The South India Spinners Association has appealed to the State government to permit the textile mills to operate from Monday…………………..
Source: The Hindu
The talks were suspended in 2015 due to disagreement over issues such as market access in agriculture and dairy products, which Canberra had sought. India and Australia could soon resume talks on a bilateral free trade deal. Official-level discussions are on between both countries to resume talks on the India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), Barry O’Farrell, Australian High Commissioner to India, told ET The talks were suspended in 2015 due to disagreement over issues such as market access in agriculture and dairy products, which Canberra had sought……………….
Source: Economic Times
At Rs 1.02 lakh crore, GST collection is lower than April’s record collections of Rs 1,41,314 crore, but still high despite most states imposing strict restrictions to break the chain of transmission of the infection. Indicating a lower-than-expected impact of localised lockdowns in the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, gross GST (Goods and Services Tax) collections in May (for sales in April) topped Rs 1 lakh crore for the eighth month in a row. At Rs 1.02 lakh crore, it is lower than April’s record collections of Rs 1,41,314 crore, but still high despite most states imposing strict restrictions to break the chain of transmission of the infection. “Collections above Rs 1 lakh crore pertaining to the transactions in the month of April indicate that the economic impact of the lockdowns has been much lower than expected. A close watch is required on the next month’s collections to determine the extent of the impact on GST collections FY22,” said M S Mani, Senior Director, Deloitte India. In the corresponding month last year, i.e. May 2020, the GST collections had stood at Rs 62,009 crore. Last year, after the nationwide lockdown was announced in March, GST collections had dipped to a record low of Rs 32,172 crore in April (for sales in March). Subsequently, it took six months for the GST collections to recover and cross the Rs 1 lakh crore mark in October at Rs 1.05 lakh crore. In a press statement Saturday, the Ministry of Finance said, “This would be the eighth month in a row that GST revenues have crossed ? 1 lakh crore mark. This is despite the fact that most of the States have been under strict lockdown due to the pandemic.” The gross GST revenue collected in May 2021 stood at Rs 1,02,709 crore, of which central GST is Rs 17,592 crore, state GST is Rs 22,653 crore, integrated GST is Rs 53,199 crore (including Rs 26,002 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 9,265 crore (including Rs 868 crore collected on import of goods).
Source: Indian Express
Analysts, however, caution against reading too much into the FY21 data, saying “one swallow doesn’t make a summer”. As such, the pandemic year isn’t the ideal time to forecast a trend on its basis. China overtook the UAE to emerge as India’s second largest export destination in FY21, behind only the US, for the first time in recent memory, despite the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic and a deadly border clash. Official data showed exports to China jumped an impressive 28% in FY21 from a year before to over $21 billion, while those to the UAE plunged by 42% to nearly $17 billion. While China’s massive infrastructure push prompted it to import iron ore and steel in large volumes from India, the UAE, hurt by a plunge in oil prices, cut back purchases in a pandemic year. India’s total merchandise exports shrank by just over 7% last fiscal to $291 billion. Nevertheless, the exports to China were still less than a half of those to the US ($21 billion vs $52 billion in FY21) even though the outbound shipment to the world’s largest economy faltered by almost 3%. More importantly, India’s exports to China would need to grow at a rapid pace on a sustained basis for years before the massive trade imbalance is somewhat corrected. Including Hong Kong, considered a close proxy for Beijing, India’s effective trade deficit with China dropped to $49 billion in FY21 from almost $55 billion in the previous year. With China alone, the trade deficit declined to $44 billion last fiscal from nearly $49 billion in FY20. Despite this obvious drop in absolute term, China’s share in India’s total goods trade deficit still zoomed to 43% in FY21 from 30% a year before. This is because the country’s imports from China were in excess of $65 billion last fiscal, almost the same as in FY20, even though its total inbound shipments faltered by 17% from a year earlier. mportantly, as government officials have often pointed out, it’s difficult to gauge the exact quantum of trade deficit with China, as Beijing can divert supplies through other nations in the region, especially the Asean members. Still, it’s an encouraging sign that China is beginning to perhaps unshackle a bit its market to its regional rival after fiercely guarding it for years. Analysts, however, caution against reading too much into the FY21 data, saying “one swallow doesn’t make a summer”. As such, the pandemic year isn’t the ideal time to forecast a trend on its basis. Moreover, for the latest acceleration to sustain, Beijing has to buy a wider portfolio of products from New Delhi, and not just raw materials (iron ore and cotton) and low valueadded goods (certain steel products and other base metals). China’s extremely selfcentred trade policies and denial of key market access by stealth (by erecting non-tariff barriers) have been the biggest hindrances to India’s interest, they reckon. Interestingly, as reported by FE earlier, despite