INTERNATIONAL
Merchandise export rose 4.6 per cent in September, only the second occasion in the 22 months since December 2014 of a monthly rise. Export rose to $22.9 billion in September, against $21.9 billion in the corresponding period last year. In August, export was down by a marginal 0.3 per cent. Cumulative export for April-September, first six months of financial year 2016-17, was $131.4 billion, compared with $133.7 billion for the corresponding period in FY16. The commerce ministry noted that apart from Japan, where export rose 1.9 per cent, many major economies (America at minus 6.4 per cent, European Union at minus 8.4 per cent, China at minus 4.4 per cent) were experiencing falling export, according to World Trade Organization data for July.
Apart from a global slowing in merchandise trade, the extended fall is blamed on a commodity price crash and sluggishness in the Chinese economy, among others. “The September revival is encouraging,” said Aditi Nayar, senior economist at ratings agency Icra. India’s import, however, continued to see decline, by 2.5 per cent to $31.2 billion in September, compared with the year-ago period when it was $32 billion. Cumulative import in the first six months of this financial year reached $174.4 billion, compared with $202.3 billion the previous year.
Merchandise export turnaround up 4.3% in Sept Among major export items, outbound trade fell in 13, against 16 in August. Export of engineering goods, which made a comeback in the growth charts in August, rose 6.4 per cent. That of drugs and pharmaceuticals rose 0.9 per cent, after a rise of 0.7 per cent in August, following months of fall. On the other hand, petroleum products continued to fall, by 1.4 per cent, albeit much lower than the 14.1 per cent slide in August. Export of readymade textile goods, gems and jewellery, both major earners, rose by 12.6 and 22.4 per cent, respectively. Their rise in August was 3.7 per cent and 7.6 per cent, respectively. Non-oil and non-gold import, taken as a proxy for industrial demand, continued to decline and at a higher pace of 3.05 per cent, reaching $22.5 billion in September from $23.4 billion a year before. It had declined by 1.5 per cent in August. Gold import continued to fall by a large margin for an eighth month in a row, down 10.3 per cent to $1.8 billion, compared to $2 billion a year before. The yellow metal’s price had fallen a massive 77.5 per cent in August. If the recent fall in gold prices, ahead of the festive season, triggers a revival in its import, the current account deficit in the second half of FY17 could be much larger than in the first half, said Nayar of ICRA. The cumulative deficit in merchandise trade for the current financial year’s first six months is $43 billion. This is about a third lower than the figure for the corresponding period in FY16, of $68.5 billion.
SOURCE: The Business Standard
In order to promote various products, including engineering and textile products in the international market, the Bengal government is drafting a comprehensive export strategy for the micro and small scale enterprises (MSEs) in the textile sector. The main purpose of the move is to create a demand for Bengal’s myriad products in markets abroad. This will not only restore the past glory of Bengal’s textile and other industries, but also help in reviving the economy of medium and small sectors in the state, All India Trinamool Congress has said. In this regard, a memorandum of understanding has already been signed between the state government and the Export Import Bank of India (Exim Bank). The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) department has been working towards building infrastructure so that the products could be exported to various countries, boosting sustainable growth in various sectors. The Bengal MSME department had taken up a series of new projects to contribute to the development of the socio-economic condition of artisans across the state by giving them a platform to showcase their handicrafts. The state government had set up ‘Rural Craft hub Project’ at 11 different locations for this purpose. The hubs, which are also recognised by UNESCO, have turned into tourist hotspots.
SOURCE: The KNN India
Government is working on addressing the key problems of exporters related with logistics cost and taxation to boost the country’s outbound shipments, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. She also said that the Ministry has started the review of the foreign trade policy (FTP) with an aim to do mid-course corrections in the export schemes if required. Speaking at a conference on ‘Strategies for Double Digit Growth in Exports’ organised by Assocham here, the Minister said logistics is one of the “biggest issues” and it makes the cost competitiveness produced by an efficient exporter unviable, Sitharaman said. The Minister further said that the Prime Minister too is very conscious of this fact as to “what it (logistics cost) does to our exports”. “We have quite a few discussions on how best we can overcome these issues in the short term” but logistics are long terms issues, the Minister added. “The priority of this government has definitely been on how to cut down on the logistics challenges whether it is road or reviving inland water ways, identifying newer waterways and improving ports is another big issue,” she said. The Ministry is also working on making all the ports EDI (electronic data interchange) and on this both the customs and commerce ministry is working on. “On logistics, a complete comprehensive picture is being handled,” she added. The Commerce Ministry also had an inter-ministerial meeting to look at the issues related with railways and high freight cost “which are really mounting”. “We are engaging with railways to cut logistics cost,” Sitharaman said.
