Last month, the governor had held a meeting with top officials of public and private sector banks to discuss rate transmission and persuade them to pass on the benefit of lower interest rates to the consumers. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das will hold discussions on March 26 with representatives of trade bodies and credit rating agencies on interest rate and steps to boost economic activities, said sources. The meeting, which comes ahead of the next financial year's first MPC meeting scheduled for April 4, is aimed at broadening the consultation process, they added. The bi-monthly policy, to be finalised by the six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), assumes significance as it would be announced just a week before the commencement of the seven-phase general elections beginning April 11. "The pre-policy consultation meeting" with the governor will take place in Mumbai on March 26, the sources said. Besides trade bodies, including industry chambers and rating agencies, the governor has also called representatives of the All India Bank Depositors' Association. Das has been meeting industry chambers, non-banking financial companies, bankers, government representatives and rating agencies to elicit their views on different aspects of the economy and the measures they expect from the central bank. Soon after taking charge as the 25th governor of the RBI in December 2018, he had promised to take all stakeholders, including the government, along on key policy issues to maintain growth while keeping inflation under check. While the RBI cut the interest rate in its February monetary policy after a gap of 18 months, the industry has started clamouring for another rate cut as retail inflation is below the RBI's benchmark of 4 per cent and need for boosting growth is pressing. There have also been complaints that banks do not pass on the entire benefit of policy rate cut to borrowers. Last month, the governor had held meeting with top officials of public and private sector banks to discuss rate transmission and persuade them to pass on the benefit of lower interest rates to the consumers.
Source: Money Control
A senior State Department official said Friday that the US is proud to be India's largest export market and most important economic partner. Observing that trade has been an area of frustration in bilateral ties, the US has said that the door is open if India is prepared to bring a serious proposal to the table to address the issues related to trade and market access. The US in November last year revoked dutyfree concessions on import of at least 50 Indian products, mostly from handloom and agriculture sectors, reflecting the Trump administration's tough stand on trade-related issues with New Delhi. A senior State Department official said Friday that the US is proud to be India's largest export market and most important economic partner. "But we have struggled with regulatory issues that get in the way of the ease of doing business and market access for American companies and products," said the official. "Trade has frankly been an area of frustration in the relationship, but the door is open if India is prepared to bring a serious proposal to the table," he said. Despite intensive engagement with the Government of India for nearly a year, India did not assure the US that it would provide equitable and reasonable access to its market, which led to its termination from the Generalised System of Preferences programme, the official said. "While we were pleased that the growing US exports to India, largely crude oil and LNG, led to a 7.1 per cent reduction in our bilateral goods trade deficit last year, many structural challenges in our trade relationship have yet to be resolved," said the senior State Department official. During the just concluded visit of the Foreign Secretary, while the focus was on strategic, defence and regional issues, in particular Pakistan and Afghanistan, but the visiting diplomat is believed to have been conveyed that the ball is in India's court on resolving the trade related issues. The US is understood to have told India that the Trump administration is willing to review its decision to revoke its GSP privileges to India, if New Delhi comes with a credible proposal to address the market access issues that America has been talking about for nearly a year. The GSP notification is still within the 60 days period, after which the benefits would formally be withdrawn, it is reliably learnt that the US has told India that it is not too late. But it is unlikely to happen, given that India is now into an election campaign mode, officials on both sides said. While India argues that it is difficult to take any policy decision at this point of time because of the elections and the model code of conduct, American points out that it has decided to take its decision on revoking GSP privileges only after it exhausted all its options with India. During talks with India, America is believed to have said that "there are creative ways of solving" all the trade related issues that addressed concerns of both the countries. For instance, there are creative ways of certifying that the dairy products meet Indian standards, and have believed to have talked about creative solutions to certifying vegetarian cows. Similarly access to high end cell phones can be addressed in a way that does not open up the market to China, Americans are believed to have pointed out. The United States, it is learnt, had been "extraordinarily clear" since April last year on addressing certain market access issues in the absence of which it reportedly told India that it risked losing GSP privileges. The US still hopes that the issue can still be resolved before the election and certainly after the elections.