the Galwan clash on June 15 and the pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions, India’s merchandise exports to China didn’t abate. However, after an impressive 33% year-on-year jump in the April-June period, growth in shipments to the neighbour slowed down considerably to 20% in the September quarter and to just over 2% in the December quarter. But in the March quarter again, exports to China more than doubled from a year before, keeping the annual growth at an impressive 28%. In contrast, India’s exports to its biggest market — the US — reversed a 39% slide witnessed in the three months through June to inch up by 3% in the September quarter, 5.5% in the December quarter. Between January and March, exports to the largest economy grew by 20%, limiting the annual contraction to just about 3%. While the US remained the worst victim of Covid-19 last year, which battered its demand, China, despite being the epicentre of the pandemic, seems to have weathered the crisis better than most. The US, however, buys a much wider portfolio of items from India, which boosts the potential for bilateral trade. India was forced to put in place a stringent lockdown (from March 25 last year until it was gradually relaxed from June) that choked its supply chain, albeit temporarily, while both external and internal demand was battered by the pandemic, causing exports to crash. Once the lockdown was lifted and supply disruptions eased considerably, exports made a fragile recovery (on a quarterly basis), especially to the US. Of course, monthly export growth still showed wide fluctuations. While exports have remained somewhat unscathed from the havoc wrought by the second pandemic wave, only a sustained, rapid expansion will help the country meet its ambitious target of $400 billion for FY22.
Source: Financial Express
The income tax department will launch a new e-filing portal on June 7, which will be integrated to immediately process returns and issue refunds. The new tax payment system will be launched on June 18, 2021 after the advance tax instalment date to avoid any taxpayer inconvenience. "The new e-filing portal is aimed at providing taxpayer convenience and a modern, seamless experience to taxpayers," the Central Board of Direct Taxes…………..
Source: Economic Times
The US Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced on June 2 the plan for the 25 per cent increase in the tariffs on 26 items from India, but said that the hikes will be on hold till December. The US tariff war against India has been reinvigorated by President Joe Biden threatening to increase import duties on a range of imports, from prawns and Basmati rice to furniture and jewellery, in retaliation against New Delhi imposing Digital Services Tax (DS) on tech giants. The US Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced on June 2 the plan for the 25 per cent increase in the tariffs on 26 items from India, but said that the hikes will be on hold till December. India imposed a two per cent tax starting in April last year on earnings in the country by foreign technology and ecommerce companies like Amazon, Facebook and Google. It was opposed by the administration of former President Donald Trump, and Biden has picked up the baton. The Trade Representative's Office said: "India's DST is unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restricts US commerce." The Office estimated the increased taxes on the selected imports from India will equal the taxes India assesses on the US companies under the DST. "Estimates indicate that the value of the DST payable by US-based company groups to India will be up to approximately $55 million per year. The level of trade covered by the action takes into five account estimates of the amount of tariffs to be collected on goods of India and the estimates of the amount of taxes assessed by India." The other items threatened with increased duties include bamboo, window shutters, cigarette papers, pearl, copper foil and bedroom furniture. Inaugurating the new phase of trade wars, the Biden administration also threatened to increase tariffs on imports from five other countries -- the United Kingdom, Austria, Italy, Spain and Turkey over their DST. Explaining the reason for holding the increases in abeyance for the six countries, Tai said it was to help the international negotiations on taxation. "The US remains committed to reaching a consensus on international tax issues through the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and G20 processes. Today's actions provide time for those negotiations to continue to make progress while maintaining the option of imposing tariffs." In the first phase of the negotiations, the Finance Ministers of the G7, the major western industrial powers, meeting in London agreed on Saturday to a minimum 15 per cent corporate tax rate to prevent companies using legal loopholes to avoid paying taxes on incomes in countries where they operate. The deal will next go to next month's meeting in Italy of the G20 -- a group of 19 countries, industrialised and developing, and the European Union. India is a member of the G20. The latest Biden salvo opens a new front in the trade war between the two countries that started in 2018 when Trump imposed 25 per cent duties on steel and aluminium imports from India. In 2019, Donald Trump withdrew the special treatment for some Indian exports, mostly low-tech items and handicrafts, under the General System of Preferences (GSP) that exempted them from import duties. New Delhi retaliated with higher tariffs on 28 US products that included walnuts and almonds. Biden has not so far taken steps to reinstate the GSP facility for India.