Talking about the taxation matter, she said: “it is one of the vexing issues”. “You can not be paying tax over tax and also exporters can not be taxed for exporting. We recognise that difficulty and I know that GST alone can not give us the solution. “Infact, GST would raise our ambition saying why can’t taxation be simplified and subsumed many of these (state) taxes into GST so that we handle only one tax. We are trying to simplify it,” she said. Since the taxation matter also involves many states, the government is making sure that it takes them on board. “Simplification of tax is the top agenda of this government. We shall definitely address these issues,” she said. Further, the Minister said that the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has started a two-day workshop with 36 port officers to look into the issues of exporters. The Ministry, she said, is working on establishing 24×7 connectivity and presence of authorities at the ports.
The Commerce and Industry Minister further said that “digital and human interface will be made available in every ports of call…soon we will establish 24×7 connectivity and presence of authorities not just customs and DGFT, but also agencies like FSSAI.” “We shall ensure that there shall not be a day wasted for exports and import for some reason,” Sitharaman said adding the government is also working on improving ease of doing business and imparting skill in people. Exports were in negative zone between December 2014 and May 2016 due to weak global demand and slide in oil prices. Shipments witnessed growth only in June this year thereafter again entered into negative zone in July and August. The Commerce Minister also informed that the government is establishing logistics hubs near sea ports for smooth movement of goods.
Talking about free trade agreement, she said an MoU was signed recently with Chile so that import of copper will be far more reasonable for Indian industry. “The copper raw material requirment of India, which otherwise was coming at a very high duty” will now come at reasonable rates, she said. Speaking the event, Maruti Suzuki Ltd VP Rahul Bharti suggested the minister that the commerce and industry ministry should drive the ‘Make in India’ intiative to boost manufacturing and exports. Citing example of automobile industry, he said different ministries and departments are involved in the policy formation for the sector. JSW Steel JMD and Group CFO Seshagiri Rao who also attended the event requested the Minister to look into the issues related to state taxes and its refund to exporters.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
International Conference on Textiles and Apparel Texcon'16 was organised by CII at New Delhi on October 13-14, 2016. Odisha was the partner state in Texcon-2016. A delegation of Govt of Odisha led by Debi Prasad Mishra, Minister, Industries, School & Mass Education participated in the meet.
In the inaugural session Chief Guest Mishra addressed the delegates and industry captains assembled in the meet on the importance of the Textile & Apparel sector for India and Odisha's economy. There is a need to make new textile policies to counter the recently emerging countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh and Vietnam in the textile sector. He spoke about the need for process and technology innovation, creation of pool of skilled manpower and necessary policy support from Govt. of India for furthering the development of the sector in India and countering the challenges posed by competing destinations. He also spoke about various incentives and facilitation measures for the sector being provided by Govt. of Odisha and the infrastructure developed for industrial units in the Textile and Apparel Sector to set up base in Odisha. Minister Sri Mishra also released "CII-Wazir Advisors Theme Paper on "Global Competitiveness and Trade Growth Paradigms for Indian Textile and Apparel Sector".
Smt Rashmi Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Textile, Govt of India adress the gathering as Guest of Honour. Sri Sachit Jain, Co-Chairman, CII National Committee on Textiles gave welcome address while Sri Prasant Agarwal, Co-Founder Wazir Advisors Pvt Ltd. and Sri R.D Udeshi, Chairman, CII Texcon-2016 gave theme presentation and keynote address respectively. Vote of thanks was given by Sri Hemant Bharat Ram, Conference Co-Chairman. Sri Sanjiv Chopra, Principal Secretary, Industries Department, Govt. of Odisha presented the policy framework, ease of doing business initiatives and the details of the Ramdaspur Textile Park and Bhadrak Apparel Park being developed by the State Govt. In the afternoon session a panel discussion on manufacturing excellence Mantras on Global Context and policy support for growth of textile and apparel sector and resource optimization-transaction cost and productivity were held. On the second day of the conference a panel discussion on enhancing India's textile and apparel export competitiveness and session on Technical Textiles-Potential Sector for Growth were also held.
