The President of India has appointed Shri Narendra Damodardas Modi to be the Prime Minister of India. Further, as advised by the Prime Minister, The President has appointed the following as Members of the Union Council of Ministers: -
Cabinet Ministers
1. Shri Raj Nath Singh
2. Shri Amit Shah
3. Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari
4. Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda
5. Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman
6. Shri Ramvilas Paswan
7. Shri Narendra Singh Tomar
8. Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad
9. Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal
10. Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot
11. Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
12. Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’
13. Shri Arjun Munda
14. Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani
15. Dr. Harsh Vardhan
16. Shri Prakash Javadekar
17. Shri Piyush Goyal
18. Shri Dharmendra Pradhan
19. Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
20. Shri Pralhad Joshi
21. Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey
22. Shri Arvind Ganpat Sawant
23. Shri Giriraj Singh
24. Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
Ministers of State (Independent Charge)
1. Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar
2. Rao Inderjit Singh
3. Shri Shripad Yesso Naik
4. Dr. Jitendra Singh
5. Shri Kiren Rijiju
6. Shri Prahalad Singh Patel
7. Shri Raj Kumar Singh
8. Shri Hardeep Singh Puri
9. Shri Mansukh L. Mandaviya
Ministers of State
1. Shri Faggansingh Kulaste
2. Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey
3. Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal
4. General (Retd.) V. K. Singh
5. Shri Krishan Pal
6. Shri Danve Raosaheb Dadarao
7. Shri G. Kishan Reddy
8. Shri Parshottam Rupala
9. Shri Ramdas Athawale
10. Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti
11. Shri Babul Supriyo
12. Shri Sanjeev Kumar Balyan
13. Shri Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao
14. Shri Anurag Singh Thakur
15. Shri Angadi Suresh Channabasappa
16. Shri Nityanand Rai
17. Shri Rattan Lal Kataria
18. Shri V. Muraleedharan
19. Smt. Renuka Singh Saruta
20. Shri Som Parkash
21. Shri Rameswar Teli
22. Shri Pratap Chandra Sarangi
23. Shri Kailash Choudhary
24. Smt. Debasree Chaudhuri
2. The President administered the Oaths of Office and Secrecy to the above Members of the Council of Ministers at a ceremony held in Rashtrapati Bhavan today (30.05.2019).
Source: PIB
Donald Trump had written to the U.S. Congress on March 4 stating his intention to withdraw GSP benefits for India, saying India had failed to assure the U.S. that it would provide ‘equitable and reasonable access to the markets of India’. India will lose access to preferential trade terms with the U.S. under the latter’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme, a Senior State Department official told reporters in Washington DC on Thursday. The official, who did not want to be named, said the restoration of benefits remained a possibility if underlying trade issues were resolved, but the withdrawal of India’s GSP eligibility, was “a done deal”. “The persistent market access issues, which we were engaged with … our Indian counterparts over the last year [sic], led us to announce in March that we would be suspending or withdrawing us India's benefits under the generalized system preferences program…I think that suspension is a done deal.” U.S. President Donald Trump had written to the U.S. Congress on March 4 stating his intention to withdraw GSP benefits for India, saying India had failed to assure the U.S. that it would provide “equitable and reasonable access to the markets of India”. Mr. Trump had issued a similar notification for Turkey as well, on the same day, because Turkey was economically developed enough to no longer warrant it getting GSP benefits. Now that the statutory 60-day notification has passed since Mr. Trump’s notification, GSP can and is expected to be terminated via a Presidential proclamation imminently. Mr. Trump terminated Turkey’s GSP program effective May 17. U.S. lawmakers had written to the administration since Mr. Trump’s March announcement, asking that a final decision on GSP be put on hold until the Indian elections concluded. Twenty-five lawmakers wrote to the administration in May to request that GSP benefits not be cancelled as it would represent “a step back, not forward” and would harm U.S. companies. The lawmakers had urged further negotiations with the Indian side. Indian exports to the U.S. worth $ 5.6 billion are covered by GSP, although India gets only $ 190 million in tariff savings. Nevertheless, the program impacts crucial Indian sectors including textiles, leather, engineering goods, gems and jewellery. “That doesn't rule out in the future being able to - you achieve the reforms and the market access that we need under this program - to restore [India’s GSP] benefits. But I think we need to be looking forward at how do we relaunch an ambitious set of discussions between our trade teams in order to address these outstanding irritants,” the State Department official said.
