INTERNATIONAL
Textile Raw Material Price 2016-11-14
|
Item |
Price |
Unit |
Fluctuation |
Date |
|
PSF |
1026.00 |
USD/Ton |
-0.35% |
11/14/2016 |
|
VSF |
2292.99 |
USD/Ton |
-0.95% |
11/14/2016 |
|
ASF |
1869.44 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
Polyester POY |
1084.42 |
USD/Ton |
-0.13% |
11/14/2016 |
|
Nylon FDY |
2336.80 |
USD/Ton |
0.63% |
11/14/2016 |
|
40D Spandex |
4308.48 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
Nylon DTY |
2030.10 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
Viscose Long Filament |
1292.54 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
Polyester DTY |
2519.36 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
Nylon POY |
5506.09 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
Acrylic Top 3D |
1321.75 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
Polyester FDY |
2146.94 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
30S Spun Rayon Yarn |
2891.79 |
USD/Ton |
-0.50% |
11/14/2016 |
|
32S Polyester Yarn |
1708.79 |
USD/Ton |
-0.26% |
11/14/2016 |
|
45S T/C Yarn |
2555.88 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
45S Polyester Yarn |
2249.17 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
T/C Yarn 65/35 32S |
1840.23 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
40S Rayon Yarn |
2205.36 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
T/R Yarn 65/35 32S |
3067.05 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
10S Denim Fabric |
1.34 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
32S Twill Fabric |
0.83 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
40S Combed Poplin |
1.16 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
30S Rayon Fabric |
0.66 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
|
45S T/C Fabric |
0.64 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
11/14/2016 |
Source: Global Textiles
Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.14657 USD dtd. 11/14/2016)
The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com. SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.
The Union Textiles Ministry will hold a special meeting with various states to seek their views and suggestions for the new Textile Policy, since it is important to consult states for successful implementation. The new policy aims to garners $300 billion in textile and apparel exports by 2024-25, while also creating an additional 35 million jobs. “The relevant suggestions from the states will be vetted by the Textiles Ministry and take into the final draft of the policy, after which a cabinet note will be circulated among other ministries like the Finance Ministry for more inputs,” a media agency quoted an official of the textiles ministry as saying. “Seeking suggestions and inputs from states was important in formulating the policy, the official added. Once the draft of the policy gets the nod from various ministries, it will be sent to get approval from the Union Cabinet.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
Speaking of the importance of branding in textile sector, Union Textiles Minister Smriti Zubin Irani has mentioned that India's positioning in international market depends upon branding of Indian textile products. The minister recalled how branding of handloom products by involving top designers and retail giants in the country, has led to a paradigm shift in the handloom sector. Irani also called for a well-coordinated cohesive governance approach, for more effective programme implementation and sectoral outcomes.
Noting that many states do not have dedicated Textiles Ministers, the Minister expressed the need for more dialogue and convergence at intra-state, inter-state and Centre-state levels. Accordingly, in line with the spirit of cooperative federalism, the Minister has ensured that the views and contribution of all states would be reflected in the new textile policy, so that India becomes the textile destination of the world. The Minister was speaking at the concluding session of the one-day Annual Conference of State Textiles Ministers, at DRDO Bhawan, New Delhi recently. Earlier, delivering the key note address, the Minister of State for Textiles, Ajay Tamta highlighted various measures taken by the Central Government to boost the growth and remove bottlenecks and challenges facing the sector.
Stating that a huge apparel package has been given by the Government of India, Irani noted that there is need for support of state governments in expanding manufacturing capacity and employment generation capacity. She said that only this would address the challenges of industry such as cost of power and labour. The Minister called for capacity enhancement in production of textile machinery in the country.
Stating that education of children is the primary concern of weavers and artisans, she spoke of the MoU between IGNOU and The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) to provide free, anytime, any-where education to the children. The Minister sought support of state governments for the success of the programme, specifically in identifying artisans and weavers who need such support.
Textiles Secretary, Rashmi Verma highlighted the challenges faced by the textile sector, especially in the export market, due to uneven tariff and non-tariff barriers and expressed the hope that GST will bring down input costs, give a boost to textile exports and bring in greater capital investment in the sector. The Conference gave a platform to the states to exchange their views on various policies and programmes implemented by the Government of India and specific challenges faced by the State Governments in their implementation. In all, Ministers and senior officials of textile departments of 18 states participated in the conference.
SOURCE: SME Times
The Telangana government has appealed Union textiles minister Smriti Irani to permit for setting up a mega textile park in the state. This is in addition to the existing demand for sanction of 12 handloom clusters. The state has also urged the textiles ministry to formulate a comprehensive welfare policy for the benefit of weavers in the country. KT Rama Rao, Telangana's minister for industries, IT and municipal administration, recently met Irani at a textile conference in New Delhi and put forth these requests. At the conference, which saw participation of state textiles ministers and was chaired by Irani, Rao highlighted the steps taken by the state government to ensure the welfare of the weavers, the second largest community in Telangana. He also said that a right garment policy will make the weavers efficient enough to compete with foreign countries.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
India is the second-largest textile exporter and among a few countries with a presence of the entire textile value chain, CITI said. Textile leaders from across the world are slated to attend the annual conference of International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) due to be held in Jaipur in Rajasthan on November 17-19. “At a time when the Union government is giving utmost importance to the textile sector, this meeting is crucial for future policies, including the New Textile Policy, which will be finalised in the next few weeks,” the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) said in a statement on Sunday.