Industries Minister along with Principal Secretary, Industries and other officials held one-to-one meetings with potential investors in the textile and apparel industry. Major companies which met Hon'ble Minister are Reliance Industries, Vardhaman Textiles, DCM Textiles, Lakshmi Machine Works, Sanathan Textiles, Sangam (India) Ltd., Arvind :Ltd., Pasupati Spinning & Weaving Ltd., Beekaylon Synthetics Pvt. Ltd., Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) and North India Section of The Textile Institute (NISTI). Vardhaman Textiles and Sangam India expressed interest in exploring investments in Odisha. They have been invited for further discussions with Govt. of Odisha officials and visits to prospective locations in the State. Industries Minister also personally invited all the companies to participate in the 'Make in Odisha' Conclave being organised at Bhubaneswar from November 30 -December 2, 2016.
SOURCE: The Orissa Diary
Traders body CAIT today proposed that the government should waive penalties on compliance errors during the first three years of rollout of the goods and services tax (GST) regime. Observing that it would be difficult for anyone to evade taxes under the new framework, CAIT said even the instances of under-invoicing will gradually wane as the tax department will have PAN-based registration and sale-purchase data of traders. “GST will be a complex structure of taxes and we have asked the tax department to exempt traders from penalties in the transition period of first three years,” CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said.
To educate traders about the new indirect tax set-up, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has entered into an MoU with Tally Solutions to train them on GST compliance and adoption. The government plans to roll out GST from April 1 next year. The GST will subsume excise, service tax and other local levies. Khandelwal said the next meeting of the GST Council, to be chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, later this month will decide on tax rates, products and compliance and after that, CAIT will prepare the working module for traders.
A standard GST rate of 18 per cent would be “justified”, and at that rate, the investment cost of traders will be less, he told reporters here. Asked about the fate of traders who do not give bills at present, Khandelwal said the GST design does not have this option. “We have to give sales details to the tax department and hence, there will be no scope of under-invoicing as over a period of time, all data will go to the tax department,” he said. CAIT National President B C Bhartia said that since GST registration is PAN based, so the government will get to know how many traders have not registered from its own database. “The purchase ledger of traders is with the government. So by under-reporting of sales, if stocks start piling up, the tax department will ask why are you purchasing? With so much data, it will become difficult to evade taxes,” Bhartia reasoned. He said last-mile disposal by an importer will come under the tax lens through Integrated GST and hence, under-billing will become difficult.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said there is no alarming situation in India following rising oil prices in the international market, which has crossed the psychological barrier of USD 50 per barrel. “I don’t think there is any alarming situation. Consciously, the government of India has taken a decision to deregulate the market,” he told reporters here. Market watchers fear that the rising oil prices, which had crossed USD 50 per barrel, would adversely affect the India market. Speaking to reporters after the inauguration of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd’s Green R&D centre near Hoskote, about 30 km from here, he said government has taken steps to link the oil price to the market and hence there was no such alarming situation. “For a robust economy (like India), for a long-term period, for the interest of consumers, price link to the market is needed – that we have done and there is no such alarming situation,” the minister for petroleum and natural gas said. Pradhan said “Whenever there will be a price reduction in the market, it will be passed on to the consumer and wherever there will be a price hike it will be taken care by consumer.” Market watchers fear that the effects of increasing oil prices will first be seen on petrol and diesel prices, which are influenced by global prices and could soon rise steeply. They also fear the country-wide effect on increasing cost of oil imports will have an even bigger impact on businesses and economy as a whole, while also reducing disposable incomes as citizens will spend more for the same quantity of fuel on their daily use and commute.
It is also speculated that the trade deficit would start ballooning, causing the Current Account Deficit to widen. On the RIL and ONGC gas migration dispute, Pradhan said the Oil Ministry’s technical arm, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) would come out with its quantification of the compensation which Reliance Industries (RIL) has to pay for drawing out natural gas belonging of state-owned ONGC. “The job has been given to DGH. DGH will come out with the quantification of the amount within one month. The stakeholder will be properly informed and they have to repay. It will be done,” he said. The Justice A P Shah Committee had in a report presented to Pradhan on August 31 said RIL should pay the government for the natural gas it has drawn from an adjacent block of ONGC in the KG basin of the Bay of Bengal in the past seven years. The same day Pradhan had said that the Ministry, according to an order of Delhi High Court which ONGC had approached to seek compensation for its gas, has one month to decide on the issue from the date of presentation of the report.