Trade irritants
A number of trade irritants have rankled the bilateral relationship. The U.S. has had concerns over access to India’s dairy and medical devices market. On top of this, Indian tariffs in ICT have been an issue for the U.S. India’s policies on data localisation and FDI in India’s e-commerce space have caused the trade relationship to go downhill. For India, being placed on a list of countries whose aluminium and steel were taxed by the U.S. in 2018 was an issue. India has also had concerns the U.S. tightening its policies around the H1B skilled worker visa program. “While we recognise that there are legitimate security and privacy and law enforcement issues related to data protection, we're looking at nearly 8% of India's GDP, about $160 billion [that] is associated with IT firms who depend upon the free flow of data,” the official said. “So we don't want to see market access barriers to US firms in India when Indian companies currently enjoy largely unfettered access to US markets.” The official however, also talked at length about the positive aspects of the Indo-US relationship including in the trade dimension, where U.S. exports to India, as per the official, had increased by 28% last year and India had exported $ 3 billion in U.S. crude and contracted to import $ 2 billion in liquified natural gas per year. “I anticipate a very positive trajectory as we move forward,” the official said.
Source: The Hindu
While the new government gets down to work, it needs to take a hard look at the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement. This is a free trade agreement (FTA) that could nullify all the gains made by the goods and services tax (GST). RCEP is an FTA involving the 10 Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member states and Asean’s six FTA partners that include India. It involves nearly 40% of the entire global trade spread over a geography that contributes 35% of global GDP. An FTA, in its simplest sense, means that subject to fulfilment of the rules of origin that establish the nationality of a product, preferential rates of duty are extended to an item when imported from the country to another with which there is such an agreement. For instance, in terms of the India-Asean FTA, for TV sets of various screen sizes up to 105cm, the basic Customs duty is nil, opposed to 10% when imported from elsewhere. So, it’s little surprise that nearly 40% of all imports from Asean countries are under FTA. But then, why would anybody want to manufacture in India when we can import the same product under FTA at reduced or zero rates of duties? Set-top boxes, earlier manufactured in India, are now almost entirely imported under FTA. Apart from the obvious loss of revenue across goods and sectors, it also results in loss of manufacturing and jobs in India. So, why does India enter into FTAs? In the fond hope that just as foreign manufacturers exploit the preferential market access and enter the vast Indian market, the Indian exporter, too, would do so in markets elsewhere. But policymakers constantly brush aside the fact that while our reduction in import duties are substantial, the corresponding reduction in other countries is minimal — most rates of duties being already very low there. Yet another logic given is that India needs to be in the global value chain (GVC). This argument, too, is specious and does no justice to India’s economic strength and the sheer market size we offer. The external affairs ministry sees FTAs as triumphs of economic diplomacy while the commerce ministry views them as expanding the Indian exporter’s scope. No cost benefit analysis of the 16 existing FTAs has been undertaken — at least, it isn’t available in the public domain. The closest we have is a NITI Aayog paper, ‘A Note on Free Trade Agreements and Their Costs’ (bit.do/eTKCC)’, which, as the disclaimer makes amply clear, is a reflection of the authors’ views, not that of the institution. Any FTA is beneficial only for a developed trade partner. Which is why India’s FTAs with South Asian countries has been beneficial for us. Given this background, one would have expected that India would have proceeded very cautiously before setting foot in an RCEP trap. However, since 2015, we have been actively participating in the negotiations. India already has independent FTAs with Asean, Japan and South Korea, and is actively pursuing similar agreements with Australia and New Zealand. Even without a FTA, Chinese goods swamp Indian markets. Our dependence on them is such that China need not wage a war with India to hurt us — it just has to stop exporting goods to India for a month. It’s not clear yet how China’s tariff war with the US will play out. But Beijing desperately needs to have preferential access to markets such as India to keep China’s economic engine purring. This is a major driving force behind RCEP. India has a trade deficit with 11of the 16 countries in the proposed FTA, with China at about $50 billion being the highest. It is, from all accounts, making no headway in the one area we are strong in: services. Yet, we’re pursuing RCEP. Our exports need protection. As one badly FTA-singed manufacturer told me, our response should be cautious and the reduction in import duties done in a measured, calibrated manner. The auto sector is a classic example. If not for the tariff barriers India erected, Indian car manufacturers would not have become the powerhouse they are today. Exports will happen once the domestic sector is strong, never the other way around. The previous government had tasked think tanks for their views on RCEP. These reports should now be made public so that industry associations can react and give their inputs. The new government should act fast and not get pushed into signing yet another FTA that only benefits others.