Source: Economic Times
“There is a need to ensure better support to the health-care systems, social protection and employment generation,” he said while speaking at the virtual labour ministers meeting at the 109th session of the International Labour Conference. Labour minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar has called for an effective policy intervention to help the business community, ensure income security and well-being of all during the pandemic. “There is a need to ensure better support to the health-care systems, social protection and employment generation,” he said while speaking at the virtual labour ministers meeting at the 109th session of the International Labour Conference……………………..
Source: Economic Times
Respondents were also bleak about the year-ahead prospects, with the future expectations index dropping to 96.4 from 108.8 in the period under review, the RBI said. Indian consumers’ confidence is plumbing new lows, adding to a string of grim data in an economy clobbered by the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak. The current situation index fell to a record 48.5 in May from 53.1 in March, according to the Reserve Bank ofIndia’s consumer confidence survey, where 100 is level that divides pessimism from optimism. Respondents were also bleak about the year-ahead prospects, with the future expectations index dropping to 96.4 from 108.8 in the period under review, the RBI said. “Household spending also weakened in the latest survey round,” according to the RBI, which cited consumers’ concern about about the economic situation and job prospects. Even essential spending was “showing signs of moderation while non-essential spending continues to contract. That’s bad news for an economy primarily driven by consumption, with high-frequency indicators progressively showing weakness in everything from retail activity to road congestion and power demand to rising unemployment levels. Another survey pointed to inflation expectations getting well entrenched, adding to the challenge for monetary policy makers who halted interest rate curs more than a year ago because of gains in price-growth. Sticky underlying price pressures since then have kept the rate-setters from resuming the easing, including at their latest meeting that concluded Friday. Households’ median inflation perception for the current period jumped by 150 basis points to 10.2% while the inflation expectation for three months rose by 70 basis points to 10.8%, compared to the March 2021 survey, the RBI said. Median inflation expectations for one-year ahead also remained at an elevated level at 10.9%.
Source: Economic Times
Often, MNCs are known to shift their tax liability by assigning a share of costs and profits to a subsidiary in a low-tax jurisdiction or by parking intangible assets such as intellectual property in subsidiaries in tax havens, so that royalties would accrue there. The G7 finance ministers have done well to secure a historic deal to have a minimum tax of 15% on corporate incomes in every country, and to accord every market where multinational companies undertake sales the right to tax their earnings. The reform in the global tax system will, if carried through into binding, multilateral tax pacts, deter MNCs from using differences in tax rules to shift profits to tax havens, prevent base erosion and profit shifting, and help governments to collect more taxes.
