The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council

MARKET WATCH 08 FEBRUARY, 2022

NATIONAL

INTERNATIONAL

 

Centre's ₹ 3 Crore Package Helped Over 3.5 Lakh Small Businesses: PM Modi

Citing SBI's data, the Prime Minister said, "Because of the government's ₹ 3 lakh crore scheme for our MSMEs sector, more than 3.5 lakh MSMEs and 1.5 crore jobs have been saved." Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the Centre's ₹ 3 crore package helped over 3.5 lakh MSME units, saving about 1.5 crore jobs. Participating in the debate on the motion of thanks on the President's Address, Prime Minister told Lok Sabha, that in order to protect Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the government has formulated a scheme worth ₹ 3 lakh crore. Citing SBI's data, the Prime Minister said, "Because of the government's ₹ 3 lakh crore scheme for our MSMEs sector, more than 3.5 lakh MSMEs and 1.5 crore jobs have been saved." "Our Government changed the definition of MSMEs and this helped the sector", he added. Under the Centre's Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign, PM Modi said that from manufacturing to service sector, India is now becoming part of the global value chain. "Our big focus is on MSMEs and textile - the labour intensive sectors," he added. The Prime Minister also said that economy of India was the fastest-growing globally and the world has taken note of the country's economic strides that too in the middle of a oncein-a-lifetime pandemic. Noting a rise in the exports of the country, the Prime Minister said that India has recorded highest exports in various sectors including krishi (agriculture), mobile, software and defence. India is making its identity in defence exports as well, said Prime Minister Modi adding that it is because of the country's vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Total exports of India have touched record high figures even despite the pandemic," the Prime Minister said.

Source: NDTV

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Dumping will be refrained but maintaining price level for MSMEs is important: FM Sitharaman

(Dumping is not what we want but maintaining affordable prices for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is essential, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. She was addressing a post budget discussion organised by industry body Assocham. She said there is a policy dilemma in the Ministry about signals against dumping of ferrous and non-ferrous metals into India as it has to consider the demands from several verticals of industry and how the competition is between giant metal producers and lowcost imports and the need for MSMEs to have access to affordable raw materials. About textile she said, technical textile was an area where India could do a lot more to capture the global market and has assured that for easy access to credit she will have a word with the banks. She further said that the government will resolve the issues and challenges in the power sector step by step. “More coordination is needed between Centre and states and other stakeholders as the financial troubles has been the major concern of policy makers,” stated Sitharaman. And to meet the target set by India with regards to sustainability and climate change, the government was working on quickly resolving the legacy fiscal stress among power distribution utilities, she said.

Source: KNN India

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Govt warns against illegal sharing of export-import data, experts flag lack of clarity

The government has, in the Budget 2022-23, proposed making publishing of exportimport data from the country, unless required by law by a person as a punishable offense, with imprisonment of up to six months. “The proposed clause will only criminalize the illicit publication of personalized, transaction level information by private entities, which affects the competitive position of Indian businesses in international trade and compromises their data privacy,” the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) tweeted. As some opposition leaders and industry players raised concerns about the penal provision, government officials and agencies tried to address the concerns by stating that it’s meant to only punish the unethical and illegal sharing of such data. “The aggregate data on exports and imports will actually be published by the Department of Commerce and by all the agencies, there is no issue on that," Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj said while addressing the CII National Council post-Budget meeting. “The problem that we are facing was that some of the exporters and importers came to us and told us that our data is being stolen and is being shared on the Dark Net and is also being shared otherwise, and this is illegal," he added. "We don’t want somebody to know at what price did I buy my product and from whom did I buy my product, it’s a competition advantage that I have or it’s a privacy issue that I have," he said. So what we are saying is that people who are going to violate the law, who are going to use this information to sell it to others, we want to punish or we want to make a deterrent for it,” Tarun added. Industry experts raised concerns about making publishing of export data a punishable offense as the amendment does not define the exact category of data which if published will become an offense or not. Some experts also said it was not clear if this includes publishing of aggregate trade data by other agencies. For instance, some agencies such as Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) under the US Department of Commerce and China General Administration of Customs regularly update countrywide export-import data, including trade data of other countries with India.