Source: Economic Times
Exporters have expressed concern over the lack of credit to the sector and urged the government and the Reserve Bank of India to take appropriate steps to achieve the target of $375 billion in shipments for the next financial year. “The small and medium enterprise exporters are the worst sufferers and the lack of credit equally affects our export performance,” Ganesh Kumar Gupta, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (Fieo), told The Telegraph. He said there was a need to increase the flow of credit to the sector by encouraging banks and also ensuring the online filing, processing and monitoring of export credit. According to the latest RBI data, export credit came down 45.5 per cent in January from a year ago. Estimates for the current fiscal indicate the credit falling 38.1 per cent. Export credit, which is on the priority sector lending list of banks, fell to Rs 17,500 crore in January 2019 from Rs 32,100 crore in January 2018. The overall priority sector growth was 9.4 per cent in the same period and showed that advances to exporters were not given due priority. “The decline in absolute terms is a cause for concern for exporters… Though the RBI has cut the repo rate by 25 basis points, but whether that will translate into a reduction in cost of credit to exporters, especially for the MSME sector, is yet to be seen,” the FIEO president said. Gupta said the efforts of commerce minister Suresh Prabhu, who is taking several steps to promote exports, would not materialise if banks fail to lend adequately at affordable rates. He said the banks were taking enormous time and asking for voluminous documents even for the renewal of limit. Banks should grant limit within a reasonable time frame of 30 days and should not raise objections in a frivolous manner to delay the process. On the e-wallet scheme, which is supposed to be implemented from April 1, Gupta said “not much progress is visible and seems unlikely that it would take on from next month”. He said the GST Council should provide for “an outright exemption window to exporters as was in existence before the GST regime to mitigate the liquidity problem”. The e-wallet eliminates the process of exporters having to seek refunds after paying taxes. Under this mechanism, a notional credit would be deposited in the exporters’ accounts on the basis of their past record. This would be similar to a virtual payment system where exporters will pay the notional duty and get notional refunds later. Claiming refunds against input tax credits is a cumbersome process even though refunds under the integrated GST regime are being processed quickly. Gupta said exports had done well despite increasing protectionism, tough global conditions and constraints on the domestic front. During the April-February period of the current fiscal year, exports grew 8.85 per cent to $298.47 billion, while imports rose 9.75 per cent to $464 billion. The trade deficit has widened to $165.52 billion during the 11 months of the current fiscal from $148.55 billion in the year-ago period. “The economies across Asia, especially China and the Southeast Asian nations, have been showing signs of sluggishness with contraction in manufacturing because of the slowdown in global trade and a fragile world economy,” he said. China’s exports contracted 20.7 per cent in February, the largest decline in three years, while imports fell 5.2 per cent, stirring fears of a trade recession. He said the country could take advantage of the global situation and boost its exports if pro-active measures are taken by the authorities, which can result in exports touching $375 billion next fiscal. While scaling down global growth by 20 basis points to 3.5 per cent on the back of sustained trade tensions between the US and China, the International Monetary Fund said India’s economy is poised to pick up from 7 per cent a year ago to 7.5 per cent in 2019-20, benefiting from lower oil prices and a slower pace of monetary tightening than previously expected as inflation pressures ease.
Source: The Telegraph
The Director General of Foreign Trade has discontinued issue of physical copies of advance authorisations and EPCG (Export Promotion Capital Goods) authorisations. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has issued a useful circular clarifying various doubts regarding sales promotion schemes under goods and services tax (GST) regime. Another circular from its customs wing talks of introduction of next generation reform named ‘Turant Customs’ — a comprehensive package of various elements that would be implemented from time to time in the next few months. The Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has discontinued issue of physical copies of advance authorisations and EPCG (Export Promotion Capital Goods) ...
