The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its ex-post facto approval for amendment to the "Framework on Currency Swap Arrangement for SAARC Member Countries" to incorporate a 'standby swap' amounting to $400 million. The standby swap was operated within the overall size of the facility which amounts to $2 billion. In an official statement, the government said that due to heightened financial risk and volatility in global economy, short-term swap requirements of SAARC countries could be higher than the agreed lines and the amendment builds in flexibility with respect to modalities of its operation, such as period of swap and roll over. "The incorporation of 'standby swap' within the approved SAARC Swap Framework would provide necessary flexibility to the framework and would enable India to provide a prompt response to the current request from SAARC member countries for availing the swap amount exceeding the present limit prescribed under the SAARC Swap Framework," it said. The Cabinet gave its approval after due consideration of conditions of requesting SAARC member countries and domestic requirements of India, it said. It had approved the framework on March 1, 2012 with the intention to provide a line of funding for short term foreign exchange requirements or to meet balance of payments crises till longer term arrangements were made or the issue resolved in the short-term itself. Under the facility, RBI offers swaps of varying sizes to each SAARC member country depending on their two months import requirement and not exceeding $2 billion in total. The swap amount for each country has been defined, subject to a floor of $100 million and a maximum of $400 million.
Source: SME Times
Retail is one of the driving forces that is propelling India’s Economic surge in recent Years. Its total Size is Approx. USD 820 Bn and its Share in India’s GDP is 28%. Apparel Retail is one of the Important Drivers of Modern Retail, with its total Size estimated to be Approx. USD 72 Bn. Retail, and more so apparel retail, is thus playing a vital role in transforming India into a major economic super power in the coming years. Rahul Mehta, President stated that it is CMAI’s proud privilege to work with the Ministry of Textiles and Govt of India to undertake this Project. It will provide immense Benefit to the Consumers by getting Standardized Sizes, far better Fitting Clothes, and avoiding Wrong and Wasteful Purchases. It will benefit the Manufacturers Retailers, and Brands by eliminating Consumer Returns and Wasteful Inventory. Mehta also stated that this will also help them Reduce Overall Prices which again Benefits the Consumers. It will help in Increasing Investment in the Industry by Improving Returns, and Increase Consumption as a result of more satisfied Consumers. It will help us to Increase our Exports by offering Indian Sizes to the Indian diaspora across the World.
CMAI Congratulates the Minister of Textiles for taking this Historic Step which will put the Indian Industry on par with all the Developed Countries like US, UK, EU etc which have provided its Consumers with the Facility of having a Standard Size.
Source: ANI News
Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the second largest employment providing sector, need radical reforms to solve its pressing problems and to utilize its potential. This is the findings and recommendations of the latest 'Development Report' on MSMEs, brought out by the Kochi based Institute of Small Enterprises and Development. 'India Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Report 2018, the twenty- first volume in the series, was released in Bengaluru at the South India MSME Summit 2019. The report pointed out that several studies on India's MSMEs have brought out emerging challenges of the sector, especially against the phenomenon of 'jobless growth', that the country is experiencing today. MSME associations have also come up with issues relating to finance and taxation. The Union Government came up with a new turnover-based definition of MSMEs, which the associations consider it as an inroad into their constituency by large players. However, the RBI, on the other hand, has taken a serious note on the issues relating to finance and taxation, and has set up an expert committee to identify causes and top propose long term solutions. While the mainstream debates on MSME problems confine to the limited areas of technology, finance, start-up support etc, the impact of more crucial external influences such as policy failures (demonetization and GST implementation) remain unanswered. In such a situation, piece-meal solutions to MSME problems may not be effective, the report warns. Quoting an RBI study, the report said that the credit growth for MSME declined significantly and turned negative during November 2016 to February 2017. However the growth in credit had recovered after February 2017 to reach an average 8.5 per cent. The share of credit extended to MSMEs in overall bank credit, declined steadily to around 14 per cent from about 17 per cent. Additionally, within credit to the industrial sector, the share of medium enterprises has dropped significantly as compared to micro and small enterprises. The credit growth to MSME exports has also been affected. ISED advocates an 'entitlement approach' that can have the potential of compelling all related stake holders to work on a common national agenda and solutions under a scientifically structured framework. Such an approach would demand identification and analysis of major security threats to the MSMEs, and entrepreneurship at the grass root level.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Union minister of textiles Smriti Irani announced on Sunday that the country would soon have its own standard clothing measurement chart under the Size India project. Mint looks at the need for an India-specific size chart and how the move will help retail brands.