Source: KNN India

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Money for 100% central schemes likely to go directly to beneficiaries from April

At present, funds for schemes are drawn by the concerned ministry from the RBI and transferred to the state treasury. It then moves to the state commissioner in charge and to state implementation agencies, which transfer funds to the field level at district or subdivision level. From here, the money is finally disbursed to intended beneficiaries or vendors. The Centre plans to directly transfer 100% centrally funded schemes of Rs 500 crore or more, such as Bharatnet, Namami Gange-National Ganga Plan, metro projects, LPG connection to poor households, crop insurance, labour welfare schemes etc., from April 1, dropping state mediaries to ensure better compliance. At present, funds for schemes are drawn by the concerned ministry from the RBI and transferred to the state treasury. It then moves to the state commissioner in charge and to state implementation agencies, which transfer funds to the field level at district or sub-division level. From here, the money is finally disbursed to intended beneficiaries or vendors. The new setup meant to reduce intermediaries and levels and cut administrative bottlenecks is expected to see disbursal of funds directly from the Consolidated Fund of India to the beneficiary/implementing agency so that implementation of schemes would be in sync with fund flow. Various studies have indicated that funds are held up or parked too often at various levels. In other cases, they never make it past the state treasury. As a result, CSS work implementation is often heavily delayed after money has been released by the Centre. The new guidelines are aimed at cutting down disbursement time and ensuring fund access 'just in time'. The finance ministry is learnt to have alerted all central ministries and departments and sought their opinion on the new format expected to come into effect from April 1. A similar tightening of process was introduced last year for schemes jointly funded by Centre and states. New guidelines for all central sector schemes with an annual outlay of over Rs 500 crore will be implemented through the Treasury Single Account (TSA) model so that funds for schemes are released in time from the Consolidated Fund of India to beneficiaries and vendors. Each ministry will designate an autonomous body as the Central Nodal Agency (CNA) for the purpose. It will open an account with RBI, which will be mapped on to the TSA and public financial management system models. The RBI will become the primary blanket to ministries without involvement of any agency bank. These will become 'assignment accounts' to directly disburse funds after necessary checks. In case of schemes with an outlay of less than Rs 500 crore, state government agencies may be engaged in implementation. However, the concerned central ministry will again designate a central nodal agency for implementation, which will open a central nodal account in a scheduled commercial bank. Implementing agencies down the ladder will be designated as sub agencies which will use the CNA account with clearly defined drawing limits. Ministries will release funds to the CNA account strictly based on requirement and keeping in mind balance funds available as per PFMS. The fund release will be 'just in time' as far as possible - not more than 25% of the annual amount earmarked for the scheme will be released at a time and additional funds will be released only upon utilisation of at least 75% of the funds released earlier. All unspent money is to be returned to the CNA account.

Source: Economic Times

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India's economic progress is example for world, we are fastest growing among major economies: PM Modi in Lok Sabha