Textiles Minister Smriti Irani and Textiles Secretary Rashmi Verma will address the delegates of the conference, which will see industry leaders, senior officials and experts in attendance, it added. Indian textiles is a USD 100 billion industry and the largest employer, providing jobs to 100 million people. India is the second-largest textile exporter and among a few countries with a presence of the entire textile value chain, CITI said.
Domestically, textile has over 11 per cent share — at USD 40 billion — of total exports in 2015-16 and contributes 5 per cent of GDP, it added.
SOURCE: The Indian Express
A mega package for the powerloom sector is in the works, focused on upgrading units. The package will include social welfare schemes, insurance cover and cluster development of power looms. This would be the second in a series of incentives for the textile sector, after a Rs 6,500 crore package announced for garments in June. At present, less than 2 lakh power looms of the total 25 lakh are technologically upgraded. “We want to better the status of power loom weavers and a certain set of incentives and social security schemes is being worked out. Power loom workers want financial incentives and loans because they don’t have working capital,” said an official privy to the details. India’s power loom sector employs almost 65 lakh people. “Their cost of production is high, which has rendered them uncompetitive… tax benefits and marketing support are being considered,” the official added. At present, the units get a capital subsidy to switch over to new shuttle-less looms. Under the scheme for in-situ upgrading of power looms, units get Rs 15,000 as subsidy for semiautomation. The government may also offer loans through the Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency Ltd. (MUDRA). The package is being considered as power looms in Maharashtra and Gujarat operate at sub-optimal capacities. High input costs and reduced purchases of fabrics have resulted in the partial stoppage of power looms in some clusters. “Power looms, which give 70% of the total jobs in the textile industry, deserve financial support. We request the government to come out with a package similar to garments,” said an industry expert. Though MUDRA loans will benefit small units that are going in for simple automation, textile expert DK Nair said efforts should be made to consolidate them. “Small units should be discouraged from remaining small,” the expert said.
SOURCE: The Economic Times
The 36th India International Trade Fair, displaying products from states and countries, is often an indicator of the country's business sentiment. On Monday, when IITF opened, things looked low-key despite it being a holiday. Although the fair will open to the general public on Saturday, crowds typically start visiting with special passes from day one. Stall representatives pointed to demonetisation (note ban) as the primary reason why people were hardly upbeat. Cash is coming the hard way after waiting in long queues, and clearly Indians don't want to spend it on shopping or travelling, said a person manning a state stall. The Union health ministry stall did not receive even a tenth of the people it got in the previous two years on the opening day. Those in the stall said at least 1,000 persons visited their stall each day from day one, this time not even 100 came. A salesperson from the Andhra Pradesh stall said the business was down by some Rs 35,000 through the day compared to the previous year. Those who came, mostly indulged in window-shopping.The stall representing Gujarat, the home state of prime minister Narendra Modi and usually a popular shopping destination, was almost empty by early evening. However, Digital India may have had its influence on the stall as the manager said payment through mobile wallet would facilitate business in the coming days.
Earlier in the day, President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the fair, which will see participation of more than 150 companies from 27 countries. This year's edition of the fair is being held between November 14 and 27. The president said, "Digital technologies, e-commerce, e-enabled mobile services are major components of e-governance and will over time contribute significantly to GDP growth. " Speaking on goods and services tax, he said the range of reforms being undertaken would enable states and Union territories to compete with each other in attracting investments. "Over the medium and long term, these reforms shall also hopefully result in job creation. Thus, contributing to the growth impulses of the economy," Mukherjee said. The president termed IITF "a mega projection of the new India", that is fast taking shape. This year, IITF has South Korea as the partner country while the focus country is Belarus.
SOURCE: The Business Standard
The Congress has hardened its position on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, saying it is opposed to the four-slab tax structure in which the top limit is 28 per cent. The position is being taken ahead of the winter session of Parliament, which starts on Wednesday. This month-long winter session, the government wants to pass two legislation pieces related to the main GST Bill, passed in the monsoon session. The passage of these Bills will ease rolling out of the GST from the target date of April 1, 2017. The government wants to push the two legislation pieces early in the session.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, “We will oppose the 28 per cent GST slab. Any rate over 18 per cent will push inflation and break the back of the common man. We are not against the GST but we are concerned about the impact of the four-tier structure. We had supported the GST for development, not to trouble people.” Recently, the GST council, which has representatives from the states, had approved a four-trier tax structure (five, 12, 18, and 28 per cent). Congress sources said a four-tier GST rate, coupled with wide gaps between the Centre and the states in terms of enabling software and hardware systems, was “unimplementable”. The states and the Centre are set to hammer out the issue of jurisdiction over assessees under GST this week.
Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac said a vertical division of assessees for collection of taxes and audit would create problems for small taxpayers. “Kerala, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Delhi, Odisha ... a majority of states want a combination of vertical and horizontal (dual-control structure). Below Rs 1.5-(crore turnover), states should tax; above Rs 1.5 crore, it can be vertical division,” Issac said. The states have asked for control over 1.1 million service tax assesses while the Centre had proposed to do away states having exclusive control over all dealers up to an annual revenue threshold of Rs 1.5 crore. This issue was settled in the first meeting of the GST Council.
Finance ministers of states will informally meet Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on November 20 to evolve a political consensus on the sticky issue ahead of the next meeting of the GST Council on November 24-25. “We are very hopeful of GST implementation from April 1, 2017. By Tuesday we will share the model GST law with the states which has been redrafted after taking into account the comments of stakeholders,” Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Najib Shah said. He said the compensation law would be shared with the states on November 16, detailing the procedure for making good revenue loss of states in the first five years of GST rollout. The GST will subsume excise, service tax, VAT and other local levies and will help in smooth movement of goods and services across the country.