Source: Economic Times
India’s trade policy is going through a flux and the Narendra Modi government in its second innings in office needs to take bold and assertive steps. India’s merchandise exports have been hovering around $300 billion for last five to six years and have not been able to give a boost to economic growth. Despite China moving out of low-value manufacturing, India has not been able to capture that space. With intensifying trade war between the US and China, and rising protectionism, India’s preparedness and competitiveness in the world market will be further tested in coming days. Negotiations for the 16-member Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade deal is entering its final leg with pressure to conclude negotiations by the year-end. India, so far, has been a reluctant participant, with the industry bodies opposing the trade deal. The Modi administration has an unenviable task of negotiating a deal that is balanced and does not go against the long term interest of Indian industry. India also has to quickly finalize its national e-commerce policy, including taking a stand on contentious issues such as data localization and source code sharing while keeping a closer watch on the ongoing negotiations on e-commerce by 76 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) including the European Union, US, Japan and China. India has opposed the move to set e-commerce rules outside the ambit of WTO and has insisted that the current multilateral programme on e-commerce under WTO should be taken to its logical conclusion. While the US-China trade war opens up an opportunity for India to boost its exports of electrical and chemical items to the US, boosting domestic production in the short run and competition from other well-oiled economies is a challenge. Dumping of steel and aluminium items by China in India as its exporters face the hit in the US may further strain the domestic metal sector. India’s burgeoning trade deficit with China at over $60 billion has already become a policy challenge for the economy. A high-level advisory group set up by the commerce ministry has advocated reducing India’s overall tariffs to benefit from the US-China trade war. “A knee-jerk, tit-for-tat approach on tariffs may not be the soundest one to pursue without greater examination if India faces greater tariffs. It would not be sensible for India to raise tariffs in a US-China trade war. In fact, reducing own tariffs would be a wiser step," the report said. India’s average tariff is 13.8%.The panel said that after gradually reducing customs tariffs for two decades, India’s average tariffs were increased in 2017. “This was followed by a further tariff increase, both as announced in the Union Budget 2018-19 and later again in 2018. This trend needs to be arrested and reversed, with a return to a strategy of generally lower and simplified tariffs to improve the ability of Indian exporters to link up with rapidly evolving global value chains," it added. It recommended that India’s upper range of tariffs and the number of tariff rates should be reduced over a five-year period. “The so-called nuisance tariffs (up to 2-3%) should be reduced to zero over a three-year period. In certain, very limited number of cases, particularly new technology products, basic customs duties may need to be temporarily increased to provide domestic industry with a pre-announced specified time to become competitive, and the tariff rates decreasing each year towards a lower rate before the increase," the report said. India’s trade relationship with the US under the Trump administration has deteriorated . The US has refused to grant a waiver to India on its duty hikes on aluminium and steel products on national security grounds. India has retaliated by proposing to hike duties on 29 products imported from the US but has time and again postponed its implementation. The US has also dragged India to the WTO challenging its export subsidies regime. Trump has also decided to withdraw duty-free benefits to Indian exporters, but has held back, waiting for an Indian government to take charge in New Delhi. To make its subsidy regime WTO compliant, the commerce ministry is preparing for a new export promotion scheme along with a production based support scheme as part of its 100-day action plan for the second innings of Narendra Modi government. The new export promotion scheme may replace the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS), which has been challenged by the US at WTO. “The scheme will be on nature of refund of all un-rebated central and state taxes and levies scheme on inputs consumed in exports," a commerce ministry official said seeking anonymity. The production-based support scheme will also aid Indian exporters in the absence of an export subsidy scheme and promote Make In India. “Promotion of certain high potential sectors like electronics and telecom, hi-tech engineering products, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, technical textiles is very essential. We are consulting stakeholders to propose a production-based government assistance. We will finalize the architecture of the scheme very soon," the official said. The US’ war against “unfair trade" has extended to the WTO. It has refused to appoint judges to the appellate body which is the highest dispute settlement body of the multilateral trading system. The appellate body is set to become defunct by December with only one member left in the panel. The US is also insisting that large economies like China and India should voluntarily give up benefits of special and differential (S&D) treatment available to developing countries under WTO rules. “Special and differential Treatment is one of the main defining features of the multilateral trading system and is essential to integrating developing members into global trade. Special and differential treatment provisions are rights of developing members that must be preserved and strengthened in both current and future WTO agreements, with priority attention to outstanding LDC issues," a joint statement after an informal WTO ministerial meeting of developing countries in New Delhi said earlier this month. Any adverse decision on appellate body and S&D treatment could impact India’s domestic policy space. India needs to make its trade policy architecture nimbler and more proactive, driven by career trade specialists rather than bureaucrats. India’s commercial interest should dominate its trade policy moves in an increasingly protectionist world. The Modi administration also needs to undertake domestic policy reforms to help Indian exporters become more competitive in the global market.