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that economy of India was the fastestgrowing globally and the world has taken note of the country's economic strides that too in the middle of a once-in-a lifetime pandemic. "Today India among other big economies is the fastest growing economy. Even during the Covid-19 period, our farmers produced record quantity foodgrains. Over 80 crore people of the country were provided with free ration," the Prime Minister said while participating in the debate on the motion of thanks on the President's address in Lok Sabha. PM Modi said that the country's handling of the pandemic is an "example for the world." Noting a rise in the exports of the country, the Prime Minister said that India has recorded highest exports in various sectors including krishi (agriculture), mobile, software and defence. India is making its identity in defence exports as well, said Prime Minister Modi adding that it is because of the country's vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat. "Total exports of India have touched record high figures even despite the pandemic," the Prime Minister said. He also noted that India recorded highest ever FDI inflow even amidst these trying times of Covid-19 pandemic. PM GatiShakti National Master Plan, the Prime Minister said, will encompass economic transformation, seamless multimodal connectivity and logistics efficiency. From manufacturing to service sector, under Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign, PM Modi said that India is now becoming part of the global value chain. "Our big focus is on MSMEs and textile - the labour-intensive sectors," he added. To protect Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the government has formulated a scheme worth Rs 3 lakh crore, he said. Highlighting the works of the government, the Prime Minister said that "For the first time under Svanidhi Yojana, our street vendors are getting loans and are benefitting from digital transactions." "Space, defence, drones and mining are open to private sector, inviting them to be a part of India's development," PM Modi.

Source: Times of India

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Time ripe for India to go on two-track growth path: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Sitharaman exhorted the private sector not to miss the opportunity of kickstarting its investments Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said despite the pandemic, India is at a stage where it has to tread on a two-track growth path. “One is the rail, which is going to have a multi-modal approach and guided by the spirit of PM Gati Shakti where 21st century infrastructure will be built. Understanding the length and breadth of this country, economic corridors are going to be built, logistics hubs are going to be built so that you are going to have inter-connectivity with all of them,” she said. The finance minister said the other track involves new opportunities such as start-ups, sunrise sectors and the transition towards clean energy for sustainable growth. “We need to have such infrastructure in sunrise sectors, which will help us to give that traction for our aspirations. That’s the kind of new India, which is getting built up, and which looks for the government to be a facilitator rather than making our lives difficult,” the FM added. the opportunity of kickstarting its investments. This comes at a time when major economic agencies have projected India to be the world’s fastest-growing economy for the next two years. “This is the opportune time for private investments to come in, expand your capacities, build new capacities. The corporate tax rate has been reduced much before the pandemic. I would honestly appeal to you, do not let this opportunity go away. Not just us but globally, too, the assessment by normally very discerning investors and financial sector observers is that India will be the fastest-growing economy this year and the next year. And, if India shall be the fastest-growing large economy, I am sure it will also be because you have come forward. It’s because India as a team — government and private — will have to work together. It just can’t be only the government doing it,” Sitharaman said at a post-Budget interaction with industry leaders organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “This time, capex has gone up to Rs 7.5 trillion from Rs 5.5 trillion in the previous year. We are giving Rs 1 trillion to the states from this Rs 7.5 trillion as interest-free 50-year loans. State governments can have that resource in their hand through which they can speed up spending on infrastructure. So, it is an approach where the Centre and states are doing it together,” she added.

Source: Business Standard

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India GDP estimated at Rs 147.5 lakh crore in FY22: Chaudhary

 "As per the first advance and first revised estimates of GDP released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the size of real GDP has been increased from Rs 105.3 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs 135.6 lakh core in 2020-21 and estimated to be Rs 147.5 lakh crore in 2021- 22," said Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary. India's gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to grow at 9.2 per cent to Rs 147.5 lakh crore in 2021-22, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said on Monday. In a written reply to a query in the Lok Sabha, Chaudhary said the government has implemented several major reforms in recent years to boost investment and GDP growth. "As per the first advance and first revised estimates of GDP released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the size of real GDP has been increased from Rs 105.3 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs 135.6 lakh core in 2020-21 and estimated to be Rs 147.5 lakh crore in 2021-22," he said. In FY 2020-21, he said that as a major part of its policy response to the pandemic, the government while providing a safety net to the vulnerable sections of the society implemented several structural reforms to strengthen private sector investment. These include the change in the definition of MSMEs, new PSU policy, commercialisation of coal mining, higher FDI limits in defence and space sector, development of the Land Bank and Industrial Information System. It also includes the revamp of the viability gap funding scheme for social infrastructure, new power tariff policy and incentivising states to undertake sector reforms, among others, he said. The Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) was launched to provide collateral-free guaranteed loans for business enterprises in various sectors affected by COVID-19, he said. Continuing with the growth supportive measures, he said the Union Budget 2022-23 has announced a 35.4 per cent increase in the outlay of capital expenditure, PM GatiShakti National Master Plan for seamless multimodal connectivity and logistics efficiency, and expansion of guarantee cover for MSME, among others. Ease of Doing Business 2.0 reforms, human capital formation through universalisation of quality education and the establishment of a digital university, urban development, export promotion, clean and sustainable mobility, extension of ECLGS by Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 5 lakh crore were also announced in the Budget, he said. Replying to another question, Chaudhary said the number of persons living below the poverty line in India has been estimated at 27 crore in 2011-12. This estimation was based on erstwhile Planning Commission estimated poverty lines and poverty ratio in 2011-12, following the extant Tendulkar Committee methodology and released through a Press Note issued on July 22, 2013. No estimates of poverty have been released by the government thereafter, he said.