Source: Business Standard
Morocco could serve as a gateway for India's exports to Europe, West Africa and the US due to a plethora of trade treaties with several countries and entities, a high-ranking official of the North African nation's industry chamber has said. "Morocco is included in the European Union's European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) which aims at bringing the EU and its neighbours closer," Nabila Freidji, Vice President of Morocco's industry chamber, the Confederation Generale des Enterprises du Maroc (CGEM) told IANS during a visit here. Freidji, a leading example of the first generation of women entrepreneurs in her country,pointed out that Morocco has free trade agreements (FTA) with 55 countries to give it a market of 1 billion people. It is the only African country to have an FTA with the US, and has been given the status of a major non-NATO ally by the US government. The CGEM Vice President emphasised Morocco's possibility of being a springboard for Indian exports and investment into Europe, West Africa as well as to the US. CGEM, in 2015, signed an MoU with Indian industry chamber FICCI for strengthening commercial relations by expanding and deepening economic, trade and investment cooperation. Morocco is now the largest foreign investor in India's fertiliser sector, Freidji pointed out. India sources a large chunk of its rock phosphates and phosphoric acid requirements for its fertiliser industry from Morocco, the world's biggest phosphate exporter. Although bilateral trade volumes hover around the $1.5 billion mark, the two countries decided to elevate bilateral ties to a strategic partnership in 2015, when King Mohammed VI attended the third India-Africa Forum Summit here. A founding member of the OIC, Morocco, whose constitutional monarch also has the title of 'Amir al-Mu'minin' or "Leader of the Faithful", has very old links with India dating to the Delhi Sultanate when Moroccan scholar and judge Ibn Batuta came here to join the service of the Sultan and lived in India between 1334-41, before going on to China. Ibn Batuta's account is a primary source of information of life in the Delhi Sultanate. Moroccan culture is a blend of Berber, Arab, West African and European influences, Freidji said. "We are both Arab, as well as African and situated on the Mediterranean on the other side of Europe," she said. Morocco is a member of the Arab League, the Union for the Mediterranean and the African Union. It has the fifth largest economy of Africa. The CGEM official pointed out that in its drive to integrate Morocco further in the global value chain, the country has also joined the G20 "Partnership with Africa" initiave that aims to promote private investment, particularly in infrastructure, for Africa's sustainable economic development. The G20 group's initiative is also meant to support African countries in the establishment of a favorable business environment and in the development of the financial sector, in partnership with the IMF, the World Bank and the African Development Bank. "French carmaker Renault has created 400,000 jobs in Morocco, while 300,000 jobs have been created by Peugeot. We aim to become the largest car producer in the world by the start of the next decade," Freidji said.
Source: Business Standard
The traders' body urged the govt to start a high level enquiry at Indian ports to bring an end to the crony nexus. Traders' body Confederation of All India Traders Sunday urged the government to probe Chinese goods imported through hawala channels, which is resulting in huge revenue loss to the exchequer. CAIT, in a statement, also claimed that "such hawala money might be transferred to Pakistan for conducting terrorist activities". Calling it a serious matter, the traders' body urged the government to start a high level enquiry at Indian ports to bring an end to the crony nexus. "Who are these hawala operators who facilitate transfer of money from our country to China. Are exports to China being under invoiced and difference settled through hawala transactions or there is some other mode through which this money is going. This needs to be checked at the highest level in the interest of security of our country," it added. Stating that India is facing a big fight against terrorism, CAIT said, "There is no doubt that someone is funding this terrorist activities. It is necessary to understand whether this funding can be linked to under invoicing of import from China. In this way, China is helping fund terrorist". This aspect also needs to be investigated in view of the fact that China is not standing with India in its fight against terrorism, it added. CAIT National President B C Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that in order to attract lower custom duty and lower IGST (Integrated Goods and Service Tax), the declaration in many cases do not match the material that is actually being imported. This needs verification of documents along with the material that is imported from China, they said. They also suspected that "it could be collusion or hand in glove offer with certain mysterious officers". When such materials, which are grossly undervalued come to the port, custom duty is paid at a very low price. The IGST is also paid at a very lower price and then the material goes into grey market where it is sold at very competitive prices as compared to Indian goods where GST is paid at full amount, they said. According to CAIT, it could be easily substantiated if verification of IGST paid at customs port is linked to the credit for IGST taken by importers. "Surprisingly, it will be seen that in most of the cases, where Chinese goods have been imported, nobody has claimed IGST. This proves the point that the importer has sold the material in grey market for which nobody has claimed IGST paid at the time of imports," it said. If the government takes up this matter and is very vigilant that custom duty and IGST is recovered at the real value of imported material, Chinese goods will become costly automatically as compared to Indian goods which bear full amount of GST, the CAIT added.