What’s the need for Size India initiative?
The Size India initiative is an effort to establish a standardized size chart for clothing in India. Both international and homegrown brands operating in the country have so far used measurements from the US or the UK for garments, such as “Small", “Medium" and “Large"; only a few brands used their own size charts. However, the differential sizing standards caused confusion for Indian body types, which have significant anthropometric differences with Western standards in terms of height, weight or specific measurements of body parts such as the shoulders and bust.
Is the initiative the first of its kind in India?
The Size India project is not new. In February 2018, the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) announced that it would start the process of creating a standardized size chart for the Indian population. NIFT began the project with a funding of ₹30 crore from the ministry of textiles. The research team at NIFT surveyed the body measurements of 25,000 people aged between 15 and 65 across six cities—Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Shillong—taking into account a cross-section of the population along the length and breadth of India. It measured the types using 3D whole-body scanners.
Which countries have their own size charts?
The UK and the US have their own standardized sizes, while Germany and Spain use the European size chart. China, Australia and Mexico also have their own measurements.
How long will the project take and why?
Irani did not announce a specific timeline to pass the resolution for the project to be implemented. In 2018, NIFT said the project was likely to be completed by 2021, given its ambitious scale. Earlier, PTI reported that Noopur Anand, faculty member at NIFT Delhi and principal investigator of the project, said that approximately 120 elements such as height, weight, waist size, hip size and bust size would be included in the survey. The size chart will also include detailed dimensions that will apply to clothing separates.
How will this move help retail brands?
So far, brands offering customized measurements for garments had limited potential to cater to India’s large population. The Size India initiative will help streamline the process and make it possible for brands to assign sizes to garments specifically addressing the differences. An India-specific measurement chart will make it possible for brands to not only apply accurate sizes to clothing, but also modify their production patterns to create sizes that are more suitable for Indian body specifications.
Source: Live Mint
With few months left for the 2019 general elections, the Union government has unveiled a slew of measures to woo India’s small and medium scale businesses, which have ostensibly been hurt the most because of the double whammy of demonetization and the goods and services tax (GST). The steps announced in recent weeks ranging from doubling the exemption limit for GST registration to restructuring stressed loans for the sector may be well-intentioned but may be too little, too late to address the industrial sector’s woes. Data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE’s) Prowess database— which tracks the performance of more than 40,000 companies across India— suggests that the performance of the MSME sector has been broadly in line with the rest of the corporate sector, and have shown signs of a recovery in the past fiscal year. Net sales for both set of firms fell between fiscal 2012 and fiscal 2016 before improving slightly since thenIn this analysis, the enterprises are classified on the basis of their average annual turnover in the last five years. Companies with revenue of up to ₹5 crore in FY14-FY18 are considered ‘micro enterprises’, those with turnover between ₹5 crore and₹75 crore as ‘small enterprises’ and those with turnover between ₹75 crore and ₹250 crore as ‘medium enterprises’. The classification is in line with the proposed new definition of the MSME sector, which was approved by the Union cabinet last year. The improvement in net sales growth of these enterprises is almost entirely led by the manufacturing units. Sales growth in the services sector, on the To be sure, the improvement in net sales of manufacturing firms does not necessarily suggest an improvement in profits. The data on aggregate profits suffers from extreme volatility and it is therefore difficult to identify a conclusive trend. Data on bank credit sourced from the Reserve Bank of India, which classifies the MSME sector as per the current official definition based on investments of enterprises in plant, machinery and equipment, shows that industrial credit growth has also improved in recent months, with the entire improvement led by credit growth to medium-sized enterprises other hand, declined for the third consecutive year in 2017-18The trends in sales growth and credit flow largely represent the health of companies in the organized MSME sector but it is worth noting that the relief measures of the government are also aimed precisely at this sector since firms in the unorganized sector are outside the purview of regulatory controls and formal lending channels. The one area which seems to be of concern is jobs. The small and medium-sized enterprises (based on turnover) cut jobs for the seventh straight year in 2017-18, even as the corporate sector as a whole witnessed rising employment in recent years, Prowess data shows. While demonetization and GST are blamed for the financial distress of these enterprises due to which many were said to have laid-off employees or shut operations, the fall in employment was the least in the demonetization year of 2016-17, according to Prowess data. Instead, the declining growth in employment in smaller-sized companies has been an ongoing trend since FY10 Some relief for the MSME sector may therefore seem warranted given their contribution to overall employment but it is worth noting that size-based policy relief measures may end up being counter-productive over the long run. Such measures could discourage firms to grow by creating strong incentives to operate beneath the official size category. There is some evidence to suggest that size-dependent labour regulations encourage smaller firms to employ non-permanent workers, and make them sub-contract output to other firms . A recent survey conducted by IDFC Institute in collaboration with the government’s think-tank NITI Aayog shows that larger firms face more regulatory obstacles, which possibly explains why firms in India fail to grow big. Policymakers would do well to focus on the structural bottlenecks holding back Indian industry—including regulatory red tape, uncertainties in tax and investment policies, and infrastructural deficits—which hurt both small and big firms, and limit growth.