Source: Economic Times

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E-way bill generation in January slips 4%

The daily e-way generation declined 4% on-month to 22.2 lakh in January, compared with 23.1 lakh in December. E-way bill generation for goods transportation under the goods and services tax (GST) system stood at 6.88 crore in January, down 4% from the previous month, reflecting some slack in trade due to the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid. However, the e-way bills in January were still 12.4% more compared with 6.12 crore in November. Higher e-way bills generation is reflected in higher GST revenues. Given that GST collections were Rs 1.3 lakh crore in December (November transactions), the revenues could remain robust in February as well (January transactions). GST revenues stood at a record Rs 1.41 lakh crore in January (December transactions). In December 2021, 7.16 crore e-way bills were generated, the second highest monthly data since the online system was rolled out on April 1, 2018. E-way bills generation at 7.35 crore in October was the highest monthly data, thanks to a spurt in goods dispatches for stocking ahead of the festival season by shopkeepers and traders. The daily e-way generation declined 4% on-month to 22.2 lakh in January, compared with 23.1 lakh in December.

Source: Financial Express

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India and plurilateral deals at WTO

India must review its antagonism to open plurilateral agreements. In its 27 years, the WTO has had sparse results by way of multilateral agreements on liberalisation or rulemaking in trade. One reason is the convention of decision-making by consensus—even on beginning negotiations in any area—inherited by the WTO from GATT 1947. In an organisation with a highly diversified membership, achieving consensus is a problem. The good news is that there is a momentum for change. An increasing number of members appear ready to sidestep the problem. At the 11th Ministerial Conference, large groups of members sponsored the Joint Statement Initiatives (JSIs) to begin plurilateral negotiations on domestic regulation of services, e-commerce, investment facilitation for development, and increasing the opportunities in trade for MSMEs. On domestic regulation of services, negotiations are over and a text finalised. On ecommerce, there are some issues, such as data privacy and cross-border flow of data, on which the principal players hold divergent views. Even so, the participants have agreed on online consumer protection, electronic signatures, unsolicited commercial electronic messages, access to open government data, electronic contracts, transparency, paperless trading and open internet access. On investment facilitation, considerable progress has been made on text-based negotiations. The proponents steered clear of the controversial aspects of market access, investment protection and investor-state dispute settlement and the talks have progressed well. In the fourth JSI, an informal Working Group with 88 members has finalised a package of six recommendations to help MSMEs increase participation in global trade. The number of members sponsoring the JSIs was already large at the outset, and support has grown further. By the end of 2021, as many as 67 were participating in the talks on domestic regulation of services, 86 on e-commerce, 112 on investment facilitation and 88 on MSMEs. The EU, Japan and Canada were among the sponsors of all four. The US initially backed the initiative only on e-commerce, but it later joined the negotiations on domestic regulation of services as well. Among the G20, China, Brazil, Korea, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are participating in most of the groups. But India has not only stood aside but has argued vehemently against the approach. It has taken the view that such negotiations are not consistent with the obligations of the WTO Agreement. On e-commerce, it wants to first focus on building its digital infrastructure and ecosystem before locking itself into binding international rules. It has the formal backing of South Africa and Namibia, and the informal support of a number of other African countries. No doubt, multilateralism prevailed in the days of GATT 1947, but when the situation demanded, the contracting parties were not averse to plurilateral agreements (PAs). The earliest example was an agreement among 14 developed countries in 1960 to prohibit export subsidies on non-primary products. They did not consider it necessary to wait for developing countries to be ready to undertake obligations on this important trade policy measure. A few years later, in the Kennedy Round (1964-67), the Anti-Dumping Code was negotiated and accepted only by the developed countries, as only these countries were taking anti-dumping measures at that time. The Tokyo Round (1973- 79) yielded two types of non-multilateral agreements. There were exclusive PAs, such as those on government procurement and civil aircraft, in which benefits were restricted