Source: Economic Times
India has proposed to Africa that both sides should work towards entering into a free trade agreement (FTA) or a preferential trade agreement (PTA) to enhance and strengthen their economic relationship in a new global trading order. This suggestion came from Suresh Prabhu, Minister for Commerce and Industry and Aviation, during his address at the 14th CII-EXIM Bank Conclave on India Africa Project Partnership in the Capital. Prabhu said the proposed FTA should look to first benefit Africa and help increase its share in the global market place. “We have a common future. We don’t want to do anything at the expense of Africa. We want you to get into an FTA (with India) that will benefit Africa first,” he said. Prabhu said that both India and Africa have to work together to take advantage of the new global trading order. He also said both the countries need to become economically self-reliant and work for economic freedom. Economic freedom can be realised through industrialisation and creation of jobs, he said. Speaking on the occasion, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan said the Commerce Ministry was working on a “comprehensive strategy” to boost India-Africa trade. In 2017-18, India-Africa bilateral trade was about $63 billion, higher than $52 billion in the previous fiscal. The potential for trade and investment ties is much more and there is also need to diversify the bilateral trade basket, Wadhawan added.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Overseas investors poured in more than Rs 20,400 crore in the domestic capital market in the first half of March, mainly driven by positive global cues. The expectation of a positive outcome from the US-China trade agreement along with US Fed’s decision to put rate hike on hold, have worked in favour of entire emerging market segment, analysts said. In February as well, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net buyers as they had invested a net amount of Rs 11,182 crore in the capital markets both in equity as well as debt segment. As per the latest data available with depositories, net inflow in the equities stood at Rs 17,919 crore, while the debt market saw an infusion of Rs 2,499 crore on a net basis, during March 1-15, period. Together, it translates into a net investment of Rs 20,418 crore in the country’s capital markets for the period under review.“With the expectation on US interest rate hike declining, there has been increased flow into emerging markets. Locally, since February, there is a clear trend of FPIs buying beaten down segments such as banking and finance stocks...,” Vidya Bala, Head - Mutual Funds Research at FundsIndia said. Himanshu Srivastava, senior analyst manager research at Morningstar Investment Adviser India, said it was a welcome change in FPI trend. However, some of the domestic concerns such as slow pace of economic growth and political uncertainty may come to the fore as the general election approaches in India, he added.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
In an interview with The Hindu, Czech Ambassador in New Delhi Milan Hovorka speaks of a host of issues. Czech Republic and India have strong bilateral, economic and defence ties and both countries want to elevate it to the next level, Czech Ambassador in New Delhi Milan Hovorka has said. In an interview with The Hindu, the envoy, who was in Chennai to open an honorary consulate of Czech Republic in the city, spoke of a host of issues related to Indo-Czech tries, from cooperation in international forums to trade and investment partnership. You have just opened an honorary consulate in Chennai. Why did you pick Chennai? This is our fourth honorary consulate. We do have one each in Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru. The Chennai consulate with the jurisdiction for Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry is in line with the priorities of the Czech republic, which is to develop thriving relationship with India. We do it at the central government level and also at the regional level. And that’s why we want to establish an institutional presence in Chennai. Definitely, Tamil Nadu is one of the most dynamic States in India. It’s well-known for its large talent pool, strong industrial fundamentals, IT and knowledge hubs. These are all factors why we decided to have our presence here. We hope the consulate will become an important gateway for our businesses. Besides taking trade and investment relations forward, we would promote people-to-people contacts between Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry and Czech Republic. Is there any major investment proposals in the pipeline for Tamil Nadu? That’s the issue, you know. We don’t have too many investments here. However, people in Tamil Nadu are familiar with one of the prominent Czech industries — Skoda cars. We have a wide dealership network here. We want to have the kind of projects with the potential of snowball effect. It’s doable. Tamil Nadu is more that prepared for doing business. The honorary consul and his team will work to enhance existing opportunities. On the other side, we will facilitate business-to-business contact between local businesses and their Czech counterparts. What you do think are the major thrust areas of bilateral cooperation between India and Czech Republic? You know these two countries are not necessarily neighbours. But despite all the differences we may have — and in fact we have in terms of language, religion, experience — we do have a number issues in common. And these the are fundamentals on which we are developing a strong relationship. In 2017, we celebrated the 70th anniversary of the establishment of formal relations between our two great countries. Czechoslovakia was among the first countries to recognise independent India. We are like-minded countries on a number of international issues, including multilateralism. We both have been supporters of multilateralism. We definitely are in favour of multilateral solutions, and we strongly reject unilateral actions. We are like-minded on the issues related to the UN reform, we are united and we support India’s cause to become a member of the security council. Definitely, we would at the same time like to see the interests of small and medium countries to be reflected in this reform and also in the security council membership. We are one of the supporters of India’s case to become a full-fledged member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. We are like-minded on the potential of the peaceful use of nuclear energy. We want to take our trade and investment relations to the next level on a contractual basis. These are the issues. Definitely we have a long history of industrial cooperation, which goes way beyond the 70-year-long journey. We have already proved our capacity to be a trustful partner to help India build its industrial capacity, especially in the power generation and defence sectors. We have advanced the idea of elevating our bilateral partnership. We have agreed to start discussions at the end of which we could come to an agreement that we can elevate it to the level of strategic partnership. Are there any specific plans drawn for elevating ties to strategic partnership? I have already alluded to them. We do have high level contacts at various levels. We