Source: Live Mint
Terming job creation and agriculture as his main focus areas, the senior Congress leader said he wants to ensure that agriculture is linked to the industrial growth in the state and the new industries that come up create employment in a big way. Promoting itself as “India’s emerging economic tiger”, Madhya Pradesh government Thursday invited global investors to the country’s biggest state with promise of all necessary infrastructure and a favourable business ecosystem. Chief Minister Kamal Nath said Madhya Pradesh is not a fully urbanised state and it was largely rural-focussed mainly on agriculture. Terming job creation and agriculture as his main focus areas, the senior Congress leader said he wants to ensure that agriculture is linked to the industrial growth in the state and the new industries that come up create employment in a big way. He said there is a deep-rooted frustration over jobs, not just in Madhya Pradesh but in the entire country, and this can create a big social problem if not tackled immediately. He was addressing investors at a session here on the sidelines of the WEF annual meeting. The ‘Invest Madhya Pradesh’ session was organised by the Madhya Pradesh government and leading industry chamber CII to promote the state as “India’s emerging economic tiger’. Nath has been a regular at Davos as a union minister in the past, but has come for the first time as chief minister this time. He urged investors to look at his state differently than they did earlier, saying he was doing his best and the investors should also do their best now. Nath said several states have set up pavilions here, but he has none as he wants the investors to talk about the business opportunities available in in the state. Madhya Pradesh’s Chief Secretary S R Mohanty said, “apart from being biggest state, it has been blessed with a whole lot of minerals, is a power surplus state and has a huge road network and even the Narmada water is reserved for the industry there.” He also promised a round the clock single-window business facilitation service for the industry and investors. He said the state intends to do much better in terms of ease of doing business (it is ranked seventh right now) and the Kamal Nath government is committed to resolve whatever issues are there coming in way of industrial growth of the state. Mohanty further noted that airlines have increased their flights to the state soon after Kamal Nath became the new chief minister and intend to further increase their connectivity in the coming weeks and months. In what he described as a unique benefit available to the investors, he said Madhya Pradesh is the only state in the country with a ‘tax-delinked policy’. The main focus industries include agriculture, automobile, textiles etc and now the state wants to focus on next generation technologies such as nano technology and artificial intelligence to make up for the state having lagged behind some others in the area of software and technology businesses. The chief minister is committed in creating an extensive skill development framework in the state, the senior official said. Our basic focus is on job creation while embarking on an industrial development path, he said. He promised land at competitive rates for the industries and all necessary steps to improve business ecosystem in the state. The session was also addressed by CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee and representatives of companies that already have a presence in Madhya Pradesh. It was also attended by those having made commitments to invest in the state.