to the parties. And there were open PAs, at that time known as Codes, such as those on five nontariff measures (technical barriers to trade, subsidies and countervailing measures, antidumping, customs valuation, and import licensing), in which the parties extended the benefits to all contracting parties to GATT, irrespective of whether they became parties to the plurilateral agreement. Developed countries and a few developing countries such as India and Brazil became parties even as other developing countries resisted. Fifteen years later, the Codes were assimilated into the WTO Agreement and accepted by all WTO members. Thus, open PAs facilitated the conclusion of multilateral trade agreements. The WTO Agreement tightened the rules for exclusive PAs but left room for open PAs in both goods and services. The Agreement provides for new tariff commitments in goods and new specific commitments on market access and national treatment in services to be inscribed in the Schedules annexed to the GATT 1994 or GATS Schedules respectively through a simple process. In fact, the GATS provides scope to WTO members to undertake commitments on regulatory disciplines as well. Soon after the conclusion of the Uruguay Round, the desire for quick results on additional multilateral liberalisation led trading nations to wrap up three open PAs. The Information Technology Agreement agreed to in 1997 was followed by two others in the area of trade in services (basic telecom in 1998 and financial services in 1999). In order to minimise free riding, each agreement entered into force only after a critical mass of members (generally with a share 90% of world trade) became parties. India must review its antagonism to open PAs, asking itself five questions. In the past, have leading nations not entered into such agreements when the situation demanded it? Have these agreements eventually proved to be building blocks for multilateral trade agreements? When consensus is difficult, should the WTO members not take this avenue? By shunning international dialogue, is India not denying itself participation in the evolution of rules in a globalised world? Is there any basis for believing that participation in negotiations will imply compulsion to accept the outcome in e-commerce, for instance, even if its concerns are not accommodated?

Source: Financial Express

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Australian trade minister to visit India on February 10 for FTA talks

India had a merchandise trade deficit of $4.2 billion with Australia in FY21, as it shipped out goods worth over only $4 billion, while bilateral trade stood at $12.3 billion. Australian trade minister Dan Tehan will visit India on February 10 to hold talks with commerce & industry minister Piyush Goyal for an interim trade deal that is at an advanced stage of fruition, sources told FE. In December, both the countries decided to expedite the pace of negotiations for the earlyharvest deal, which will be followed up with a broader free trade agreement (FTA). The FTA will cover a broad range of areas, including goods, services, investments, government procurement, logistics, standards and rules of origin. Goyal has been striving to get duty concession for Indian products in critical sectors, including agriculture and textiles, and greater market access in pharmaceuticals. India had a merchandise trade deficit of $4.2 billion with Australia in FY21, as it shipped out goods worth over only $4 billion, while bilateral trade stood at $12.3 billion. Major traded items include mineral fuels, pharmaceutical products, organic chemicals and gems & jewellery. The negotiations with Australia are a part of India’s broader strategy to forge “fair and balanced” trade agreements with key economies and revamp existing pacts to boost trade. The move gained traction after India pulled out of the China-dominated RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) talks in November 2019. Goyal had last held talks with Tehan on February 4. “Had a productive discussion with Australian Trade Minister as part of the ongoing deliberations on the India-Australia CECA,” Goyal had tweeted. “Significant progress on ways to increase trade & investments have been made to further enhance our bilateral relationship.” Balanced FTAs are expected to also enable the country to take advantage of a resurgence of industrial demand in advanced economies and achieve sustained growth rates in exports in the coming years. Already, India has set an ambitious merchandise export target of $1 trillion by FY28. In the current fiscal, it’s on course to realise the lofty export target of $400 billion, against $291 billion in FY21. Although talks for an FTA with Australia have been going on since 2011, the reluctance of Indian industry to offer greater access in farm and dairy products and Australia’s unwillingness to further open up its services sector for free movement of skilled Indian professionals have delayed the outcome of the negotiations. However, in the past two years, the talks have gained momentum.