want to have a productive and constructive dialogue on bilateral and regional levels. We would like to use strategic partnership to promote bilateral, economic and trade relations. We believe it would help us promote people to people contacts. The potential is enormous. You referred to the defence sector as a potential area of cooperation between the two countries. Is there any major investments. We have a long lasting history of defence cooperation. You may know Tatra trucks, which has been providing high quality service to Indian armed forces for decades. But this is not the only area in which we have been working together. We do have different kind of surveillance systems. We do have first class radars. Most of Indian airports use radars originating from the Czech Republic. Our producers are now ties with Indian partners. Recently Bengaluru hosted Aero India show. During the show, one of the Czech companies, PBS, signed a contract and opened an Indian office, and the objective is to produce aircraft engines here in India. Czech Republic is one of the few countries which have the capacity to design and produce aircraft of different types, including supersonics. So plenty of opportunities are there. We discussed the positive sides of the ties. What do you think are the challenges in elevating ties between the two countries? I don’t know whether I would call them challenges. Instead, probably, I would call them opportunities. And I believe we both can gain if we intensify our efforts at all levels. If we are ready to invest time and visit each other to better understand what Czech and India can do together in trade, investment, cultural exchanges, students exchanges, people to people contact, we can gain. Bilateral trade is now $1.6 billion out of which $870 million is imports from India. So we provide very good business and investment opportunities for Indians and they are doing extremely well. We do have a number of companies operating in the Czech Republic. Tamil Nadu is one of the major automotive hubs. We are a major European hub. We produce 1.2 million cars. We also import cars which are produced here in Tamil Nadu. We drink Indian tea, we drink Indian coffee. Indian investors are there in textile, pharma and steel in Czech Republic. In Bengaluru, we have set up a business incubator. The idea is to create platform for Czech SMEs which are not able to establish a platform in Karnataka. We want to take it further, to build something called Czech Industrial Park, creating infrastructure, creating facilities for Czech companies and their Indian partners to innovate and produce together.
Source: The Hindu
India is considering Venezuela’s proposal to use rupee for trade payments to protect the current oil import from the South American nation facing hardening US sanctions. The US has imposed a series of sanctions on Venezuela to squeeze its oil revenue and force the nation’s President Nicolas Maduro to step down. The US, which recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as the president of Venezuela in January, is now considering imposing new financial sanctions aimed at cutting the Latin American nation’s access to the international financial system. Current sanctions bar US firms from doing business with Venezuela but leave importers from India & other countries unhurt. The US, however, has been piling diplomatic pressure on India to cut import. Once the US cuts off Venezuela from the international financial system, Indian refiners will be forced to either stop import or build an alternative payment channel. India has already advised its refiners to avoid payment system controlled by the US, an official said. Only private refiners Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy import Venezuelan oil, about 300,000 barrels per day. Given the massive American influence on the international financial system, the only viable alternative for refiners in India is to pay in local currency, the official said. Following a proposal from Venezuela and suggestion from refiners in India, the oil ministry has proposed setting up an alternative mechanism whereby entire payment will be made in rupee, the official said, adding that it is aimed to be like the one available for sanctionshit Iran, which currently supplies ]India about 300,000 barrels per day. The oil ministry has sent the proposal to the ministry of external affairs, which is yet to respond to this, the official said. The rupee trade can secure Indian buyers for Venezuela’s oil but most of the sale proceeds may lie unused in India because of huge trade imbalance between the two countries, an official said. The trade between Venezuela and India is worth $6 billion, of which exports from India comprise barely 1%. Crude oil imports mainly dominate the trade. Venezuela’s import of Indian drugs, food and textile has fallen in recent years due to its financial crisis. The US has asked India to not become “the economic lifeline for the Maduro regime” in Venezuela, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said on Monday after meeting India’s foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale. Reliance Industries, the biggest Indian importer of Venezuelan oil, on Wednesday said it hasn’t increased its purchase from Venezuela. Last month during a visit to New Delhi, Venezuela’s oil minister Manuel Quevedo, who is also facing US sanctions individually, said his country planned to double its crude exports to India from 300,000 barrels per day.
Source: Economic Times
Around 500 students from various Polytechnic Institutes, people associated with industry and potential buyers turned up for the exhibition. The micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) exhibition organized by MSME DI Srinagar concluded at Kashmir Haat on Sunday. Numerous products of many unit holders from various industrial estates were on display at 40 different stalls displaying food, textile, glass-based, construction based products, an official spokesperson said. Around 500 students from various Polytechnic Institutes, people associated with industry and potential buyers turned up for the exhibition. The students got the know-how and hands-on experience of the different industrial products. The officers of the department briefed them about the aim and objective of the exhibition. Director Industries Mahmood Ahmad Shah assured that such events would be more frequent and vibrant for the promotion of local industrial units. Director industries further said that the exhibition would promote local products and also encourage local unit holders and investors. On the sidelines of the concluding function, a discussion was also held with unit holders who requested for the promotion of their products in different markets. Director industries assured them that more such exhibitions would be held in coming days and other departments including the department of handicraft and handlooms will also be taken on board for such marketing and promotional events. Assistant director of MSME Development, Saheel Alaqband said this was the exclusive MSME Exhibition organized after a long time. He said more such events would be organised in the future. Director of Handicrafts, Director of Handloom, Director Horticulture along with their staff besides the officers from KVIB, DIC, SIDCO, SICOP also visited the exhibition.