SOURCE: The Business Standard
In a unique way of protest, about 2.36 lakh officers and employees working with commercial and sales tax departments of various states will work on Sunday to press for their demand of having a fair share in the administration of taxes under the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST). The All India Confederation of Commercial Taxes Association (AICCTA) said its members will also go on day-long pen down strike on November 23 if their demands are not accepted by the government. The confederation has decided that all its members will work on November 20, which is Sunday, to protest the way the administration of GST has been planned by the Centre. "It is a positive form of protest by working on a general holiday," the employees' body said.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has called an informal meeting of state finance ministers to discuss the matters of dual control and cross empowerment on Sunday. Earlier this week, different delegations of the confederation met finance ministers of various states to seek their support. The confederation claims to represent over 36,000 Gazetted officers and about two lakh employees of Class-III and -IV categories. The confederation has sought complete authority relating to monitoring, audit, assessment and enforcement activities provided either under the GST Act or under the Integrated Goods and Services Tax -- to be levied on all inter-state supplies of goods and services. "It is also demanded that the state authorities should also be empowered under IGST Act to administer matters relating to interstate transactions," as per a memorandum submitted to the Finance Ministry. The officers' body has sought representation of officers from the states in GST council secretariat. "It is demanded that the GST council provide sufficient funds to the states to establish a uniform infrastructural and networking system," it said.
The confederation has said that they would not work on November 23 to protest against non-implementation of its demands and for a just and fair tax administration under the GST regime. The proposed GST is a single tax on supply of goods and services, right from the manufacturer to the consumer.
SOURCE: The Economic Times
A significant step forward towards GST implementation, the decision of all-powerful GST Council reaching consensus on a four-tiered GST rate structure, has much to look forward to. The clear intent of the government is to have a progressive indirect tax structure for the economy as the overall rate framework seems to have addressed a common man’s ask. At the same time, the announced rates came with a tone of surprise for the industry and have raised some concerns upon which further clarity should emerge when the commodities and services are precisely allocated to the respective tax slabs.
The four-tiered rate structure ranges from 5% to 28%, with certain products being exempt/zero-rated. The categorisation of products has been proposed in a manner that essential commodities and items of mass consumption by common people would bear a lower tax. Around half of the items forming part of Consumer Price Index have been stated to be kept in the no-tax basket which might even reduce the tax outgo for a common man on daily consumables. The slab of 12% should ideally cover all the categories of goods which currently enjoy concessional/merit rate taxation for excise as well as VAT purposes. Further, it’s widely being hoped that 18% slab would cover most of the products. This is important to ensure that ultimate consumers do not see much of a difference in monthly consumption budget on account of enhanced the tax costs.
The major source of unease for the industry is the lack of clarity around coverage of commodities under the highest tax slab of 28% GST. This list certainly needs to be restricted. It need to be noted that not all the taxes (such as excise duty) apply today on final price at which the goods are sold to the final consumer. The current effective rate of indirect taxes on most standard rated commodities ranges between 24-26%. Thus, covering all the products which currently attract standard rate of excise duty and VAT under the highest 28% slab would burden such commodities with higher GST incidence and would be a rude shock to the industry as well as to the commoner. With the hope that 28% tax slab will apply on only limited categories of goods alone, the overall inflationary impact of GST, if at all, should be marginal.
To offset the lower rate of GST for basic necessities, certain category of items which include luxury products and demerit goods such as tobacco and pan masala would face the highest slab along with an additional cess in a manner that overall tax on these products remain the same as of today. The revenue proceeds from this additional cess along with clean energy cess on coal is meant for compensating the states for their loss of revenue. While a sunset clause of five years has been promised for this compensation cess, the added complexities for complying with cesses is difficult to digest under the GST regime. Dealing with another type of tax would pose operational and compliance challenges before the industry. What must be ensured by the GST council is that this compensation cess should not distort the flow of credits through the supply chain which may lead to heavy cascading at multiple stages. Clarity around point of levy of cess and strict uniformity in reporting requirements and rates of cesses across states are some other obvious asks to maintain a uniform tax structure across the nation which is one of the prime drivers behind implementation of GST in India. The stated intent behind levy of cess is to maintain the current tax structures of certain commodities which is antithesis to the government’s endeavour to bring down overall tax incidence on goods particularly on the ones manufactured in India.
As far as services are concerned, the overall impact might be on a negative side as standard rate of 18% would increase the tax burden noticeably as against existing 15%. Most services sectors, including telecom, professional services etc are therefore likely to increase the consumer price or witness a negative impact on bottom line at least in the initial phase of GST implementation. In the interest of the common man, the GST Council should, however, consider keeping some of the essential services, such as healthcare, education, etc, at zero-tax slab. Whether any services will feature in the list of 12% slab or will the concessions to certain services such as transportation, construction services etc would continue in the form of abatements remains an unanswered question. Operationally, merit rate taxation of 12% on such services should work better as it resolves ambiguities around impact on input tax credit chain.
It is pertinent to note that precious metals including gold are proposed to be taxed at a lower rate. However, the decision regarding the GST rate on gold is still pending and would be decided by the GST Council later depending upon the flexibility to meet the revenue targets. This effectively takes the Indian GST rate structure to have up to seven different classes within which various goods and services would get classified. This might lead to continuance of classification issues and disputes under GST as they exist even today, since the tax authorities would try to push the items to higher tax slabs while the tax payers would want to take cover of lower bracket for their products and services. Detailed schedule of the goods and services classified under different slabs is the next big thing under industry’s watch list. The government should release these detailed schedules well in time as that is critical for the industry to carry out GST impact analysis for their business post which price declarations, distribution schemes, margins for channel partners and sales incentives would also need a revision.
