in a Saudi daily. Rebuffing critics of India's handling of the pandemic, American foreign policy expert Dr John C Hulsman in an op-ed for Arab News has said that India's political power structure is stable and both Modi and the BJP are politically secure in a way that other "developing countries can only envy." Due to a substantial rise in virus cases, India has witnessed a strain on its health infrastructure and subsequent rebuke from some sections of the western media. Hulsman has argued that the analytical danger is to look at India's tragic problems of today, but not at the enduring changes lying beneath the surface that will continue to make it the "greatest rising power" in the world. "First, India's political power structure is remarkably stable. Surprising most of the foreign policy commentariat (but in line with my firm's political risk predictions), the BJP actually gained seats during the May 2019 national parliamentary elections," the American expert said. "Coupled with these political advantages, India's demography affords it a mighty relative advantage. It is projected to surpass China as the world's most populous nation by 2024. Crucially, more than 50 percent of India's population is below the age of 25 and 65 percent is under the age of 35," he added. Pointing to India's sturdy figures, the foreign policy expert said that economic numbers "simply do not lie." "By 2050, it is estimated that India will account for a startling 15 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP). Coming out of the COVID-19 economic abyss, the subcontinent is set for a golden era of renewed growth," Dr Hulsman said. He also reminded how the International Monetary Fund estimates India's economy is on course to grow by an impressive 11.5 percent this year, which is the only major global economy predicted to experience double-digit growth."Long-term political stability and an economic and demographic lift off already in progress make the essentials of India strikingly clear. This is the rising power in today's world -- one that will only grow in importance as the years progress." There will often be chaos on the surface but India's enduring and essential political risk trajectory is decisively favourable, the expert concluded.
Source: Business Standard
India Ratings on Friday said that home textiles exporters are expected to witness growth in their topline and bottom-line on account of sustained demand and stable raw material prices. The home textile segment continued to exhibit demand resilience, led by the healthy demand, it added. India Ratings on Friday said that home tetiles exporters are expected to witness growth in their topline and bottom-line on account of sustained demand and stable raw material prices. The home textile segment continued to exhibit demand resilience, led by the healthy demand, it added. In home textiles, "a sustained demand and stable raw material prices will lead to growth in exporters' topline and bottomline", Ind-Ra said in a report. While home textile players reported a healthy rise in topline during FY'21, operating margins were impacted during the fourth quarter of FY'21, on account of an import duty on cotton along with uncertainty over remission of duties and taxes on export products incentives, the report stated. Meanwhile, cotton prices corrected during April 2021, led by lower demand from mills operating under lower capacities on account of micro lockdowns domestically. Also, the report revealed that while the United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS) expects the domestic crop to increase by 2 per cent yearon-year in the next season commencing October 2021, consumption is slated to increase by 6-8 per cent Y-o-Y, leading to a reduction in ending stocks. The marginal rise in production is despite an expected lower area under cultivation for the next season, albeit supported by a normal monsoon and increasing yield by 5 per cent to 497 kg per hectare, added the report.
Source: Economic Times
Industry bodies have written to the government with a request to let them resume operations, saying many of them are part of global supply chains. The industries department, in turn, is pushing for revival of manufacturing activities with only half the workforce and with even lesser manpower in garment units. Karnataka’s industries department has proposed a limited restart of manufacturing units to keep the supply chain from breaking away. The suggestion comes on the back of reports of a possible extension of the lockdown beyond May 24. The May 7 guidelines have allowed manufacturing activities only in essential sectors including food processing. Industry bodies have written to the government with a request to let them resume operations, saying many of them are part of global supply chains. The industries……………
Source: Economic Times
According to an analysis by the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA) based on the CMIE monthly time-series of employment by industry, manufacturing employment in 2020-21 was nearly half of what it was five years ago. While the employment scenario in the country has turned bleaker of late due to the pandemic after a brief spell of moderate recovery from the fathoms hit in May 2020, manufacturing, which has ostensibly received a lot of policy attention, has been losing out to other sectors and the most to agriculture as job creator over the past few years. According to an analysis by the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA) based on the CMIE monthly time-series of employment by industry, manufacturing employment in 2020-21 was nearly half of what it was five years ago. The decline was particularly sharper in 2020-21 owing to the pandemic – on a year-onyear