Pradhan also said he had discussed with Bangladesh State Minister State for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid the issue of supplying High Speed Diesel from Siliguri (West Bengal) terminal of India’s state-owned Numaligarh Refineries to Parbatipur depot of Bangladesh Petroleum Corp. “Bangladesh and India are talking to each other and in some of which area, we are planning to put away pipeline from West Bengal to Bangladesh, and through that pipeline we will be supplying consistent diesel to Bangladesh,” he said. Dhaka’s request for India’s help came when Hamid met Pradhan in Delhi recently. On encouraging the oil sector in India, Pradhan said the government will be spending Rs 300 crore for promoting startups in oil and gas sectors. “The government will be spending Rs 300 crore, which will be meant for startup in energy sector, primarily in oil, gas and bio-fuel industries,” he said. The respective companies will develop their own model of business, the minister added.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
Describing the reforms undertaken by the Indian government as "work in progress", a top Obama Administration official has linked the growth in bilateral trade between the two countries to India opening up and liberalising its economy. "Prime Minister Modi came in with a very ambitious agenda, including to improve the business environment, the Make in India initiative, the Digital India initiative," US Trade Representative Michael Froman told PTI in an exclusive interview ahead of his next week's travel to India to attend the US-India Trade Policy Forum meeting. There have been a number of important reforms - the Goods and Services Tax bill, the Bankruptcy Law, the creation of commercial courts, the issuance of a national IP strategy, the opening of certain sectors to investment -- that are important and help contribute to a better business environment, he said. "However, it is a work in progress, and there continues to be issues around investment and restrictions that can be addressed in order to improve the business environment," said Froman who is scheduled to travel to Mumbai and New Delhi next week.
One of the key architects of India-US trade relationship in the Obama Administration, Froman said India had been successful in increasing its growth rate, and is now one of the fastest growing economies in the world. "And as it opens up to further trade and investment, I think we will see the relationship expanding further," he said when asked about the timeline to achieve the goal set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama to increase the bilateral trade to USD 500 billion a year. "The United States is quite an open economy, so the key is that as India continues down the path of reform, and opens and liberalises its economy, it will help grow the US-India trade relationship," Froman said. Froman said the Obama Administration had worked with India on an array of intellectual property rights issues. "We both care a lot about strong copyright protection and the enforcement of copyrights, and the new (Indian) National Policy includes a focus on trade secrets, which we think is important. We appreciate the process that India went through in developing its IPR Policy," he said. "We continue to work in the pharmaceutical area, and we very much believe that there is no contradiction in promoting innovation and promoting access," Froman said.
Asserting that the US is very much committed to the public health objective, Froman said with the government of India, the Obama Administration had talked about a whole array of issues about access to medicines, including tariffs on imported medicine and opening up the health services market so that there are more providers in the market. "We try to take a holistic approach to this," he noted. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a very high safety standards, he said, when asked about the delay in FDA's clearances for Indian drug and pharma companies. "We do not compromise that for anybody. The primary mandate of the FDA is safety. I'm sure it is a process that takes some concerted effort, but at the end of the day, it means that Indian firms will be meeting a very high standard," he observed.
SOURCE: The Economic Times
India has said that it will work actively to get a consensus on signing of a free trade agreement (FTA) between the member countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) to boost trade in goods and services in the region. “A lot has been said about how we have not still signed an FTA. Yes, that is a concern and we shall work actively to get a consensus to have an FTA signed amongst the BIMSTEC countries,” Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. BIMSTEC members — which include Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal — signed a framework agreement on a FTA in 2004, but not much progress has been made in the area.
Sitharaman also called for greater buoyancy in implementation of projects in the BIMSTEC region. She said the complementarity of the region could be highlighted to close in on the agreements that are being discussed. Nepal’s Commerce Minister Romi Gauchan Thakali, urged that the special treatment given to least developed countries (LDCs) in the region be continued as it has definitely resulted in successful business exchanges. Sithraman said that connectivity was a major problem that the region faced, pointing out that it was “shame’’ to move around in this (BIMSTEC) region. “… the Bay of Bengal links us, land routes link us, in spite of that it is so arduous,” she said. The Minister also stressed on the need to boost sea and port connectivity to make movement of goods efficient, cost- effective and timely.