The overall slant of the GST rate structure undoubtedly is upon minimising the inflationary impact upon transition to GST with key focus upon the pocket of the less privileged and lower middle class of the society. Given the pace at which the government is heading to meet its proposed deadline of April 1, 2017 for GST rollout, its efforts are remarkable and ought to be applauded by the entire nation. Even India Inc is amazed that the government might actually be ready to implement GST while it is still preparing its systems for transition. This is the time when all GST stakeholders are putting in their best efforts to make the most out of these revolutionary indirect tax reforms.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
The government will soon tweak certain fiscal provisions of the special economic zones (SEZ) Act, as it gears up to introduce the goods and services tax (GST) regime in the country, reports Banikinkar Pattanayak in New Delhi. The government will soon tweak certain fiscal provisions of the special economic zones (SEZ) Act, as it gears up to introduce the goods and services tax (GST) regime in the country, reports Banikinkar Pattanayak in New Delhi. Revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia chaired a meeting, attended by commerce secretary Rita Teaotia and others, on November 9 to take stock of changes required in the SEZ Act so that such zones, which are already reeling under direct taxes like MAT and DDT, are not subject to undue hassles at least in the new indirect tax regime. Sections 26 and 30 of the SEZ Act are set to be amended suitably in accordance with the GST law to ensure various duty exemptions to such designated enclaves in the new tax regime as well, sources told FE.
Section 26 C, E and G of the SEZ Act are among the key fiscal provisions that will be tweaked, a senior government official said. Section 26C deals with exemption from any excise duty (under the Central Excise Act, 1944 or the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985) on goods brought from the domestic market to an SEZ to carry out authorised operations by the developer. Similarly, Section 26 E provides for exemption from the service tax (under chapter-V of the Finance Act, 1994) on relevant sevices provided to an SEZ developer. Section 26 G offers tax exemption to SEZ developers from the sale or purchase of goods other than newspapers (under the central sales tax Act, 1956).
Rahul Gupta, chairman of the Export Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZs (EPCES), said the definition of exports in the model GST law need to synchronize with the SEZ Act to avoid any confusion or dispute. He added that the issues of SEZs will be taken up in the meeting of GST Council. Exports from SEZs dropped 3.3% in 2015-16, recovering from a near 11% fall in the previous year. The country’s overall goods exports shrank a massive 16% last fiscal.
The government had imposed the minimum alternate tax (MAT) on SEZ developers and units and the dividend distribution tax (DDT) on developers in 2011-12. Before the MAT and the DDT were imposed, the growth in exports from SEZs was as high as 121% (2009-10) and 43% (2010-11), far exceeding the increase in the country’s overall goods exports for these years.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
The chamber says masterstroke by PM, should be allowed time to play out The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Sunday said the demonetization move of the government will strike a blow to the illegal economy and would have a dampening impact on inflation, giving room to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut the policy rates. Describing the step as an economic masterstroke by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the chamber said it must be allowed time to play out as it would result in greater use of plastic money, more increase in liquidity in the banking system and reduction in liability of RBI to the public. In a statement, it said after a "short" period of some pain when the economy adjusts to the withdrawal of old Rs 500, 1000 currency notes, much stronger economy is expected to emerge. The prevalence of cash use has made India prone to high inflation as corruption and excessive cash use tends to erode the purchasing power of money, the chamber said.
Lower cash use will have a dampening impact on inflation and this will be a further positive for India’s macro-fundamentals. “The Reserve Bank will now have more room to cut interest rates as inflation subsides. Already, the bond market has reacted to the news with a reduction in the bond yields” CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee said. RBI had cut the policy rate by 25 basis points in October, and is scheduled to meet for a policy review in December. The chamber said while it is not possible to have a firm estimate of unaccounted wealth, it is widely estimated at around a fifth of India’s GDP or around $450 billion, CII said. While some of this may be stored in cash, some may be in assets such as real estate and jewellery, it said adding this negatively affects the business environment, especially for those who comply with the law of the land and follow ethical practices. "India’s cash-dependence is extremely high with a currency-GDP ratio of around 12% compared to 4-5% in other developing countries. High level of cash usage tends to slow down the flow of money through the economy. As we transition to a greater usage of fintech for payments, spending will rise leading to additional economic growth," Banerjee said. The CII said the move will be positive for banks whose deposit mobilisation will be strengthened.
The old currency notes will be deposited with banks and more households will find it imperative to open bank accounts and make use of card payments. Currency in the form of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes amounted to Rs 14.2 lakh crore as of March 2016, or about 85 per cent of total currency in circulation. If this is converted to current and savings deposits, there will be an increase in banks’ liquidity. This is also a great opportunity to transition to a “plastic economy”, where there is a prevalence of debit and credit cards for transactions, CII said. CII has stated that in all likelihood, a fair proportion of the Rs 14 lakh crore in high-denomination currency will not return to the banking system, for fear of accounts being scrutinised. If one assumes that about 20 per cent of the cash does not return to the system, this would amount to about Rs 3 lakh crore or $42 billion. This is a reduction in the RBI’s liability to the public, allowing it to print a similar amount of fresh money or transfer the gain to the government.
SOURCE: Business Standard
The cash-driven transport sector is one of many bearing the brunt of the current currency crisis, with truckers saying supplies of fruit, vegetables and grain will get hit from Monday if the situation does not improve. For, they say, there is scarcity of cash with the drivers, vendors, labourers and also the authorities. There are tens of millions directly and indirectly are associated with the sector. Business of about Rs 1,000 crore would be affected, a transporter said.