Source: Financial Express

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Textile, Apparel Policy: MoC prepares revised draft

Ministry of Commerce has prepared a revised draft of Textile and Apparel Policy 2020-25 that would be considered by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Wednesday (tomorrow), well informed sources told Business Recorder. “There was a dispute between Commerce Ministry and Energy Ministry on the wording of a decision, which will be altered by the ECC,” the sources added. On January 12, 2022, Secretary Commerce Sualeh Ahmed Faruqui testified before a National Assembly panel that the issue of gas prices for the textile and apparel sectors, assumed in the policy including Captive Power Plants (CPPs), is yet to be resolved. According to Commerce Ministry, it re-submitted summary on Textile and Apparel Policy 2020-25 for consideration of the ECC on October 11, 2021. The decision of the ECC was as follows: “The ECC considered the summary of Commerce Ministry on Textile and Apparel Policy 2020-25 and constituted a Committee under chairmanship of Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Secretary Commerce, Secretary Power, Secretary Petroleum, Secretary Finance and Chairman FBR to deliberate on the policy in a holistic manner and submit viable recommendations to the ECC within two weeks for consideration. The committee may co-opt any member as may be required.” In pursuance of the decision, the Committee held several meetings and recommended a few changes that have been incorporated by the Commerce Division in the revised draft of the Policy. Ministry of Commerce has undertaken an exercise of thorough consultations with the private sector stakeholders and proposed to set an export target of $ 20 billion for textile and apparel industry during FY 2021-22 and the target has also been approved by the Prime Minister. The export target for FY 2021-22 is further cascaded till 2024-25 with a projection to double textile and apparel exports to $ 40 billion. However, strong resolve and long-term commitments from Federal Government, robust implementation of policy interventions by relevant Ministries/ Divisions/ Departments and full fiscal support from the Finance Division would necessarily be required to keep intact the due support on proposed interventions throughout the policy years to achieve the set milestones. According to the first draft, it was proposed that electricity will be provided at Cents 9/ kWh all-inclusive and RLNG at $ 6.5/ MMBTU all-inclusive for the FY 2021-22 and concessionary regime will be continued at regional competitive energy rates for five years after deliberation with the stakeholders. However, after consultation, the policy was altered with the following: “supply of energy (electricity and RLNG) to export oriented units/ sectors of textile industry at regionally competitive rates throughout the policy years without any disparity among provinces.”