Source: Financial Express
With tax rate cuts on 23 items announced by the GST Council in December coming into effect from January 1, the collections next month may remain subdued too. The collection for December 2017 at Rs 86,703 crore too was nearly 4% lower than the average monthly collection in the 2017-18 fiscal. The overall GST revenue shortfall is nearly Rs 15,000 crore per month in the April-December period compared with the budget estimate for the current fiscal. Although the finance minister has acknowledged that the estimates may have been too high to begin with, the GST Council has constituted a committee of state finance ministers to look into the shortfall. On Tuesday, the seven-member group of ministers (GoM) headed by Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi met for its first meeting. Modi said tax officials would study the collection of tax on services by the states. It is apprehended that states may not be collecting the due GST on services as unlike the Centre as they do not have expertise in taxing services, he added. The GoM would meet again in February. Several states including Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Goa, Bihar, Gujarat and Delhi are facing revenue shortfall following the implementation of GST. These states are facing revenue shortfall in the range of 14-37% in the April-November period. Among the Union Territories, Puducherry is facing the biggest shortfall of 43%. The committee of officials, Modi said, would try to find out why big states are facing revenue shortfall while their smaller counterparts are doing well in terms of GST collections. The Central government released `48,202 crore as GST compensation to states during April-November 2018, higher than the `48,178 crore paid in the previous financial year. The GoM was mandated to undertake data analysis using econometric and statistical tools and suggest “suitable measures/policy intervention” for course correction for revenue augmentation, particularly for the states suffering high revenue shortfall. Among other things, it would also take into account trends of revenue collection before and after the implementation of GST.
Source: Financial Express
The government’s decision to create a national Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal to adjudicate disputes is welcome. It will help in faster resolution and also bring uniformity in the redressal of GST disputes. Reportedly, the tribunal will act as a forum for second appeal and decide cases where there are divergent orders by the authority for advance rulings at the state level. This will reduce the burden on high courts that have a huge pendency of cases. The tribunal, which will mainly adjudicate disputes relating to the so-called place-of-supply rules, will be akin to CESTAT that was created to hear appeals against orders passed by Commissioners of Customs, Excise and Service Tax. The plan is also to set up three regional benches. The need is to appoint competent judges and have intelligent IT infrastructure to deal with cases that are referred to the tribunal. Today, the facility of advance rulings for GST allows taxpayers to know their dues in advance, and helps reduce litigation. However, problems have surfaced due to conflict between rulings by different state authorities. Rightly, industry has been demanding the creation of a centralised authority for advance ruling. And the GST Council has seen merit in this demand. So, amendments needed to the GST Act should be done swiftly to remove any tax uncertainty for businesses. Appeals against contradictory rulings by the Authority for Advance Rulings should be disposed of quickly. Strengthening the dispute resolution mechanism is a must. At the same time, the GST Council should make the tax regime and rules simple for their transparent, consistent interpretation. Fewer and lower rates will minimise classification disputes, reduce the burden on the judiciary and boost GST collections, as well as direct tax collections, once GST data is mined.
Source: Economic Times
Mumbai: The Indian rupee Thursday furthered gains by 26 paise to close at 71.07 against the US dollar as softer crude prices and gains in domestic equities bolstered forex market sentiments. Besides, stronger Asian currencies against US dollar propped up the Indian unit. The domestic currency has gathered 37 paise in the two straight sessions of gains. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the rupee opened stronger at 71.29 a dollar against the previous close of 71.33. The local unit moved in a range of 71.30 to 71.06 during the session before finally ending at 71.07, a gain of 26 paise over its last close. On Wednesday, the rupee had snapped its three-day losing streak and settled higher by 11 paise against the US dollar. "Indian rupee and stocks gained on hope of improvement in US-China trade talks, scheduled on January 30-31. The fall in crude oil and stronger Asian currencies against US dollar bode well for rupee," V K Sharma, Head PCG and Capital Market Strategy, HDFC Securities, said. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading at USD 60.67 per barrel, lower by 0.77 per cent. Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty reversed their two-day losing spell. The 30-share index close the day 86.63 points, or 0.24 per cent, higher at 36,195.10. The 50-share NSE Nifty also moved up by 18.30 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 10,849.80. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 775.82 crore, and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased shares worth Rs 583.77 crore Wednesday, provisional data showed. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.33 per cent to 96.44. The Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 71.2820 and for rupee/euro at 81.1113. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 93.1456 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 64.97.