basis, the sector employed 32% fewer people in 2020-21 over 2019-20. Real estate & construction also also saw big fall in its share in employment in 2020-21 (see chart) and a secular decline over the five-years to 2020-21. While there has been a secular decline in manufacturing employment across all subsectors, except chemical industries, all sub-sectors registered a longer-term decline. From employing 51 million people in 2016-17, employment in manufacturing, which accounts for 17% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), declined by 46% to reach 27.3 million in 2020-21, reflecting the severity of the employment crisis caused by the pandemic. Similarly, the real estate and construction sector, which employed 69 million people in 2016-17, employed just 53.7 million in 2020-21, down by a quarter. While the pandemic indeed accentuated the decline, the sector had even earlier been hit hard by inventory pile-up, delivery delays and developer delinquencies. The real estate sector had witnessed a sharp increase in employment growth in the 2004- 2011 period, thanks to a boom. According to the CEDA-CMIE study which covered agriculture, mines, manufacturing, real estate and construction, financial services, non-financial services, and public administrative services, sectors that account for 99% of total employment in the country, agriculture now employs more people than five years ago. The agriculture sector that employed 145.6 million people in 2016-17, employed 151.8 million in 2020-21, allowing its share in employment to grow from 36% to 40% during the period. Employment in agriculture has been on the rise over the last two years with year-on-year growth rates of 1.7% in 2019-20 and 4.1% in 2020-21, indicating a marginal shift away from manufacturing, non-financial services, mining and real estate sectors to the traditional resort for livelihood. Among the service sectors, non-financial services, the largest component among service industries, the employment rose over the five-year horizon to 119.7 million to 127.7 million in 2020-21, but there was a sharp y-o-y decline in 2020-21, owing to the pandemic. As reported by FE recently, like the one a year ago, the recent lockdown also has had an immediate, telling effect on the employment scenario in the country. The country’s unemployment rate, that has remained elevated for a few weeks, soared to a near oneyear-high of 14.45% in the week ended May 16. While an already-high urban joblessness has turned more acute, a near-100% week-on-week rise in rural unemployment pushed the overall joblessness rate to a level not witnessed since the the week ended June 7 last year, when it stood at 17.51%.
Source: Financial Express
The fast fashion industry is commonly known as a profitable business model based on replicating high-fashion designs and mass-producing them at a low cost in order to make them affordable for the masses. The textile and fashion industry has a complex supply chain, starting from agriculture to manufacturing, distribution and retail. Each stage of production has a negative environmental impact. The fast fashion industry is becoming the second largest polluter of the planet after oil. The environmental effects of fast fashion include land and air contamination, emission of greenhouse gases and the exhaustion of massive amounts of water and energy. Many chemicals used in textile manufacturing are harmful for the environment, factory workers and the consumers as well. According to the UN Framework Convention on climate change, emissions of greenhouse gases from textile industries will increase up to 60% by 2030. The development of the fashion industry has a significant impact on the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12 “Sustainable consumption and production”(SDG 12 ). SDG 12 aims to ensure sustainable consumption and production levels.SDG 12 primarily focuses on the use of natural resources, chemical waste and fossil fuels. The mission of SDG 12 is to introduce sustainable practices in the different processes of production and spreading awareness about responsible consumption in consumers. It can be concluded that all of the concerns raised under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 12 are connected with the practices of the fast fashion industry. The production of leather requires large amounts of land and water to raise livestock. The tanning of leather is a highly toxic process. The chemicals used to tan leather include mineral salts, formal dehyde and coal-tar. All these chemicals are not biodegradable and easily contaminate water sources. The fashion industry is responsible for depletion of earth’s fresh water resources. 700 gallons of fresh water are required to produce one cotton shirt and 2,000 gallons of water to produce just one pair of jeans. A 2017 report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimated that 35% of all micro-plastics- tiny pieces of non-biodegradable plastic- in the world’s oceans come from washing synthetic garments such as polyester. In the last two decades the textile industry has drastically increased production. Annual consumption of textiles has doubled from 7 to 13 kg per person in most regions of the developed countries. More than two thirds of the textiles end up in landfill and just around 15% of discarded clothes are recycled. Consumerism has given birth to a throwaway culture that is resulting in a serious environmental, health and social concern for our future generations. Most people are unaware of how their buying behaviour is causing an environmental disaster. According to the film documentary The True Cost ,released in 2015,the world consumes around 80 billion new pieces of clothing every year, 400% more than the consumption twenty years ago. As consumers throw away old clothing rapidly larger amounts of textile waste ends up in landfills. The fast fashion retailers (Forever21, Zara, and more) generally launch new clothing trends multiple times a month. Tasha Lewis, a professor at Cornell University’s Department of Fibre Science and Apparel Design explains, “It used to be four seasons in a year; now it may be up to 11 or 15 or more.” Moreover, social sustainability is also in danger due to the current fast fashion production systems that are widely characterized by child labour, low wages, long working hours, unsafe working environment of the fast fashion industry. 