The Union ministry of road transport and highways had, in the wake of the government’s demonetisation announcement, waived toll payment at all highways. Even so, the All India Motor Transport Congress, an apex body for transporters, has said the limit of Rs 10,000 withdrawal a day and a maximum of Rs 20,000 a week is minuscule and is paralysing their members’ business. As much as 80 per cent of transport costs (fuel, toll payments, drivers’ board and lodging, repairs, payments to loaders) are cash-based, it says.
In the area around Delhi, it is a twin blow, as an estimated 200,000 diesel-powered vehicles went off the roads from Sunday, on a National Green Tribunal order barring vehicles 15 years old or more from plying on or entering this city. The city government has begun the process of de-registering these vehicles.
SOURCE: The Business Standard
Multilateral agency likely to tap our bond markets to raise funds. For decades a borrower, India will soon sit in the core management team of the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank. Axel Van Trotsenburg, vice-president, development finance at the Bank, told Business Standard: “India will be one of the IDA deputies, the 14-member group of donor nations which run the key negotiations with member countries.” Van also said the institution would weigh costs to consider Indian markets for raising bonds — as the institution will for the first time tap international markets to raise money — to finance low-cost aid programmes.
Set up in September 1960, IDA was at one time the biggest source of aid for India. For IDA, too, India happened to be the largest aid recipient among its 173 member-countries. Even now, the pipeline of un-disbursed aid from the institution to India is $6.5 billion. But, since 2014, India had stopped taking fresh aid from IDA, which provides a hugely attractive line of credit, with an annual interest rate of less than one per cent and a repayment window of at least 25 years. Instead, in 2015, it provided $200 million as a donor to the IDA17 corpus, a three-year purse the institution rustles up among member-nations to finance support to poor countries. Trotsenburg said: “India is now expected to become an active participant in the policy dialogue IDA holds with member countries.” India’s presence will raise the “credibility of IDA” with the borrower nations. “India is a case of an incredible journey of poverty reduction. It has produced a very successful partnership with us, and now we expect her presence on the table will sharpen our focus on the support we can provide to, especially, the fragile nations,” he said.
The Bank’s initiative to position India in a stronger role in its various institutions is also aimed to counter the increasing interest New Delhi and Beijing have shown to support the BRICS bank — the New Development Bank (NDB) based in Shanghai. It has long been a gripe with India and China that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are dominated by Western European nations and the USA.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim had recently been quoted as saying: “There is plenty of room for New Development Bank and the AIIB (the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank). It is good that new institutions are providing a challenge for groups like us. We have to now redefine our specific advantages and get better at what we are doing.” Within IDA, the executive directors representing the interests of member-countries decide, along with the President, on key policy issues. The management of each programme is handled by a smaller group. This group is referred to as the IDA group of deputies, comprising the donor nations. While the donors were separate from the borrowers, India joins China as one of the few nations that have transitioned from the latter to the former group.
Former executive director to the World Bank C M Vasudev said the role of IDA had decreased over the years. “The size of bilateral aid chalked up by the traditional donors now outweighs it but it is an important change for India.” Trotsenburg said IDA hoped to leverage India’s reputation to extend its outreach with the fragile nations — the group of countries whose economy has been shattered by war and internal strife. He said their numbers were rapidly climbing and qualified for grants from the institution. IDA has recently earned a triple AAA+ by the rating agencies. It aims to use the rating to borrow at low cost from the international capital markets to finance up to a third of its purse of $75 billion for IDA18 replenishment. On whether some of that borrowing could be from India, he said: “We shall go wherever we find the spread is the best.” Both IFC and Asian Development Bank raise some of their money from the Indian debt markets. The first round of fund raising for IDA is slated to begin from the more developed bond markets abroad.
SOURCE: Business Standard
The European Union today sought a fresh push by India to restart negotiations at the earliest for long-pending free trade agreement between the two sides, saying failure to finalise it will have adverse impact on trade as India's bilateral investment pacts with several EU-member countries are expiring soon. Vice-President of European Commission Jyrki Katainen held talks with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and apprised them about the urgency to start the stalled negotiations for the FTA. Katainen said India's existing trade and investment agreement with The Netherlands will come to an end in two weeks while similar pacts with several other EU countries will expire in the months of March, April and May which will make it difficult for the European countries go for fresh investment in India.
As per European Union law, no member country now can go for bilateral trade and investment pact with India as the grouping is in negotiations for a EU-India Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA). By end of 2017, India's trade and investment pact with 23 countries are likely to expire, according to EU officials. Katainen said EU considers India to be a very attractive destination for investment but absence of the BTIA may dampen the enthusiasm as there will be no protection to investment. He said in such as scenario the cost of the capital will also go up significantly. He said failure to finalise the agreement will create legal vacuum in trade and investment between European countries and India as bilateral pacts are expiring. He also referred to India changing foreign investment model.
Asked about his meetings with Jaitley and Sitharaman, Katainen, who looks after issues relating to jobs, investment and competitiveness, said, "We did not get a clear answer on BTIA." At the same time he hoped negotiations between the two sides will start soon. "If BTIA is solved, everybody will be benefited. It is a strategic issue for us. India is strategically important for us... We are ready to fast-track the negotiations," he told reporters. The BTIA talks have been stalled since May, 2013, when both sides failed to bridge substantial gaps on crucial issues, including data security status for IT sector.