Source: Economic Times
The suspense with India’s participation in the proposed 16-member mega-trade deal, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the first trade bloc that groups large economies of the developing world in Asia-Pacific, still continues despite many rounds of negotiations. While it is thought that the RCEP negotiations are on the verge of conclusion, the Indian government has engaged three consultants -- ICRIER, the Centre for Regional Trade housed in the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Delhi, and the IIM, Bangalore -- to hold stakeholder consultations on India’s strategy in goods, services and investment negotiations. Within India, the sentiments with the RCEP are quite divided. The first point of objection with the RCEP is that India’s trade deficits have always widened with nations after signing free-trade-agreements (FTAs) with them. The same is true for India’s FTAs with the ASEAN, Japan, Korea, and Singapore, most of which are RCEP nations. On this note, I had raised serious concerns earlier in one of my published papers stating that trade deficit should not be the only lens through which FTAs should be judged. One also needs to look at the impacts on the participants in the various nodes of the commodity value-chain. The second point of contention lies with exposing vulnerable sectors to market forces and the vagaries of competition emerging from global trade. As far as the RCEP is concerned, there are feelings in certain corners in India, like the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), that it will worsen the condition of India’s agriculture and dairy sectors, which are not in positions to compete with Australia and New Zealand. On the other hand, there are trade economists and free trade proponents who believe that the RCEP is beneficial for the Indian economy. In a very compelling argument in The Hindu Business Line (7 January, 2019), Geethanjali Nataraj and Garima Sahdev infer that the long-term benefits of joining the bloc far outweigh the short-run costs. The authors state, “…if India wants its ‘Make in India’ to become a global success, it must participate positively to become a part of the Asian value and supply chain which either begins or ends in India”. I begin my argument from this point. My contention is: Regional trade agreements like the RCEP need not always be beneficial from the “Make in India” perspective. From here, I raise concerns with the RCEP from two other perspectives: impacts on value chain, and issues of complementarity. I raise these issues notwithstanding the geo-strategic issue of existence of China in this trading bloc, which I am leaving out for the time being. My very first concern is that while “Make in India” is definitely the flagship project to attract foreign investment, this was never conceived of at the cost of domestic industry. Even after more than quarter of a century of economic reforms, Indian manufacturing are yet to mature to be competitive enough to face the vagaries of competition brought about by international trade. This situation prevails also because of a host of unimplemented reforms in the product and the factor of markets. While the introduction of GST was thought of to be a major step in this regard by rationalising supply-chains, and removing the fragmented nature of the markets, multiple rates of GST often cause problems of compliance across the value-chain of a commodity. On the input side, critical reforms need to take place in the labour market. Despite low relative labour cost, labour productivity in India in manufacturing is still one of the lowest in the world, and spatially fragmented labour laws escalate costs of transaction. Under such circumstances, the Indian industry is hardly in a position to compete in a level playing ground in a free-trade region. “Make in India” is meant to create enabling conditions for both domestic and foreign businesses to thrive. If domestic industry has to thrive, it needs protection as also the enabling conditions created by factor and product market reforms. Mega-trade deals like the RCEP may derail the timing and coordination of such plans. At the same time, it is being continuously argued that the RCEP will facilitate India’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to effectively integrate into the regional value and supply chains. To a large extent, the opportunity indeed exists, and so are the threats! It is important that complementarities in trade be looked at while getting into any form of FTA. Whether this complementarity really exists is a working hypothesis without any solid empirical analysis or evidence. Rather, things may simply work the other way round. It needs to be looked at whether the RCEP will really lead to cheaper intermediate goods, or cheaper final goods. So far, the rise in Indian trade deficit with its FTA partners has occurred due to cheap imports of final products that have led to an increase in consumer surplus (or consumer well-being), but adding to the angst of the domestic producers. Cheaper intermediate goods can rather help in making Indian exports competitive. Trade liberalisation of the RCEP partners with respect to services has been a thorny issue from the Indian perspective. In the cases of FTAs with East and Southeast Asian economies, beginning with Singapore in 2005 to the last one signed with South Korea in 2011, India has been insisting on capitalising on its pool of 'skilled' labour force to gain from improved access to employment opportunities in these economies. This has been expected to come about by increasing the ease of movement of professionals through the liberalisation of what is called Mode 4 in services trade. To this end, India has been willing to trade up its remaining tariff policy manoeuvrability in the manufacturing industry (and even in the agricultural sector). In the context of the RCEP, this again raises a matter of concern. Whether promoting services at the cost of manufacturing in the trade pact acts as a boon or a lost opportunity needs a more deliberate cost-benefit analysis. The literature on international trade claims