Source: Financial Express

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Foreign investment inflow into Vietnam rises by 4.2% in Jan

Foreign investment into Vietnam hit over $2.1 billion as of January 20, up by 4.2 per cent year on year (YoY), according to the latest report from the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA), which said disbursement of foreign direct investment (FDI) also witnessed a rise of 6.8 per cent to surpass $1.61 billion during the first month of this year. Following the recovery from the end of 2021 after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many foreign-invested enterprises have stabilised and expanded their production and business activities, FIA noted. According to the document, up to 103 new foreign-invested projects were licensed with a total registered capital of nearly $388 million, up by 119.1 per cent YoY in terms of the number of projects, but down 70.7 per cent in value, a Vietnamese news agency reported. Although registered investment capital decreased compared to the same period last year due to a lack of large-scale projects, an increase in the number of new investment projects showed the confidence of foreign investors in the country's investment environment, FIA said. Meanwhile, 71 operating projects were allowed to raise their capital by $1.27 billion, up by 54.3 per cent in project number and nearly triple the level of capital seen in the same month last year. Capital contributions and share purchases by foreign investors stood at $443.5 million, up two times over the last year's corresponding month. Among 15 sectors receiving FDI in the first month, processing and manufacturing took the lead with over $1.2 billion, accounting for 58.9 per cent of the total FDI. Wholesale and retail received over $221 million and $52.5 million respectively. Singapore led 33 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with total investment capital of nearly $666 million, making up nearly 31.7 per cent of the total FDI registered in the country. South Korea ranked second with over $481 million, up by five times YoY or equivalent to 30 per cent of the total FDI. Mainland China came third with nearly $451 million, down 27 per cent or 21.5 per cent. The capital city attracted the highest amount of FDI, with over $448 million, 29.9 times higher than last January, making up 21.3 per cent of the total. The central province of Nghe An came second with $400 million or 19 per cent. It was followed by Bac Ninh, Long An and Phu Tho.

Source: Fibre 2 Fashion

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GT Voice: CPEC to enhance Pakistan’s manufacturing industry

Top leaders of China and Pakistan reaffirmed their support for the high-quality development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), agreeing that CPEC has significantly contributed to Pakistan's economic and social progress, according to a joint statement released by the two countries in Beijing on Sunday. The CPEC construction went through an extraordinary year in 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic posed great uncertainty to the economic development of most countries and regions around the world. Nevertheless, the economic and social cooperation between China and Pakistan, represented by the CPEC, has been advancing in an orderly manner, playing a significant role in supporting and ensuring Pakistan's economic and social development. Take textiles, one of Pakistan's pillar industries, as an example. Despite the impact of the pandemic, the South Asian nation has registered a robust performance in its textile exports. During the second half of 2021, Pakistan's textile and garment exports surged 26 percent year-on-year to reach $9.38 billion, according to the latest data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. The stronger export capacity in Pakistan's textile industry is primarily due to its government's enhanced efforts to attract foreign investment despite the pandemic. Moreover, increased investment Chinese textile companies made in Pakistan as well as the improved connectivity brought by the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) construction have also contributed to the development of the local textile industry. To a certain extent, the rapid development of Pakistan's textile industry is a microcosm of China's efforts to boost local economy and manufacturing through the CPEC. For a long time, poor transportation conditions and energy shortage were the two major bottlenecks restricting Pakistan's economic development and societal progress. The CPEC construction has greatly improved the transportation, power supply, road communication and other infrastructure along the BRI route. Since 2015, the CPEC has directly created more than 75,000 jobs in Pakistan. In the meantime, China has also invested heavily in various projects in the country. It is conceivable that once the CPEC construction is fully completed, more investment will be drawn to the country, which will be greatly conducive to improving Pakistan's manufacturing base. By comparison, it is undeniable that India has a number of advantages to become a manufacturing power, but it also lacks some fundamental basis for long-term manufacturing development. Some of its most apparent weaknesses such as poor infrastructure, undereducated labor force and trade and investment protectionism will likely be a drag on the long-term growth of Indian manufacturing industry. Of course, some may argue that there is still a considerable gap between India and Pakistan in terms of manufacturing strength, but with the improved BRI connectivity as well as the steadily growing investments by Chinese companies in Pakistan, the South Asian nation is well poised for a rapid facelift. And this could pose a new challenge for India as it is likely to face rising competition from Pakistan in sectors including auto parts and textiles in the near future.

Source: Global Times

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