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line
The five-member BRICS bloc saw a 5.8 per cent growth in containerised trade with the world in the first half of 2016 on the back of a strong showing by India, says Maersk Line, the world’s largest container shipping company. “BRICS export-import (exim) containerised trade with the world registered a growth of 5.8 per cent in the first half of 2016 as against de-growth of 2.2 per cent in the same period last year,” it said. This growth for BRICS, it said, was “led by India followed by China and is forecast to gain pace next year as Brazil and Russia are expected to emerge from recession, contributing to higher GDP expansion”. Volumes should improve as GDP for BRICS is expected to increase to 5.7 per cent in 2017, an improvement over the previous forecast of 5.3 per cent.
“China is expected to grow more than 6 per cent in 2017, India at 8 per cent, Brazil at more than 0.5 pr cent and Russia at above 1 per cent,” it said in a release here. Economic uncertainty has been a deterrent to investments in infrastructure, which is critically important to help countries lower their supply chain cost and consequently boost exports as well as improve competitiveness. According to Maersk Line, if a country is able to lower trade costs by 10 per cent, exports can increase by more than 20 per cent. The heads of BRICS countries are meeting in Goa this weekend to discuss improving collaboration and increasing trade.
While 2016 did not start positively for the world, India paced up in the first half of this year. This growth was on the back of a strong US economy and recovery in the European market. “That said, it is worth mentioning that trade among BRICS countries continues to grow although China remains BRICS’ as well as India’s largest trading partner responsible for 82 per cent of Indian containerised trade.”
Franck Dedenis, MD, India, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh Cluster, Maersk Line, said: “India exim trade with BRICS nations has been consistently growing at 4 per cent since 2012.” He further said recovery in Brazil and Russian economy is “good news” for BRICS and it might entail an increase of trade among India and China in 2017.
“We are also noticing some interesting trends that are beginning to emerge of late. Rise of India, Thailand and Vietnam as alternative sourcing markets to China can put some pressure on China in future,” he said. China, Maersk said, remains India’s strongest trading partner followed by Russia and Brazil. India’s exim trade with BRICS nations was strong at 6.5 per cent and 7.8 per cent, respectively, in 2015 and 2016.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
China cancelled its participation at the BRICs trade fair in New Delhi on Friday. Reports suggest that China is upset with the BRICS trade barrier. China and India have been at loggerheads regarding many issues including the border dispute and India’s attempt to globally isolate Pakistan. A global isolation of Pakistan would lead to China losing on a huge margin of profit through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Meanwhile, Several social media campaigns have gone viral and politicians in many parts of the country have also asked people not to buy Chinese goods this festive season.
India is hosting the 2-16 BRICS(Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit in Goa. The idea of organising a BRICS trade fair exhibition was first proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015. Modi had proposed the idea during his address to the BRICS Business Council members at Ufa, Russia. The trade fair, this year is being organised at the Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. According to the Indian Commerce Ministry, the trade fair is exhibiting around 20 different sectors; aerospace, agro-processing, auto and auto components, chemicals, green energy and renewables, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, railways, textiles and apparel, infrastructure, IT, engineering goods, tourism, gems and jewellery and skill development.
The ministry had earlier re;eased a statement saying that the BRICS trade fair would present the member countries with the platform to showcase their state of the art technologies. The organisers of the 3-day event, FCCI said that over 600 exhibitors would be showcasing their products and expertise at the BRICS Trade Fair.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
The importance of developing cooperation among micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the crucial areas of trade and investment was emphasised at the 6th meeting of the BRICS trade ministers held in New Delhi. The trade ministers meeting was preceded by the 13th meeting of the BRICS Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues (CGETI). The cooperation among MSMEs can be in the form of exchange of information on the regulatory framework, rules, regulations and good regulatory practices governing MSMEs; interface among the major chambers of commerce and industry of the MSMEs; and participation of MSME stakeholders in BRICS economic events such as trade fairs, conferences, seminars etc, a communique issued at the end of trade ministers meeting said.