that for “small” economies (ones that do not influence the prices of goods and services traded in the global economy) “preferential trade agreements” (PTA) are not really the best moves for such nations. India, despite its huge population and increasing income leveles, is a price-taker, rather than “price-maker” in the global trade. When a country preferentially reduces trade barriers with its partners in a PTA, it is raising the relative trade barrier against countries that are not members of the agreement. On the other hand, the RCEP in the long run goes far beyond trade liberalisation. In its attempt to harmonise foreign investment rules, intellectual property rights (IPR) laws and several other laws and standards beyond what has been agreed by developing countries at the WTO, it takes away an economy’s ability to customise trade policies according to the needs of specific time periods. This will be another long-term cost that the Indian economy has to bear. My treatise is not against India’s signing of the trade deal. One needs to remember that this will be the first mega-trade deal of such comprehensive nature that India is engaged with. From that perspective, I intend to raise some cautionary statements so that the costs of moving to this deal are considered. Therefore, the ToR of the three consultants should not be confined to merely holding stakeholder consultations. They should place a more comprehensive report on the benefits and costs at spatial and temporal scales of India’s participation in the RCEP, including the geo-strategic concerns of China’s existence in the bloc that I didn’t take up here. Now that bilateral negotiations are being pursued under the umbrella, India has to find the right equation to extract the maximum benefits from this mega-trade deal. The challenge is huge, but so are the opportunities, if analysed and implemented in the right way.
Source: ORF
|
Item |
Price |
Unit |
Fluctuation |
Date |
|
ACN |
1736.84 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
PSF |
1318.82 |
USD/Ton |
0.11% |
1/24/2019 |
|
VSF |
1953.21 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
ASF |
2371.23 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
Polyester POY |
1256.27 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
Nylon FDY |
2723.02 |
USD/Ton |
0.54% |
1/24/2019 |
|
40D Spandex |
4710.08 |
USD/Ton |
-0.62% |
1/24/2019 |
|
Nylon POY |
2973.24 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
Acrylic Top 3D |
5549.06 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
Polyester FDY |
1530.78 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
Nylon DTY |
2546.39 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
Viscose Long Filament |
2516.95 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
Polyester DTY |
1457.18 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
30S Spun Rayon Yarn |
2708.30 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
32S Polyester Yarn |
1979.71 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
45S T/C Yarn |
2855.49 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
40S Rayon Yarn |
2134.26 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
T/R Yarn 65/35 32S |
2516.95 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
45S Polyester Yarn |
3002.68 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
T/C Yarn 65/35 32S |
2502.23 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
10S Denim Fabric |
1.35 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
32S Twill Fabric |
0.82 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
40S Combed Poplin |
1.10 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
30S Rayon Fabric |
0.65 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
|
45S T/C Fabric |
0.70 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
1/24/2019 |
Source: Global Textiles
Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.14719 USD dtd. 24/1/2019). The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com. SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.
Officials from Việt Nam and India discussed specific measures to remove obstacles to trade and promote investment co-operation between their businesses during the fourth meeting of the Joint Sub-committee on Trade in Hà Nội on Wednesday. The event was co-chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Cao Quốc Hưng and his Indian counterpart Anup Wadhawan. Delegates compared notes on solutions to tighten economic relations, expand export markets and take advantage of their strengths and resources to aid development in both countries. In his remarks, Hưng called on India not to impose anti-subsidy measures against stainless steel pipes and copper wire rods imported from Việt Nam, and to consider not expanding anti-dumping measures when they expire. He also urged India to issue official documents allowing the import of Vietnamese dragon fruits and speed up the process to pave the way for other fresh fruits of Việt Nam – including longan, pomelo, rambutan and durian – to enter the South Asian market. The official voiced his concern over India’s imposition of the Minimum Import Price (MIP) on pepper and suggested the country reverse the measure and abide by regulations of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA). He proposed India further support Vietnamese delegations joining trade promotion activities in the country, encourage local enterprises to visit Việt Nam to scope out the market and invest in the areas of their strength and help budget carrier Vietjet open direct flights between the two countries. Wadhawan raised issues in India’s interest, such as the granting of licences to facilities processing buffalo meat to be exported to Việt Nam. The free trade agreement between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and India was also discussed. Statistics show trade between Việt Nam and India reached US$10.7 billion in 2018, up 39 per cent from 2017. India has, to date, run 208 FDI projects in Việt Nam with total registered capital of about $878 million, ranking 26th out of 129 countries and territories investing in the Southeast Asian nation.