Source: Greater Kashmir
|
Item |
Price |
Unit |
Fluctuation |
Date |
|
PSF |
1325.57 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
VSF |
1876.64 |
USD/Ton |
-0.79% |
3/17/2019 |
|
ASF |
2444.11 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
Polyester POY |
1309.18 |
USD/Ton |
-0.11% |
3/17/2019 |
|
Nylon FDY |
2904.33 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
40D Spandex |
4736.29 |
USD/Ton |
0.32% |
3/17/2019 |
|
Nylon POY |
5629.93 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
Acrylic Top 3D |
1571.32 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
Polyester FDY |
2695.81 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
Nylon DTY |
2606.45 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
Viscose Long Filament |
1496.85 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
Polyester DTY |
3127.74 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
30S Spun Rayon Yarn |
2695.81 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
32S Polyester Yarn |
2018.14 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
45S T/C Yarn |
2874.54 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
40S Rayon Yarn |
2576.66 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
T/R Yarn 65/35 32S |
2993.69 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
45S Polyester Yarn |
2531.98 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
T/C Yarn 65/35 32S |
2174.52 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
10S Denim Fabric |
1.37025 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
32S Twill Fabric |
0.83257 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
40S Combed Poplin |
1.11556 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
|
30S Rayon Fabric |
0.6464 |
USD/Meter |
-0.23% |
3/17/2019 |
|
45S T/C Fabric |
0.70598 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
3/17/2019 |
Source: Global Textiles
Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.14894 USD dtd. 17/03/2019). The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com. SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.
Google and others have developed smart clothing with built-in integrated circuits, but what if the textile itself formed the circuit? That's the idea behind The Embroidered Computer, an interactive installation from artist and researcher Irene Posch and designer/artist Ebru Kurbak , shown at this year's Instanbul Design Biennial. It's a working 8-bit electromechanical computer made from gold, linen, hematite, wood, silver and copper that functions equally as a decorative textile. As Posch notes on her website, the piece explores "the appearance of current digital and electronic technologies surrounding us, as well as our interaction with them." At the same exhibition, the artists also showed off The Yarn Recorder, a device that can record and playback sounds using steel-cored yarn. The Embroidered Computer has flippable relays like those used in mainframes before semiconductors came along. While they're not nearly as fast, you have to admit that they look a lot cooler in operation (above). The dominant material is gold, used for its highly conductive properties, arranged in patterns to form the logic of a simple 8-bit computer. "Traditionally purely decorative, their pattern here defines the function," the artists wrote. "They lay bare core digital routines usually hidden in black boxes. Users are invited to interact with the piece in programming the textile to computer for them." While the artwork brings the hidden beauty of programmed circuits front and center, it also makes a normally decorative object functional. The piece imagines a timeline where computers were developed by artisans, rather than engineers, using ancient methods and skills. "Through its mere existence, it evokes one of the many imaginable alternative histories of computing technology and stories of plausible alternatives to our present daily lives," said Kurbak and Posch. It's an ironic inversion, because the Jacquard Loom, which was invented in 1804, used a crude electromechanical computer powered by punch-cards to weave complex patterns. That in turn inspired Charles Babbage in his creation of the Analytical Engine, essentially the first general-purpose computer. "The Analytical Engine weaves algebraic patterns, just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves," said Babbage's contemporary and computing pioneer Ada Lovelace.