Launched in June 2007, negotiations for the proposed agreement have witnessed many hurdles as both the sides have major differences on crucial issues. In the EU-India Summit in Brussels, the two sides had failed to make any announcement on resumption of the negotiations as many bottlenecks still remain. The two sides are yet to iron out issues related to tariff and movement of professionals but the EU has shown an inclination to restart talks.
Besides demanding significant duty cuts in automobiles, the EU wants tax reduction in wines, spirits and dairy products, and a strong intellectual property regime. On the other hand, India is asking for granting 'data secure nation' status to it by the EU. The country is among nations not considered data secure by the EU. The matter is crucial as it will have a bearing on Indian IT companies wanting market access.
SOURCE: The Economic Times
India and Bhutan today signed the Agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit that aims to enhance trade between the two countries through trade facilitation, cutting down documentation and adding additional exit/entry points for Bhutan's trade with other countries. Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the Minister for Economic Affairs, Royal Government of Bhutan, Tengye Lyonpo Lekey Dorji signed the Agreement, Commerce Ministry said. "The new bilateral Trade Agreement aims to enhance trade between the two countries through trade facilitation by improving procedures, cutting down on documentation and adding additional exit/entry points for Bhutan's trade with other countries," it added. It is also expected to further strengthen the excellent relations between the two countries, it said.
The first Agreement on Trade and Commerce between Bhutan and India was signed in 1972. Since then, the Agreement has been renewed four times. The last Agreement was renewed on July 28, 2006 and was valid till July 29, 2016. The validity of the Agreement was extended for a period of one year or till the date of coming into force of the new Agreement, whichever is earlier, by exchange of diplomatic notes between the two countries.
SOURCE: The Economic Times
Amid India's efforts to woo investors, Japanese industry has sought early passage of the amended Land Acquisition Bill and further relaxation of "restrictions" on foreign financing in certain sectors to ensure "free and smooth" corporate business activity by its companies in India. The recommendations have been made in a joint report of 'India-Japan Business Leaders Forum' 2016 which was presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe here on Friday. The Japanese Inc has also suggested reforms in the tendering processes in the infrastructure sector in India by introducing and expanding use of a comprehensive evaluation system, allowing one company bids and some other measures. "The business communities of India and Japan will continue to cooperate in strategic areas such as the promotion of economic partnerships, improvement of the business environment, and infrastructure development, and on issues of a global scale. "In so doing, they will cooperate with the governments of both nations from a business standpoint to ensure that the Indian and Japanese economies will grow together and continue to act as growth engines in the global economy," the report said.
In its recommendations, the report said, "In India, free and smooth corporate business activity, including by Japanese companies, requires the development of systems for the prompt and smooth introduction of a GST and the steady implementation of the Agreement between Japan and the Republic of India on Social Security. "In addition, the following are also essential: the early passage of a bill for amendment of land acquisition laws; the organisation, streamlining and international conformity of permanent establishment (PE) taxation, transfer pricing taxation, standards and certification systems, and intellectual property systems; further relaxation of restrictions on foreign investment and financing in the distribution sector and other sectors; and appropriate levels of service taxes in industrial complexes, etc." The report added that the business leaders of the two countries "strongly urge the Indian government to step up its approaches on these issues and the Japanese government to cooperate in their improvement." To ensure "fairness, transparency, and predictability" in administrative procedures in India, they called for the establishment of an Administrative Procedure Act and the simplification and expedition of the various procedures.
The Act would provide for common rules concerning procedures for penalties, etc by administrative bodies and the procedure for establishing Administrative Orders, said the Forum in its report. Regarding national taxes, an Act on General Rules for National Taxes should be established, and similar state legislation should be enacted in each state for regional taxation, it further recommended. The joint forum report referred to projects like the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC) as symbols of the cooperation between India and Japan and called for the continued advancement of infrastructure development, including roads, railways, ports, airports, electric power and smart grids, water treatment, and industrial complexes. At the same time, it said, Business leaders of Japan and India, from the stand point of promotion of development of high quality infrastructure through public private partnership, asks Indian government to implement the following:
"Introduction and expanded use of a comprehensive evaluation system in tendering process to reduce life cycle cost and to correctly evaluate technological value; rationalisation and optimisation of risk and role sharing between public and private sectors in public private partnership (PPPs) projects including provision of government guarantees; allowing of one company bids when deemed necessary; and implementation of tenders in a whole and thorough way per each project."
Welcoming the civil nuclear cooperation agreement, the joint business forum said stronger engagement is needed between Japan and India in high-technology areas, based on an agreement between the two countries in the area of defence and security. "Strengthening of India-Japan economic cooperation through Japan-India Special Strategic and Global Partnership must be implemented based on free and open trade and investment framework. The result would enhance the economy of Asia and Pacific region, which would in turn contribute toward sustainable growth of the world economy," the report said. "Business leaders of India and Japan recognise that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) would contribute toward expansion of regional production network and strengthen supply chains through not only liberalisation of trade and investment but also through integration of rules of origin and introduction of regional cumulative rules," it added. The forum said these measures would contribute toward fulfillment of Modi's "Make in India" policy. "For this purpose, RCEP should be concluded swiftly, in a comprehensive manner with setting high standards. Business leaders of the two countries agreed to continue in taking joint initiatives toward this end," it said.