Source: Economic Times
Earlier in the day, the RBI relaxed the eligibility criteria for the restructuring window offered under the Resolution Framework 2.0 to Rs 50 crore. Earlier, only half of the rated companies were eligible for the package when the loan eligibility threshold was set at Rs 25 crore. It also launched the Rs 15,000-crore liquidity facility. Leading domestic ratings agency NSE -1.19 % on Friday said feared risk aversion among banks may lead to only the large companies benefitting under the Rs 15,000-crore on-tap liquidity window for contact-intensive sectors announced earlier in the day. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) aggregate debt-eligibility thresholds for small enterprises to avail loan recasts takes the total number of entities able to access the facility to two-thirds of the rated mid-size portfolio, it said. Earlier in the day, the RBI relaxed the eligibility criteria for the restructuring window offered under the Resolution Framework 2.0 to Rs 50 crore. Earlier, only half of the rated companies were eligible for the package when the loan eligibility threshold was set at Rs 25 crore. It also launched the Rs 15,000-crore liquidity facility. The on-tap liquidity window for contact-intensive sectors such as hospitality, travel and tourism, and aviation ancillary services, which have borne the brunt of the second wave of the pandemic, is timely also, the agency said. "There is a possibility that only large existing borrowers in contact-intensive sectors actually benefit from this on-tap liquidity window as banks may have greater comfort with them," the agency said. In the current environment, it is possible that a number of banks could be risk-averse and the benefit of on-tap liquidity facility may not, therefore, reach the smaller and lower-rated companies in these sectors fully, it said. A clarity will emerge once the banks come out with their updated policies after the RBI announcement. Crisil will monitor the impact of the development on its rated credits on a case-to-case basis, it said. Crisil said it rates 6,800 mid-size companies, excluding those engaged in the financial sector, and 4,700 of those are small and medium enterprises (SMEs), having bank loan exposure of up to Rs 50 crore and were standard accounts as of March 2021. "The RBI's relaxation in overall bank exposure threshold is timely, as it now increases the coverage of stressed companies that typically have weaker credit profiles," its Chief Rating Officer Subodh Rai said. Rai added that three out of four companies eligible for restructuring have sub-investment category ratings, indicating their relatively weak ability to manage liquidity shocks, he added.
Source: Economic Times
Farrukh Habib says PTI will not take any new loan, as IMF, others ‘willing to give loan to PM Imran Khan’ State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib has said that problems of textile industry will be solved in consultation with industrialists and traders. Addressing a reception hosted in his honour by former All Pakistan Cotton Power Looms Association (APCPLA) chairman Chaudhary Javaid Sadiq Kahlon on Sunday, he said that the PTI-led government had not only dragged country out of the quagmire but also put it on way to progress and prosperity. He said that in the past, rulers used to rush for getting loans from IMF and other international institutions but today, these institutions were backing down and willing to give loan to Prime Minister Imran Khan but “we will not take any new loan.” The state minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan was a visionary leader who wanted to promote industrial and economic activities in the country and due to his strenuous efforts, not only wheel of industries remained operational and but new machinery worth Rs 432 billion was also imported for industrial sector first time in Pakistan’s history. He said that PTI will present pro-people and business friendly budget for next fiscal year and no new tax would be added in it for greater national interest as well as to bring maximum forex in Pakistan. He said that the government had decided not to increase electricity and petrol prices though prices of these commodities witnessed increase in the international market. He said that the government intends to promote value added textile and sufficient funds would be earmarked in the upcoming budget for various public welfare projects including housing scheme, Insaf Sehat Card and Kamyab Jawan Programme. He said that PMLN looted national wealth with great impunity and only nine billion dollars were in the treasury when PTI came into power while in the first year alone we had to repay the installment on the loan of 10 billion dollars taken by the previous government. He said that the country was passing through crucial stage when PTI was mandated to power. However, due to visionary leadership of Imran Khan, the incumbent government gradually overcame the crisis and now all economic indicators were positive. When PTI came into power, the situation was very awkward, he said, adding that the industrialists were flying and shifting their industries to other countries. He said that various units of spinning mills were closed while power looms had become stock of junkyard. However, the government took some prudent decisions and provided business-friendly environment in Pakistan, he said. The PTI had formulated textile policy in consultation with stakeholders of Faisalabad and now this policy has started bringing fruits, he added. Rana Azhar Waqar, Jawwad Ikram Kahlon, Muhammad Ajmal Kasuri, Chaudhary Basharat, Engineer Hafiz Ehtesham Javaid, Chaudhary Tallat Mahmood, Shakeel Ansari and others were also present on the occasion.