Source: Live Mint
In an increasingly globalized world, foreign trade is an important contributor to economic growth. Unfortunately, India’s merchandise trade has clocked slightly negative growth between 2011- 12 and 2017-18. The only silver lining was a better-than-average export performance in 2018-19. The economy has grown at a healthy clip in the past eight years, but foreign trade growth rate has lagged behind gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate. Evidently, the contribution of trade to GDP has also reduced with every passing year. All these portend ill for the economy and may seriously slow down our growth, unless robust remedial steps are taken. India’s main export items comprise petroleum products, gems and jewellery, engineering products, pharmaceuticals, and textiles and clothing. Some of these products are labour-intensive but low-technology items, while the rest are medium-technology items with lower labour intensity. One of the imperatives for breaking out of the stagnation trap of exports would be to diversify into high-technology products, while enhancing the competitiveness of our existing export basket. Moving into high-technology and high value-added items would require the acquisition of such technology. The short-term solution to this is to identify a few champion sectors and provide attractive incentives to transnational corporations, which own advanced technologies, to set up their manufacturing bases in India. The long-term plan should be to invest significantly in research and development so that we could, eventually, be the owners of cutting-edge technology and one of the global industry leaders. Obviously, because of the resource constraint in providing incentives, we will have to select only those sectors that are going to occupy a significant chunk of global trade over the next few decades. Electronics, including medical instrumentation, is one such sector. New=technology storage batteries and renewable energy, and pharma and biosimilars could be the other two. Let us take a quick glance at textiles and clothing, which provides the largest employment after agriculture. Our clothing sector suffers from a lack of scale. While export-oriented factories in China, Vietnam and Bangladesh employ more than 5,000 people under one roof, our largest factory barely reaches 5,000 workers. Obviously, when it comes to servicing large export orders, buyers look at our competitors. The other factor is fragmentation and technological obsolescence of the sector, which is a major supply side constraint. With growing wages, China is relocating many garment factories involving low investments and technology to Vietnam and Cambodia (and to some extent Bangladesh). However, for the time being it is retaining its more capital-intensive textile mills, which yield higher value addition, to supply fabrics to these countries. This shift poses an opportunity for India to overcome its deficiencies. First, we need to undertake land and labour reforms in close collaboration with the states so that we can attain global standards of scale. Second, we must radically modernize our textiles sector by providing incentives to our weaving mills to invest in modern shuttleless looms. A modification of the amended technology upgrade funds scheme could be very useful to attain this objective. Third, we need to enhance worker productivity by undertaking more training programmes. Providing a larger ceiling to banks (especially public sector banks) for financing exports and providing appropriate instruments to reduce the risks are needed to present Indian exporters with a level playing field. More infrastructure such as roads, railways and ports can reduce transaction costs. There are a plethora of procedures and clearances to be negotiated by an exporter to effect a shipment and to get his dues from the government. All these need a deep and objective look so that the processes could be streamlined and the extra burden on exporters removed. Jayant Dasgupta is a former Indian ambassador to WTO.