1 in 6 people in the world is directly or indirectly employed by a fashion related business 80 percent of the labour force throughout the supply chain are women. The Rana Plaza factory collapse in April 2013 revealed these conditions to the world in a tragic way. The inhumane working conditions of the sweatshop workers were highlighted by mass media. This led to the development of consumer awareness. Pakistan’s fashion industry releases multiple collections each year just to maximize profit. In this money-making race, designers produce clothes that sell fast but end up being discarded and developing a throw away culture in our society. On the basis of these environmental impacts, we outline the need for fundamental changes in the fashion business model, including a deceleration of manufacturing and the introduction of sustainable practices throughout the supply chain, as well a shift in consumer behaviour. Consumers can play a huge role in combating this environmental disaster by decreasing clothing purchases and increasing garment lifetimes. These changes stress the need for an urgent transition back to ‘slow’ fashion, minimizing the detrimental environmental impacts, so as to improve the long-term sustainability of the fashion supply chain.“It always seems impossible until it’s done”, Nelson Mandela. Enayah Fatima, Murtaza Qazafi, Mujtaba Awais, Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, Aaraiz Ali and Zainab Rehman The authors are students of Lahore Grammar School Defence Phase 5.
Source: Pakobserver
China has said EU states "disregarded facts" on the human rights issue in Xinjiang after the European Parliament froze the legislative process for ratifying the investment pact with Beijing. China has said EU states "disregarded facts" on the human rights issue in Xinjiang after the European Parliament froze the legislative process for ratifying the investment pact with Beijing, in response to sanctions against EU lawmakers. On Thursday, the EU legislators adopted the resolution on the Chinese sanctions, dealing a major blow to the major economic pact, officially known as the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Friday defended the sanctions against the EU members, saying that it was a "legitimate reaction" to the EU's moves of imposing sanctions on Beijing. "China's decision to sanction relevant EU entities and individuals who maliciously spread Xinjiang-related lies and disinformation and severely harmed China's sovereignty and interests are out of the need to safeguard its own interests," the spokesperson said. "The EU's unjustified sanctions strain China-EU relations. This is what China is unwilling to see, and what China should not be blamed for. It is hoped that the EU side will make serious reflections," he added. According to the motion that was passed with an overwhelming majority, "any consideration of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, as well as any discussion on ratification by the European Parliament, has justifiably been frozen because the Chinese sanctions are in place." The motion also demands that "China lift the sanctions before dealing with CAI, without prejudice to the final outcome of the CAI ratification process." It also says that MEPs expect the European Commission "to consult with Parliament before taking any steps towards the conclusion and signature of the CAI." The sanctions imposed by the EU on China in March marked the EU's first punitive measures on Beijing since it imposed an arms embargo after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. In retaliation to the bloc's sanctions, China introduced sanctions against 10 European Union officials and four European organizations after accusing them of spreading lies and false information about the Xinjiang region. Since the signing of the deal by Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, there is growing concern in Europe over China's human rights record on issues, including alleged forced labour camps and a crackdown in Hong Kong against anti-government protestors.
Source: Business Standard
Australia’s federal government will direct $1 million to the country’s peak fashion and textiles body to fund the development of an Australian fashion certification trademark, it announced as part of its annual budget. Christian Porter, the country’s Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, said in a statement that the trademark, to be developed by the Australian Fashion Council, will promote the “high quality of locally designed and produced products to key overseas markets”. Leila Naja Hibri, chief executive of the Australian Fashion Council, told Vogue Australia that a trademark will help position Australian fashion as a brand it its own right. “Our lifestyle is one of the things that really sells us as an Australian brand in terms of fashion. Also our Australian heritage, our ethnic diversity, and our creativity, which is a little out-of-the-box — it’s different to what other countries bring to the table,” Naja Hibri said.
Source: Business of Fashion