Source: Daily Times
Textile millers today demanded withdrawal of value added tax (VAT) and import duty on all kinds of manmade fibre for the potential growth of the non-cotton fashion industry to meet the global demand. In the proposed budget, the government did not address this issue although the entrepreneurs of the country's primary textile sector have been demanding this before the budget, the textile millers said at a post-budget press conference at the office of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA). The government should consider the request as the demand for manmade fibre garment is higher than the cotton-made fibre globally, the textile millers said. For instance, manmade fibre occupies 78 per cent of the global fashion industry and the rest 22 per cent by cotton fibre. But in Bangladesh, the scenario is reversed. Of the total garment export from Bangladesh in a year, 74 per cent is made from cotton fibre while 26 per cent from man-made fibre, they said. "If we want to grab more of the global market share, we will have to choose the manmade fibre as the demand is rising for those garment items," said BTMA President Mohammad Ali Khokon. The BTMA chief welcomed the proposed budget, but he wants some facilities for the textile sector for attracting further investment and for generating more employment. Khokon also demanded the government for fixing Tk 3 as VAT on sales per kg of all kinds of yarn in the local markets. Currently, the NBR collects Tk 3 as VAT on the sales of per kilogram (kg) of yarn made from cotton and Tk 6 per kg on the sales of yarn made from manmade fibre. So the VAT rate should be uniform for all kinds of yarn sale, he said.
Source: The Daily star
While foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) have been growing and prospering, Vietnamese enterprises have been developing inadequately because they lack favorable conditions to thrive. High export turnover has been one of the mainstays of the national economy at a time when Vietnam is being hit hard by Covid-19. However, most of the export turnover is created by FIEs. In the first quarter of 2021, FIEs exported $59 billion worth of products, including crude oil, an increase of 28.5 percent over the same period last year, which accounted for 76 percent of total export turnover of the country. FIEs also made up most of the export turnover in the fields of phone and phone components (99 percent), electronics, computer and computer components (98 percent), equipment and machines (93 percent), footwear (82 percent) and textiles and garments (63 percent). In fact, the dominance of FIEs can be shown in many reports. The General Statistics Office (GSO), for example, in August 2020, reported that Vietnam’s export turnover reached $26.5 billion, up by 6.5 percent over the previous month, mostly thanks to Samsung’s exports of its Note 20 device. Not only Samsung, but other FIEs were mentioned in the agency’s reports in recent years as the "growth engine" of the economy. For many years, the foreign invested sector has made up 70 percent of total export turnover, 50 percent of industrial production value, and 20 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) . According to the 2019 White Book on Vietnamese Businesses, the state-owned sector created VND200.9 trillion worth of profit, accounting for 22.9 percent, while the nonstate owned sector created VND291.6 trillion, or 33.3 percent. Vietnam attracted over $28.5 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2020, equivalent to 75 percent of the amount of the year before.
Vietnamese enterprises
A wooden furniture enterprise told VietNamNet that Vietnamese enterprises bear discriminatory treatment in comparison with FIEs. They have to pay a lot of unofficial fees and under-the-table fees. The official expenditures they have to pay are higher than FIEs, including land rent and corporate income tax. They also are subject to regular inspection tours, which leads to higher production and business costs. Their lending interest rates are the highest in the region, they say. In the first quarter of the year, a GSO report showed that, of Vietnamese exports, coffee exports decreased by 11 percent, cashew nuts 6 percent, and rice 17 percent. However, vegetables and fruits increased by 6.1 percent, rubber 117 percent and cassava 53 percent. Meanwhile, only 29,300 Vietnamese businesses were set up in the first quarter, while 40,323 businesses left the market. A Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) report found that 87 percent of businesses had suffered a ‘big’ or ‘completely negative impact’ from Covid-19. Vietnam has 800,000 private businesses, but most of them are small.