Source: Live Mint
The Supreme Court suggested to the high courts on Wednesday not to grant anticipatory bail to those who default on the goods and services. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/services) tax, reminding them that the SC has upheld the Telangana (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Telangana) HC’s decision not to grant bail to such defaulted. A division bench of the Telangana HC had on April 18 upheld the authority and power of the commissioner of the central goods and services tax (CGST) to arrest, and rejected any interim relief to those accused of violating the CGST Act, 2017. The SC had on May 27 dismissed an appeal against the HC order. The Centre had argued that CGST officers were not police and hence not required to follow the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, which mandates registration of FIR prior to arrest. The Centre had filed a bunch of appeals in the SC against a series of orders passed by the Bombay HC, which had granted pre-arrest bail to CGST Act violators on the ground that the CGST officials had not registered any FIR as warranted under the CrPC. Challenging the Bombay HC’s orders, solicitor general (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/general) Tushar Mehta said Parliament had segregated CGST Act from CrPC and provided a separate procedure for dealing with offenders. Mehta said the HC’s orders had brought “functions of the directorate general of GST intelligence to a grinding halt”. “As the accused-respondents have been granted the privilege of pre-arrest bail by high courts by the impugned orders, at this stage, we are not inclined to interfere with the same. However, we make it clear that the high courts, while entertaining such requests in future, will keep in mind that the Supreme Court by order dated May 27 had dismissed the special leave petition filed against the judgment and order of the Telangana high court in a similar matter, wherein the high court of Telangana had taken a view contrary to what has been held by the high court (of Bombay) in the present case. Beyond the above, we do not consider it necessary to observe anything further,” it said. Finding the writing on the wall, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Mukul-Rohatgi) requested the CJI to delete the reference to the apex court upholding the Telangana HC order as it would “close all doors” for the accused under CGST Act to seek relief. The bench refused to oblige and said, “That is the whole idea.” Explaining the procedure under CGST Act, the Centre in its appeal said the law terms GST violations as a cognisable offence (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/cognisable-offence) and provides power to the GST commissioner to arrest a person on the basis of “reasons to believe” that a person has committed the offence under Section 132 of the CGST Act. “Under special criminal law enactments, it is a settled law that there is no prior need to register an FIR before starting investigation or arresting a person,” it said.
Source: Times of India
The sector performance during the March quarter was a mixed bag. India Inc reported deceleration in topline growth for the March 2019 quarter reflecting the impact of slowing demand across sectors amid tight liquidity, slowing discretionary consumption and sluggish rural demand. While industry trackers have ruled out a quick recovery given the rising fiscal deficit and the prolonged phase of low inflation, they expect a doubledigit profit growth for FY20 led by a possible bounce in demand in the second-half of the fiscal. A sample of 1,731 companies across 13 quarters excluding banks and finance NSE -0.08 % companies reported a 12.1 per cent jump in net profit in the March 2019 quarter after a drop in the previous quarter and a 7.9 per cent fall in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Revenue growth was at a six-quarter low of 9.1 per cent. Barring cement, IT, metals, and oil & gas, other sectors reported subdued numbers. “Although the expectations were scaled down, the actual numbers still disappointed in most cases. Revenue growth came in at a sixquarter low. Some positive surprises from a few heavyweights will enable ending the season with a not so bad feel,” said Deepak Jasani, retail research head at HDFC Securities. Demand has been weak, which has impacted the purchasing power, he added. Operating margin fell 120 basis points year-on-year to 13.4 per cent. “Margins are a mixed bag with sectors like cement showing strong margin improvement, while utilities and auto have had margin compression,” said Pradeep Kumar Kesavan, senior vice-president at Elara Capital. According to Jasani of HDFC Securities, companies have been losing pricing power due to weak demand. “Price increases have been difficult for most companies due to sluggish demand. In the case of some sectors, operating leverage has worked in the reverse due to falling sales. Marketing and advertisement spends have been cut,” said Jasani of HDFC Securities. The sector performance during the March quarter was a mixed bag with just a handful of sectors reporting encouraging performance. “On YoY basis, cement has had a great quarter with 48 per cent growth in their weighted PAT. This was above our expectation. Auto and metals had a bad quarter with weighted PAT declining (27 per cent) and (34.6 per cent) YoY, respectively,” said Kesavan. While analysts are optimistic of a revival in earnings performance, it may take a few quarters. “Given the prevailing economic conditions, challenges and emerging risks, a