The MSME sector in many of the BRICS economies contribute directly or indirectly to nearly half of their exports, manufacturing output and GDP. The ministers acknowledged the role of MSMEs as the engines of export led growth and employment generation given the highest rate of employment per unit of investment in MSMEs; and their crucial role in addressing regional disparity and poverty alleviation.
Cognisant of the impediments faced by MSMEs, the ministers stressed on the need for cooperation among the BRICS countries to effectively address the barriers to trade and investment amongst the MSMEs. The ministers welcomed continued efforts to foster cooperation and facilitate exchange of experiences between BRICS countries on MSMEs. In this regard, they welcomed the 'BRICS Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Cooperation Framework' which encourages MSMEs in BRICS to strengthen mutually beneficial commercial relationship. The Framework sets the agenda of cooperation on SMEs by the BRICS countries. The Ministers also endorsed the 'Framework for BRICS Single Window Cooperation' and underlined the importance of closer cooperation among the BRICS countries in the development of their national single windows. They emphasised the need for BRICS countries to operationalise the Framework based on the Guiding Principles, Objectives and Priorities for Cooperation.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
China has assured India of greater market access in a move that could help bridge India’s mounting bilateral trade deficit with the Asian giant. “The Chinese vice minister assured that China would act on the concerns expressed by India regarding market access for Indian goods in the Chinese markets,” the commerce department said in a statement on Thursday after commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman met China’s vice minister for finance and commerce Wang Shouwen. Shouwen is here to attend the sixth BRICS trade ministers’ meeting.
In 2015-16, India’s exports to China were $9 billion, while imports were $ 61.7 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $52.7 billion. Sitharaman sought greater market access for Indian goods, especially for rice and pharmaceutical products, and expressed concerns at the long drawn procedures for clearances that tend to frustrate Indian companies seeking business opportunities in China.
The Chinese minister said recently his country had quickened the pace of granting clearances while importing of Indian pharmaceutical products. China also assured India ahead of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership meeting, which it is hosting, that the country’s concerns on a ‘single undertaking’ will be duly taken on board with services being an integral part of the cooperation agreement.
BRICS’ WIDE RANGING COOPERATION
In a move to strengthen the BRICS economic partnership, the trade ministers of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa called for greater cooperation in ecommerce, removal of non-tariff barriers and the need to enhance cooperation in the areas of intellectual property rights. The five-nation grouping had earlier this year formed the BRICS IPR Cooperation Mechanism. India assumed presidency of BRICS in February this year and has organised the first BRICS Trade Fair in which the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) has also participated.“ The cooperative frameworks are non-binding and allow our countries to retain our policy space,” said Sitharaman while inaugurating the fair. “We would urge NDB to come out with ideas and pilot projects for strengthening MSMEs in the BRICS countries,” she said. On the trade front, the minister called for increasing trade among the BRICS members as it is less than 5% of their total global trade and amounts to around $300 billion. Liberalising services sector should be accorded top priority in the BRICS, she said.
SOURCE: The Economic Times
The government has had no discussions till now on withdrawing the most favoured nation (MFN) status granted to Pakistan as a “goodwill’’ gesture in 1996, Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. On the growing clamour from certain sections of the Indian industry and consumer group lobbies for banning Chinese goods, the Minister said that it was impossible to put a blanket ban on imports and curbs can be placed only if there are credible reasons such as dumping at subsidised prices or quality issues.
Goodwill gesture
Replying to questions on the possibility of withdrawal of MFN status to Pakistan following the escalation in cross-border tension, the Minister said that the World Trade Organisation required members to extend MFN to one-another on a reciprocal basis. “India had extended MFN to Pakistan in 1996 unilaterally as a gesture of goodwill hoping that the move would be reciprocated. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened yet. But strictly speaking, there have no discussions till now on withdrawing the status given to Pakistan,” she said. Extending MFN status to a country means that the country would be treated the same as other WTO members and not discriminated against.
Trade goods
Although Pakistan has not extended MFN status to India, over the years it has lifted import ban on majority of goods (about 6,000 items) from India. However, it continues to block about 1,206 products. In response to calls from certain sections of the Indian industry and consumer lobby to stop imports of Chinese items, the Minister said that they have to first give evidence to prove that the quality of the goods is below laid out standards or could cause health hazards or that the items are being dumped at subsidised prices. “Just because we may not like certain things about a country is not reason enough to block imports from that country. We could impose anti-dumping and safeguard duties, but there are established ways to go about it and dumping has to be proved,” she said.