Source: Engadget.com
The amount of import duty exemption extended to the industrial sector has doubled in three years, prompting calls for impact assessment of the tax break. In the fiscal year of 2017-18, Tk 44,117 crore was extended as duty exemption on imports by various industrial sectors, according to data from the finance ministry. “This is tax expenditure,” said Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute (PRI) of Bangladesh. The government could have spent this money for public purposes. One of the major reasons behind the slowing revenue growth is exemptions, Mansur said, while calling for restricting tax expenditure to a reasonable level. “Otherwise, it can continue to proliferate and then create problem for revenue,” he added. Officials said the country would have got the amount as tax had there been no exemption extended on various occasions in the past to sectors such as apparel, textile, pharmaceuticals, poultry, mobile and computer-making, and shipbuilding. Capital machinery, defence items and industrial raw materials are the top items that enjoyed duty waiver last year. A good amount of duty is exempted for imports of relief goods, goods brought by diplomatic missions and cars by lawmakers, data showed. Officials said the duty lost has been calculated by taking into consideration the rates of tariffs that would have been applicable had there been no exemption. And the amount of overall tax breaks would be much higher if waiver and holidays in income tax and VAT are taken into account, they said. The amount of duty exemption for imports was equivalent to 17 percent of the total tax collection in 2014-15. It began to increase from 2016-17 and last fiscal year the ratio stood at 22 percent of total collection. With growing import payments, duty exemptions have also increased, said Towfiqul Islam Khan, senior research fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue. There should be a clear statement in the budget about the total amount of tax expenditure in the preceding year, Mansur said. “The government should bring it to the notice of parliamentarians how much it is really spending on these areas. Second, the government should specify how much new tax expenditures would be for proposed tax breaks.” Each item of tax expenditure should be quantified to estimate the revenue loss. “Otherwise, this will remain completely outside the limelight.” If the data is made public, all including the government, lawmakers and others will be aware of the tax expenditure resulting from various exemptions, Mansur said. “Right now, there is simply no awareness on this matter,” said Mansur, a former economist of the International Monetary Fund. Often in Bangladesh tax exemptions are granted without adequate scrutiny and understanding the costs and benefits, Khan said. “In view of Bangladesh's low tax-GDP ratio, it is critical that these tax exemptions are thoroughly revisited,” he added. Mansur went on to call for an assessment of tax exemption given to every sector and an impact assessment on industrialisation every three years. “There should be a policy on which sectors should be given tax benefits and for how many years. But we have nothing of that sort,” Mansur added. The amount of tariff exemption at import stage was Tk 27,108 crore, or 23 percent of the total tax collection, in the first seven months of the fiscal year.
Source: Daily Star
The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) recently urged the government to resolve all anti-dumping barriers imposed by Turkey on Pakistani textile and other items before signing a free trade agreement (FTA) with the country. These measures have reportedly reduced Pakistan's exports to Turkey to $327 million from $850 million in 2011. Appreciating efforts by both governments to enter into a strategic economic framework (SEF) for enhancement of bilateral trade relations, FPCCI president Daroo Khan Achakzai said the primary purpose of SEF is to enhance bilateral trade by five fold from current $ 800 million and for achieving that, the FTA should be signed this year. Textile and rice are the main exportable items of Pakistan facing high tariff rates in Turkey, Pakistani media reports quoted him as saying. Turkey is currently importing surgical items from Germany that are originally manufactured in Pakistan, he added. (DS)
Source: Fibre2fashion
The government offered exemption worth Tk 44,117 crore in customs duty and other taxes related to import in the last fiscal year 2017-2018. The aggregated amount of tax exemption given at import stage to traders and other commercial and non-commercial individuals and organisations stood at Tk 1.48 lakh crore in the last 55 months (around four and half years), according to finance ministry data. Officials said that National Board of Revenue prepared the data at the instruction of finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal. Kamal sought the data to get an idea of overall duty exemption situation before the preparation of the national budget for the upcoming FY 2019-2020 and to see whether there was any exemption given unnecessarily, they said. NBR offered the exemption to various sectors including businesses, investors, defence sector, diplomatic missions and members of parliament. According to NBR data, the sectors availed duty benefits worth Tk 27,108 crore in the first seven months (July-January) of the current FY 2018-2019. The sectors enjoyed duty waiver worth Tk 32,115 crore in FY 2016-2107, Tk 23,288 core in FY 2015-2016 and Tk 21,071 crore in FY 2014-2015. NBR offered the highest amount of tax exemption worth Tk 17,381 crore in forms of special exemption to importers, mainly businesses, after taking special approval of the government, in FY 2018. Investors enjoyed second highest duty exemption worth Tk 10,517 crore in import of capital machinery while they got exemption worth Tk 2,818 crore in import of raw materials in the year. NBR also gave the third highest duty exemption worth Tk 8,187 crore to defence organisations in the import of defence items