sudden and significant spurt in economic activity and investments is unlikely in FY20,” said ratings agency CARE in a recent report. Lower inflation in the past few months means it will be some time before the economy shows major signs of revival which in turn would delay earnings recovery. CPI inflation was at a seven-year low of 3.4 per cent in FY19 on account of lower inflation in prices of food and other retail items, including clothing and footwear. According to Kesavan of Elara, major challenges that the government needs to address for the revival of economic growth are rural distress, the drag on discretionary and staple consumption, recapitalisation of public sector banks, liquidity issues, and sustainability of infrastructure NSE -0.31 % spending. He expects a strong earnings recovery in the current “Our estimate for FY20 Nifty EPS stands at 612, a 25 per cent growth from FY19E EPS of 489. Much of the recovery is expected from corporate banks. Energy, consumer discretionary and staples are other sectors where we expect robust performance,”
Source: Economic Times
A first-ever thematic global fair will be organised here in October to promote cooperative-to-cooperative exchange of trade and technology and showcase India's products and services from the sector in the international market, officials said Thursday. The India International Cooperative Trade Fair (IICTF) will be hosted at Pragati Maidan from October 11-13. Additional Secretary (Economic Diplomacy & States) in the Ministry of External Affairs Manoj K Bharti announced about the fair in the presence of ambassadors, diplomats and representatives of various embassies here. "This will be the first time that India will be hosting an international cooperative fair and we are expecting a large participation from various foreign countries. The purpose is to promote cooperative-to-cooperative trade, domestically and internationally and also showcase India's products and services from the sector to a global market," he said at an event held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan. Sandeep Kumar Nayak, managing director of the National Cooperative Development Corporation, said the NCDC is organising the event with governments of Telangana and Haryana as prime state partners, besides IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited), Indian Potash Limited (IPL) and Amul (Anand Milk Union Limited) as cooperative sector partners. Narendra Modi is set to be sworn in as the prime minister for a successive second term in the evening, and he is expected to inaugurate the fair. "This event will allow various cooperatives from around the world to trade with each other directly, unlike in other fairs. India will be looking to get technology from other countries, from agriculture and food processing to other fields. Besides, India will get an opportunity to sell its own products and services to foreign countries," Nayak said. The fair will also see exhibition and sales promotion, cooperative-to-cooperative meetings, business-to-business meetings, Incredible India exposition, thematic sessions and technology seminars. Among the focus areas would be agriculture, dairy, fisheries, rubber, coconut, wine, technology and textiles, Nayak said. High Commissioner of Guyana David Goldwin Pollard, who attended the event, said, "Our country is officially called Cooperative Republic of Guyana, and we would like to explore opportunities to partner with India for this fair." Bharti said the groundwork for organising this fair has been prepared for nearly a year. Nayak said two roadshows have already been held abroad to promote the show -- Bangkok in March and Ho Chi Minh City in April -- and another one will be done in Johannesburg in June.
Source: Business Standard
The government’s think tank Niti Aayog is in touch with the World Bank to modernise India’s statistical system and align it with global best practices, says its vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar. A revamp is certainly warranted, so that up-to-date, even real-time, data can be garnered for informed policy-making. More importantly, we need systems for timely and reliable government statistics that are seen as objective, and free from any bias, deemed or real. The reported plan is to merge the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) with the Central Statistics Office (CSO), two organisations in the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, to form the National Statistics Office (NSO). The idea it seems is to streamline operations for statistical survey and data compilation, which appears sensible. The NSO must, of course, boost transparency in the entire exercise of estimating national statistical data, including gross domestic product (GDP) figures and employment trends. The CSO has come out with a new GDP series with 2011-12 as the new base year since 2015. But it is only last year that the GDP back series for previous years was put out, and there has been avoidable controversy about GDP estimation methodology, which has resulted in reduced GDP growth prior to 2014, and heightened growth since. It is possible that the new GDP price deflators, which are sector-specific, lead to more accurate estimates. Similarly, change in frequency and scope of employment surveys may be quite appropriate. But such statistical innovation cannot remain opaque. They need to be widely debated and critiqued by the profession of statisticians, so that there is consensus on the way forward and comparability. The NSO surely needs to setup an expert body for the very purpose.