Rising trade deficit
Sitharaman, in her bilateral talks with Chinese Vice-Minister of Finance and Commerce Wang Shouwen, on Thursday, raised concerns about India’s widening trade deficit with China. She asked for fast clearance of rice and pharmaceutical exports from India and grant of IT projects to Indian companies in addition to greater market access for items such as oilseeds and tobacco. India’s trade deficit with China crossed $52 billion in 2014-15 and accounted for almost half of the country’s total trade deficit.
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line
The international crude oil price of Indian Basket as computed/published today by Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas was US$ 49.37 per barrel (bbl) on 13.10.2016. This was lower than the price of US$ 50.00 per bbl on previous publishing day of 12.10.2016.
In rupee terms, the price of Indian Basket decreased to Rs. 3300.36 per bbl on 13.10.2016 as compared to Rs. 3329.49 per bbl on 12.10.2016. Rupee closed weaker at Rs. 66.85 per US$ on 13.10.2016 as against Rs. 66.59 per US$ on 12.10.2016. The table below gives details in this regard:
|
Particulars |
Unit |
Price on October 13, 2016 (Previous trading day i.e. 12.09.2016) |
Pricing Fortnight for 01.10.2016 (Sep 14, 2016 to Sep 28, 2016) |
|
Crude Oil (Indian Basket) |
($/bbl) |
49.37 (50.00) |
43.95 |
|
(Rs/bbl |
3300.36 (3329.49) |
2936.30 |
|
|
Exchange Rate |
(Rs/$) |
66.85 (66.59) |
66.81 |
SOURCE: PIB
The Acting Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Mr. Waheed Olagunju, says CBN has introduced a N50 billion intervention facility to revive the Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) sector. Olagunju said this at the cotton, textile and garment stakeholders’ forum on Thursday in Abuja. He said that the N50 billion intervention fund was to facilitate takeover of the existing debts and to provide additional long term loans and working capital to existing companies in the CTG sector. “The bank has to date approved loans of over N50 billion comprising debt takeover, term loan and working capital to 40 beneficiaries across the value chain in line with the CBN guideline on the fund. “A total of N13.37 billion released by CBN has been disbursed to the various beneficiaries as at September 30, 2016. “I hope that this forum will focus more on proffering pragmatic solutions to the challenges facing the CTG sector. “It will also foster mutually beneficial relationship, networking and knowledge sharing among stakeholders on the current and future trends in the cotton value chain not only in Nigeria but around the world,’’ Olagunju said.
The BoI managing director said that the CBN intervention fund was meant to re-finance the current debts of manufacturing sector and make available additional working capital for the sector. “It is meant to provide additional funds to kick start operation and keep operation going and most importantly to retain the staff they have and possibly employ more. “We need more and more intervention, as we all know the economy is officially in recession and in recessionary times like this, there is need for interventions to help the private sector to overcome the challenges. He said in 2009, the Federal Government approved and authorised the Debt Management Office to issue a long-term bond for the N100 billion to BOI at a coupon rate of five per cent for on-lending to business under CTG. Olagunju said that the bank also approved loans to 70 projects valued at about N60 billion under the cotton value chain.“The Federal Government, in October 2013, magnanimously converted the loan to equity, which assisted the bank to restructure the loans by tenor elongation and reduced the interest rate further to four per cent,’’ he said.
Olagunju said that the dwindling fortunes of the textile industry started in the 80s as the industry began to struggle with high production cost, taxes and poor infrastructure, especially poor power supply. He said that the situation deteriorated in 1997 when the government lifted the ban on importation of textiles against stiff but unsuccessful resistance from industry operators. The BoI chief explained that consequently the market got flooded with imported textile goods as a result of the suspension of the ban. He said that this led to decline in sales, retrenchment of workforce in the industry and ultimately to the shutdown of many local textile factories. The Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Hajia Aisha Abubakar, said the Federal Government was making efforts to transform the cotton, textile and garment sector by 2018. Abubakar said that the Cross River garment factory had the capacity to employ over 3,000 workers per shift, adding that government would do everything possible to create employment for its youths. “I want to assure you that we are working out something to move the industry forward; by 2018 there will be change in the CTG sector. “We are the answers to our problem; be the change you are looking for. We need to come out with plans to ensure change is seen.’’