Source: Vietnam News
Officials from Việt Nam and India discussed specific measures to remove obstacles to trade and promote investment co-operation between their businesses during the fourth meeting of the Joint Sub-committee on Trade in Hà Nội on Wednesday. The event was co-chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Cao Quốc Hưng and his Indian counterpart Anup Wadhawan. Delegates compared notes on solutions to tighten economic relations, expand export markets and take advantage of their strengths and resources to aid development in both countries. In his remarks, Hưng called on India not to impose anti-subsidy measures against stainless steel pipes and copper wire rods imported from Việt Nam, and to consider not expanding anti-dumping measures when they expire. He also urged India to issue official documents allowing the import of Vietnamese dragon fruits and speed up the process to pave the way for other fresh fruits of Việt Nam – including longan, pomelo, rambutan and durian – to enter the South Asian market. The official voiced his coGScern over India’s imposition of the Minimum Import Price (MIP) on pepper and suggested the country reverse the measure and abide by regulations of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA). He proposed India further support Vietnamese delegations joining trade promotion activities in the country, encourage local enterprises to visit Việt Nam to scope out the market and invest in the areas of their strength and help budget carrier Vietjet open direct flights between the two countries. Wadhawan raised issues in India’s interest, such as the granting of licences to facilities processing buffalo meat to be exported to Việt Nam. The free trade agreement between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and India was also discussed. Statistics show trade between Việt Nam and India reached US$10.7 billion in 2018, up 39 per cent from 2017. India has, to date, run 208 FDI projects in Việt Nam with total registered capital of about $878 million, ranking 26th out of 129 countries and territories investing in the Southeast Asian nation.
Source: Vietnam News
Payment of illegally low wages is “rife” in the UK’s textile industry and goes hand in hand with a “culture of fear and intimidation”, a senior MP has warned. Mary Creagh, chair of the Commons environmental audit committee, was speaking after her panel received evidence from HM Revenue & Customs about its investigations into non-payment of the national minimum wage to textile workers. The evidence was part of the committee’s inquiry into the sustainability of the fashion industry, driven partly by Financial Times’ reporting on abuses in factories serving the “fast fashion” sector in Leicester. In a letter to the committee published on Friday, Janet Alexander, HMRC’s director of Individuals and Small Business Compliance, said that over the six tax years to 2017-18, her organisation had started 93 investigations over failure to pay the minimum wage in textile factories. It had identified arrears totalling £87,158 owed to 126 workers for pay levels below the minimum wage in 24 of those investigations. Nearly half the arrears identified — £42,787 — were identified in the 2017-18 tax year alone. The committee said separately that it had been told 14 investigations into under-payment were still under way. Unofficial garment factories have sprung up rapidly in the UK, especially in Leicester, in recent years to service fast-changing demand for cheap clothing. The factories can supply goods faster to UK retailers than those in Asia that serve most of the world’s clothing needs. Pressure to cut costs to the absolute minimum has exacerbated the tendency for the factories to pay workers less than the legal minimum. Ms Creagh said the “Made in the UK” label should mean workers were paid at least the minimum wage. “It has been 20 years since the introduction of the minimum wage but in our inquiry we heard that underpayment is rife and goes hand-in-hand with a culture of fear and intimidation in the UK’s textile industry,” she said. Ms Alexander’s letter added to the “scandalous and growing evidence” of workers’ being criminally underpaid in the UK, said Ms Creagh. “This must stop. We need government action to end these 19th-century practices in 21st-century Britain.” HMRC is one of several government bodies that oversee workplace abuses. Ian Waterfield, director of operations at the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, another of the bodies, recently told the Financial Times the apparel sector was one of those industries where conditions most concerned his organisation.
Source: Financial Times