SOURCE: Business Standard
Drawing attention to the plight of textile manufacturers, Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association Chairman Adil Butt has said the increasing delay in announcement of a textile package is aggravating things for the sector. “The much-awaited textile package, hinted and promised by the prime minister to bring the industry out of crisis, is not being announced while the crisis is worsening day-by-day,” he remarked in letters sent to the premier and government officials. According to Butt, the textile industry in general and the value-added apparel sector in particular are becoming uncompetitive in the international market. “That is why textile exports are continuously declining for the last few years while those of our competing countries like Bangladesh, India, China and Vietnam are on the rise,” said Butt. “Not only is our share in the global market shrinking and going to other countries, but also the unit price of our products is decreasing, resulting in reduced profitability for Pakistani exporters.” Butt urged the prime minister to come to the rescue of the vital sector of economy and announce the relief package, as only then the exports of the country could be sustained and employment maintained. He added the capacity of the industry was under-utilised while overhead costs had increased.
SOURCE: The Tribune
The free trade deal between Seoul and Washington has contributed to increasing job opportunities in the United States by enhancing bilateral trade and investment, South Korea's vice finance minister said Tuesday. "South Korea and the U.S have expanded economic cooperation that mutually benefited each other, and the Korea-US free trade agreement is an example," Vice Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said in a Seoul seminar co-hosted by the Korea Economic Institute of America, a Washington-based nonprofit think tank, and the state-run Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. "The FTA has promoted trade and investment in two countries and as a result, it has contributed to job creation in the US," Choi said. His comments came as the Seoul-Washington free trade deal, which came into effect in 2012, has been under fire by US President-elect Donald Trump, who has strongly hinted at calling for renegotiations of the accord. During his campaign, he blamed free trade deals, including the one with South Korea, for job losses and other economic damage.
The South Korean official said the FTA has encouraged South Korean companies investing in the US, including Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor Co., to hire more people in the country. They created more than 35,000 new jobs last year, tripling from data tallied in 2012, when the Korea-US FTA was first implemented, he said. "Economic cooperation between the two countries will strengthen further," Choi said. "The two countries have established strong cooperative foundations based on the US alliance and economic cooperation."
SOURCE: The Korea Herald
Vietnam will continue with its reform process to improve business and the investment environment to support enterprises and negotiate other agreements regardless of whether US president-elect Donald Trump thwarts the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), according to the Minister of Trade and Industry Tran Tuan Anh. Trump, who opposes the TPP trade pact, has won the US presidential election, and several experts believe that the Republican victory would put an end to this trade agreement. The minister told the press on the sidelines of the ongoing National Assembly that Vietnam was consistent with its point of view and policy in the international integration. The TPP was one of the free trade deals that Vietnam had agreed to participate in, but it would proceed with other free trade agreements (FTAs) to create opportunities for companies to fuel economic growth.
The minister said it was too early to forecast the future of TPP, and the country was ready for integration with or without it. If the TPP agreement continued to be implemented favorably, it would bring several benefits to Vietnam in various sectors. The country’s key export products, such as textile, garment, footwear, and seafood, would likely gain breakthroughs in export value to the US, Japan and Canada. On the other hand, if the TPP was not approved, Vietnam still had other export markets, Anh added.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh stated at the Vietnam Summit 2016 in Ho Chi Minh City early this month that with Vietnam signing the TPP agreement, the country hoped to intensify trade ties with Asia-Pacific countries and create more business opportunities for Vietnam and the other TPP members. Therefore, Vietnam looks forwards to the ratification of the trade deal by all member countries, including the US. He said if the TPP was not passed due to any reasons, it would be considered a setback, as countries spent much time and effort on the negotiation process. He, however, also noted that besides the TPP, Vietnam had concluded FTAs with several other partners, such as the European Union and the Eurasia Economic Union.
Vietnam and other ASEAN nations are preparing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership FTAs. In addition, members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum are negotiating an FTA in the region. Moreover, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai stated at the summit that 10 FTAs, including Vietnam as a signatory, had come into force. One FTA will come into effect soon, and several others are on the negotiating table. Hai stressed that with or without the trade deal, Vietnam’s economic policy towards international integration would remain unchanged. Hai said before negotiating the TPP, Vietnam had taken part in multilateral organizations, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). The domestic business environment has been improved, and the nation has stepped up investment restructuring, encouraged the private sector and strengthened management of public debt to pursue sustainable growth. According to economist Ngo Tri Long, in the global trend, no country can stand alone. Vietnam should prepare the best plan to deal with worst possible scenarios and should not totally depend on the TPP. In another development, Japan’s lower house of parliament on Thursday passed the contentious free trade deal.
President Barack Obama championed the 12-nation, deal saying it would enable the US to set the global trade agenda in the face of the increasing Chinese economic clout. Besides Japan and the US, the TPP includes 10 other countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. If it were to come into full force, it would account for an enormous 40 percent of the global economy.
SOURCE: The Jakarta Post
Infor, a leading provider of beautiful business applications specialised by industry and built for the cloud, stressed on the importance of adoption of technology and innovation in the textile sector at the Fashion Roundtable held in Tirupur. Various trends in the fashion industry were also discussed at the recently concluded Roundtable. Discussions at the Roundtable pivoted around the need for innovations to survive and stay profitable in the highly competitive textile industry. Garment, textile manufacturing and retail companies need to adapt to changing customer tastes and preferences and respond quickly by making informed decisions. Another crucial point on which the group conferred was the adoption of cloud for flexible, subscription-based delivery model, which can help lower IT expenditures while continuing to provide visibility across the global value chain with system-wide transparency for key stakeholders. “The fashion and textile industry is continuously evolving as per changing customer demands and business applications are at the forefront of keeping up with the change. We hope that the discussion organised in partnership with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will reinforce the importance of software solutions to help manufacturing and retail companies with faster innovation, quicker response times and more informed decision-making”, said Bino George, head, pre-sales, Infor.