SOURCE: The Pulse
In the run-up to ITMA ASIA 2016, Nicolai Strauch, press officer VDMA Textile Machinery, spoke to VDMA member companies exhibiting in Shanghai in October about their efforts and achievements around the topic Industrie 4.0, the interconnection of state-of-the-art information technology and manufacturing processes, its automation and function integration. Andreas Hannes, marketing manager, Sedo Treepoint said, “The systems we offer for textile dyeing and finishing includes many Industrie 4.0 features like RFID readers that register in the dye house or in the finishing section the contents of radio tags or robotic dispensing systems that supply the precisely constituted dye mix just in time.”
Expressing his views on Industrie 4.0, Jan Siebert, head of Rieter Business Group Machines & Systems said, “The mill management system SPIDERweb is a pioneering step for Rieter towards Industrie 4.0 for optimising the spinning mill. With the mobile app, the Mill Manager has firm control of the data of his operating facility at all times.” Andreas Schellhammer, CEO of H. Stoll, manufacturer of flat knitting machines, said, “With our new “Production Planning System” (PPS) our customers are able to comprehensively control, plan and optimise their production. As a result, for example, they will become more responsive to the increasingly shortening collection cycles of fashion companies. PPS enables quick disposition, efficient machine utilisation and overall production optimisation.”
Talking about the Internet of Things in the nonwovens industry, Andreas Lukas, managing director, Andritz Küsters said, “One of our solutions in this context is a monitoring system that helps production managers to improve textile performance of their line by generating production reports that show all the parameters. Recipes can be reproduced quickly and operators receive the relevant production information in real time.” Arno Gärtner, managing director, Karl Mayer said, “The control-technology-related basis, called KAMCOS 2, is a new automation platform, offering a man-machine interface with the same sort of operating functions that are used in smartphones and tablets all over the world nowadays. The operation of this new automation platform is based on a modern real-time data bus.”
Explaining adoption of Industrie 4.0 in the dyeing sector, Jürgen Brockmann, director, Thies said, “In many factories, dye is still brought to the preparation vessel in buckets by the operators – to ensure that the correct mixture is supplied for dyeing the next batch. We systematically continue to compress tasks in all production workflows as well as in the finished products. The new machinery line also takes care of all upstream and downstream process steps.” Wilhelm Langius, division head, Neuenhauser Maschinenbau, developers of automated handling and transport systems for fibres said, “As automation became increasingly widespread in natural and chemical fibre spinning mills, it gave rise to an enormous leap in productivity.”
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
Reinforcing its position as the world's largest importer, Bangladesh imported 6.2 million cotton bales in 2015-16. The US department of agriculture (USDA) has forecast Bangladesh's imports to increase to 6.3 million bales in 2016-17. This raises Bangladesh's share of global imports to over 18 per cent, which is more than double its share seen 5 years before. This large change in Bangladesh's imports in turn impacts various cotton exporters, especially West African origins such as Benin and Burkina Faso, and Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan. Indeed, demand in Bangladesh for cotton of Uzbek origin has proven to be substantially stronger than was previously believed, resulting in a substantial upward revision to the 2015-16 Uzbek export estimate, the USDA said in its October 2016 report 'Cotton: World Markets and Trade'. Meanwhile, consumption is raised a more moderate 300,000 bales, to 6.1 million, as market reports attest to growth of spinning. For 2016-17, consumption is expected to be 6.4 million.
For 2016-17, the USDA has raised India's cotton imports by 500,000 bales to 1.5 million bales on very strong early-season imports. For Indonesia too, estimated imports is now up by 100,000 bales to 2.9 million bales on higher domestic use. Among exporters, the US is expected to export 12 million bales in 2016-17. This figure is an increase of 500,000 bales over earlier estimate. This is due to stronger global import demand. Smaller crop will result in reduction of 500,000 bales to 2.9 million bales for Brazil. Significantly larger crop is likely to raise Australian exports by 800,000 bales to 4.2 million bales. Exports from Benin and Mali are pegged at 700,000 bales and 1.2 million bales, respectively.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