Self-reliance needed
Experts all point out that no country can be prosperous if it lacks powerful enterprises. Resolution No 10 clearly shows the direction for private Vietnamese enterprise development. The 13th Party Congress Report also emphasizes the need to develop the private sector. In a bid to accelerate economic restructuring, it is a must to restructure the system of enterprises in the economy, develop the Vietnamese business community, and boost the link between FIEs and domestic enterprises. Vietnam needs to improve the quantity, quality, efficiency and sustainability of the private sector so as to turn it into an important driving force for national economic growth. It is necessary to create favorable conditions for private economic development, and support the private sector to innovate and modernize technology, develop human resources, and improve labor productivity. Vietnam has encouraged the formation of large private economic groups with strong potential and capable of competing equally with foreign corporations in the region and the world. It is expected that by 2030, Vietnam would have at least 2 million enterprises, with the Vietnamese private sector's contribution to GDP reaching 60-65 percent.
Source: Vietnam Net
Algae isn’t the most pleasant of substances to see when out for a dip at your local lake or pond. As it turns out however, the bright green ooze-like plant may be hanging in your closet one day in the future. That’s because scientists have used 3D printing technology to create clothing made from algae. The plant-like fabric has a wide range of applications ranging from biodegradable clothes to artificial leaves capable of producing oxygen for space colonies, according to a new study. So called “living materials,” which mimic those found in nature, have become increasingly popular in recent years as they are especially strong. Now scientists have created a hybrid material by combining living and non-living compounds, which can photosynthesize like plants, but is also robust. The 3D-printed cloth is eco-friendly and could help industries reduce the amount of toxic chemicals they use and their carbon emissions, the researchers say. “Three-dimensional printing is a powerful technology for fabrication of living functional materials that have a huge potential in a wide range of environmental and human-based applications,” says study first author Dr. Srikkanth Balasubramanian, of Delft University in the Netherlands, in a statement. “We provide the first example of an engineered photosynthetic material that is physically robust enough to be deployed in real-life applications.”
How algae can be turned into a strong, wearable fabric T
3he researchers started with an organic compound, which is produced and excreted by bacteria, known as cellulose. Cellulose has many unique properties, including its flexibility, toughness, strength and ability to retain its shape, even when twisted or crushed. The researchers then used a 3D printer to deposit living algae onto the cellulose, just like a regular printer squirts ink onto a page. Combining the two produced a unique material with the algae’s ability to photosynthesize and the strength of the cellulose. This meant it could use sunlight to “feed” itself over periods of many weeks and be regenerated by regrowing a small sample. Its unique abilities make it a strong candidate for a variometer of applications, the researchers say. These include artificial leaves, which like the real deal, can convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and energy. The leaves store the energy in the form of sugar, which can in turn be converted into fuel. This could one day help grow plants in hostile places such as outer space colonies. While most artificial leaves produce toxic chemicals, the researchers only used ecofriendly materials. “For artificial leaves, our materials are like taking the best parts of plants – the leaves, which can create sustainable energy, without needing to use resources to produce parts of plants like the stems and the roots that need resources, but don’t produce energy,” explains co-author Dr. Anne Meyer, of the University of Rochester. “We are making a material that is only focused on the sustainable production of energy.”
Innovative 3D-printed ‘living material’ offers an eco-friendly world of potential
The material could also be used to produce photosynthetic skin grafts, which help wounds heal. “The oxygen generated would help to kick-start healing of the damaged area, or it might be able to carry out light-activated wound healing,” adds Meyer. It could also help the fashion industry address some of the negative environmental effects associated with synthetic textiles and plastics. Garment made from algae would be sustainably produced, 100 percent biodegradable and not need to be washed as often, reducing water consumption. “Our living materials are promising because they can survive for several days with no water or nutrients access, and the material itself can be used as a seed to grow new living materials,” adds co-author Dr Marie-Eve Aubin-Tam, also of Delft University. “This opens the door to applications in remote areas, even in space, where the material can be seeded on site.” The findings were published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.
Source: Study Finds