The event was attended by representatives from the CII, Tirupur exporters association (TEA), an association of producers and exporters of cotton knitwear and readymade garments and one of the prominent industry bodies in the textile manufacturing belt of Tamil Nadu as well as top officials from textile companies around Coimbatore and Tirupur. “The textile and garment industry is highly competitive and is rapidly evolving into a dynamic landscape with changing government policies. We are happy to have leveraged Infor’s M3 solution which is industry-specific and has helped us consolidate processes, optimise cost and adapt to changing business conditions like GST. Implementation of technology is always a cause of concern for any enterprise, but Infor provided ‘One Solution, One Experience’ to all apparel and textile customers in real time,” said Krishan Lal, Sr VP & head - corporate IT.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
Indonesian fashion designer Carmanita presented her artwork via a Nusantara-themed collection at the 2017 IPMI Trend Show’s mini runway at Senayan City, South Jakarta, on Friday. “Because this is the 30th year [of the IPMI Trend Show], I showcased every technique that I have used before,” she said after the fashion show. The designer said she used around seven techniques to finish all the forty designs, including origami, arashi, shibori, air brush, painting and batik techniques. “I did all the little details myself,” she claimed.Carmanita highlighted the mixture of painting and batik techniques used in some of the clothes. “I brushed them using paint colors but the patterns were made using malam [liquid hot wax],” she said. The designer explained that she finished the silk and woven cotton-based collection in three months.
As for the colors and patterns, Carmanita claimed she had never set an exact target. “With batik fabric, it’s always a surprise,” she emphasized, noting that it would be hard to pinpoint an exact color result for the traditional Indonesian fabric. Carmanita predicts that painted textiles will be one of the fabric trends in 2017.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
Functional textiles made by infusing cotton with a beta-cyclodextrin (BCD) polymer can clean pollutants from air and water, according to a recent research. Cotton fabric was functionalised by making it a participant in the polymerisation process and the addition of the fibre to the reaction resulted in a unique polymer grafted to the cotton surface. The research conducted at the Cornell University was detailed in the paper ‘Cotton Fabric Functionalized with a ß-Cyclodextrin Polymer Captures Organic Pollutants from Contaminated Air and Water’ that was published on ‘Chemistry of Materials, an American Chemical Society journal’.
Scanning electron microscopy showed that the cotton fibres appeared unchanged after the polymerisation reaction. When tested for uptake of pollutants in water (bisphenol A) and air (styrene), the polymerised fibres showed greater uptakes than that of untreated cotton fabric or commercial absorbents. “We are compatible with existing textile machinery – you would not have to do a lot of retooling. It works on both air and water, and we proved that we can remove the compounds and reuse the fibre over and over again,” said Juan Hinestroza, associate professor of fibre science and director of undergraduate studies in the College of Human Ecology, who worked on the research. “There’s a lot of pollution generation in the manufacture of textiles. It is just fair that we should maybe use the same textiles to clean the mess that we make,” added Hinestroza.
The adsorption potential of this technique can also be extended to other materials, and be used for respiratory masks and filtration media, explosive detection and even food packaging that would detect when the product has gone bad. The researchers who worked on the study include Hinestroza, former Cornell chemistry professor Will Dichtel, first author Diego Alzate-Sánchez from Northwestern University and former postdoctoral researchers Brian J. Smith (now an assistant professor at Bucknell) and Alaaeddin Alsbaiee (now at Arkema). The research is an offshoot of work done last year at Cornell by Dichtel and his group, which included Alsbaiee and Smith and was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). It made use of the Cornell Center for Materials Research Shared Facilities, which is supported by the NSF’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Centres program.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
China’s economy largely showed further signs of steadying in October as expected, but disappointing retail sales growth and fears of US trade frictions under incoming President Donald Trump are increasingly clouding the outlook. Fixed-asset investment quickened slightly and beat expectations in January-October as the government stepped up infrastructure spending to support growth, official data showed on Monday. But a number of other indicators released over the past week from exports to bank lending, as well as expectations of a slowdown in the heated property market, suggest economic momentum may falter in the months ahead. “On balance, today’s data suggest that the recent recovery in economic activity continued into the fourth quarter,” Capital Economics said in a note. “We expect growth to hold up well for another quarter or two. However, with credit growth now slowing and the property market beginning to cool the drivers of the recent recovery look set to fizzle out early next year.” China’s leaders have depended on a surging real estate market and government infrastructure spending to drive activity this year and look set to meet their growth target of 6.5 to 7 per cent. The construction boom in turn has helped perk up the ailing industrial sector, spurring demand for cement to steel.
But top policymakers and investors are also clearly growing more concerned about the risks of prolonged debt-fuelled stimulus. China’s overall debt has jumped to more than 250 per cent of GDP from 150 per cent at the end of 2006, the kind of surge that in other countries has resulted in a financial bust or sharp economic slowdown, analysts say. “I believe the overall policy tone has turned to risk management as the authorities are concerned about asset bubbles,” said Singapore-based economist Zhou Hao at Commerzbank, predicting that the government will throttle back its aggressive stimulus before the end of the year.
Fixed-asset investment expanded 8.3 per cent in the first 10 months from a year earlier, slightly ahead of market expectations and supported largely by government spending. Investment by state firms surged 20.5 per cent, though the pace cooled slightly from the first nine months. In an encouraging sign, growth of private investment picked up to 2.9 per cent from 2.5 per cent in January-September.
In numbers
SOURCE: The Business Standard