including arms, ammunitions, vehicles and equipment under the Defence Stores Memo issued in 1981. International passengers got tax waiver worth Tk 841 crore on import of items including gold under baggage rule. Members of parliament enjoyed duty exemption worth Tk 222 crore on import of car and jeep vehicle while diplomatic missions had also been waived payment of duties and taxes valued Tk 472 crore in the year. It could not be known in the import of how many cars the MPs availed the benefit. MPs, however, received duty exemption on import of cars and jeeps under duty-free import facility worth Tk 1,598 crore in last four and half years up to January 2019. The amount of exemption received by MPs was Tk 644 crore in FY 2015, Tk 247 crore in FY 2016, Tk 396 crore in FY 2017. In July-January, they also availed the benefit worth Tk 89 crore. Other beneficiaries of duty exemption include pharmaceutical industries for import of raw materials, mobile manufacturers, computer manufacturers, textile industries, poultry feed manufacturers, shipbuilding industry and trade under South Asian Free Trade Area. NBR also gave duty waiver worth Tk 86 crore on imports of goods for president of the country in the year and Tk 580 crore on import of goods for other sectors. In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, the amount of special exemption was Tk 12,653 crore, exemption for capital machinery was Tk 6,604 crore followed by Tk 2,283 crore on import of raw materials, the data showed. Duty exemption on import of raw materials including fabrics given to 100 per cent export-oriented industries under bonded warehouse licences has not been included in the calculation as the goods are used in manufacturing of products for export. According to Policy Research Institute, export-oriented industries enjoyed tax exemption worth Tk 34,880 crore in import of raw materials in FY 2017 under the bonded warehouse benefit. Readymade garment industries availed the highest 96 per cent or Tk 33,612 crore in exemption in taxes and duties through duty-free import of raw materials in the year. Officials said that NBR offered exemption to investors, traders and other sectors from payment of duties and taxes including customs duty, supplementary duty, regulatory duty, value-added tax to encourage industrialisation, job creation and overall economic growth in the country. The tax authorities, however, are adopting a policy of not providing any types of exemption without proper and strong ground, they said. Kamal is also in favour of avoiding unnecessary exemption, they added.
Source: New Age Business
British leader Theresa May's government warned Sunday it might not hold a planned Brexit vote this week unless it feels it can secure a win that avoids a lengthy delay to pulling out of the EU. London has been paralysed by political inaction and chaos as it barrels toward the March 29 end of its 46-year involvement in the bloc without a plan. Parliament has twice resoundingly rejected the separation terms May reached with the other 27 EU leaders last year. She doggedly vowed to bring them back by Wednesday for a third vote that - if it succeeds - would see her ask the EU for a "technical" Brexit delay until June. But May warned on Sunday that another defeat would almost certainly require a delay so long that Britain would have to take part in European Parliament elections in May. This would mean "we will not leave the EU for many months, if ever," May wrote in The Sunday Telegraph. Two of her top ministers then warned that May might not even submit her deal for a third vote unless she secures sufficient support from her own party members who had previously voted against it. "It would be difficult to justify having a vote if you knew you were going to lose it," International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told Sky News. "We will only bring the deal back if we are confident that enough of our colleagues... are prepared to support it so that we can get it through parliament," finance minister Philip Hammond said on the BBC. "I mean we are not just going to keep presenting it if we haven't moved the dial," Hammond said. Some European ministers have suggested postponing Brexit until the end of 2020. A delay that long could give Britain time to decide to either keep much closer EU ties or even have Brexit reversed in a new national poll - two options welcomed by a range of European officials. The 27 EU leaders will discuss their Brexit options at a summit on Brussels on Thursday and Friday. Hammond said the government did "not yet" have the numbers to win. "It's a work in progress and obviously we are talking to a lot of colleagues about what the way forward is," he said. May has encountered political resistance from all sides. The stridently anti-EU wing of her Conservative party hates provisions that threaten to keep Britain indefinitely following the bloc's trade rules. May's Northern Irish coalition partners - a tiny group playing an outsized role in UK politics - fear getting economically cut off from mainland Britain. And the opposition Labour party has followed an ambiguous policy while pushing for new elections that could topple May. "We are not supporting Theresa May's deal at all because we think it is a blindfold Brexit that we think is going to do enormous damage to our economy," Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told Sky News. Corbyn added that he might come out in support this week of a Labour proposal to have a new referendum after Brexit is postponed. "It would obviously have to be a credible choice that's real for those that wanted to vote leave, or did vote leave in 2016, as well as those that voted remain," Corbyn said. Polls show the public remains as split about Britain's place in Europe today as they were during the referendum three years ago. Most show the pro-EU camp ahead by a few percentage points. But even some Britons who would prefer to keep their European identities question the democratic merits of having another Brexit referendum.
Source: Business Standard