Source: Economic Times
A task force on project management led by Niti Aayog chief executive Amitabh Kant has pitched for a dedicated policy framework for public-private partnerships and public sector projects to improve efficiency. It has proposed the formation of a high-level committee to draft the policy framework, oversee its implementation as well as review and monitor existing public-sector projects. Guidelines under the ‘National Project/Programme Management Policy Framework’ should be made part of all future contracts, it has suggested. The new government is expected to consider the proposal, aimed at creating world class infrastructure. According to the task force, poor project management leads to additional expenditure burden, which crowds out funding for more deserving projects, creates a culture of acceptance of delays and avoidable costs, and results in delayed return in investments. “Structured project management practices would not only (help) maximise limited resources and effectively respond to changing project requirements, but also bring in skills such as scoping, planning, scheduling, risk assessment, team building and quality control for getting complex projects completed with desired quality and budget, and on time,” it said. The task force has also recommended a dedicated workforce be developed with expertise in smooth rollout, implementation and completion of all projects, much on the lines of the US and UK, to assist in project implementation. Every government programme should be analysed based on the number of projects and sub-projects, and prioritised according to national importance, amount of investment and impact on the economy and society at large, it said. According to the task force report, since constitution of a nodal body through the legislative framework would take time, the Quality Council of India could undertake remedial measures for projects and schemes in the interim. The task force estimates India will need 70 lakh skilled project managers in the next 10 years.
Source: Economic Times
Chinese state media warned that Beijing could cut America off from exotic minerals that are widely used in electric cars and mobile phones. Facing new trade sanctions and a U.S. clampdown on its top telecommunications company, China issued a pointed reminder Wednesday that it has yet to unleash all its weapons in its trade war with the Trump administration. Chinese state media warned that Beijing could cut America off from exotic minerals that are widely used in electric cars and mobile phones. The threat to use China’s rich supply of so-called rare earths as leverage in the conflict has contributed to sharp losses in U.S. stocks and sliding long-term bond yields. For months, the world’s two biggest economies have been locked in a standoff over allegations that China deploys predatory tactics including stealing trade secrets and forcing foreign companies to hand over technology in a drive to supplant U.S. technological dominance. The Trump administration has imposed 25% tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese imports and is planning to tax the $300 billion in imports that have so far been spared. And it escalated the stakes this month by putting the Chinese telecom giant Huawei on a blacklist that effectively bars U.S. companies from supplying it with computer chips, software and other components without government approval. The U.S. claims Huawei is legally beholden to China’s ruling Communist Party, which could order it to spy on their behalf. Washington has offered no evidence that the Huawei has done that, however. An attorney representing Huawei in the U.S. case, Glen Nager of Jones Day, asserts that Congress alone cannot constitutionally impose punishment on an individual company which the punitive law does in singling out Huawei by name. The law “is intended to drive Huawei out of the U.S. i.e., to banish it,” Mr. Nager argued. It “stigmatizes Huawei as a tool of the Chinese government” with no right to a fair hearing, he added. Steven Schwinn, a professor at John Marshall Law School in Chicago, suggested that Huawei’s arguments fall short constitutionally, and “given that this relates to national security, we can expect the courts to be fairly deferential to the government.” The nationalistic Chinese newspaper Global Times warned that China has plenty of ways to retaliate against the United States, including the threat of cutting off supplies of rare earths. China last year produced 78% of the world’s rare earths, according to researchers at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. If the U.S. fails to exercise restraint, it will see that “China is far from running out of cards, and we have the will and determination to fight the U.S. to the end,” the paper’s editorial said. An official of China’s top economic planning agency did not rule out using rare earths as a countermeasure against “the U.S.’s unwarranted suppression.” President Xi Jinping visited rare earth-related businesses in southeastern Jiangxi province earlier this month. He called rare earths “an important strategic resource” while stressing the importance of owning independent core technologies, the state-run China Daily reported. China has used rare earths as a cudgel before. Five years ago, the World Trade Organization slapped down China’s attempt to restrict the export of rare earths, rejecting its claim that it just wanted to protect the environment and conserve supplies. Instead, the move appeared to be aimed at hurting Japan with which Beijing was having a diplomatic tiff. Scott Kennedy, director of the project on the Chinese economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Chinese might benefit even less if they try to weaponize rare earths again. “It’s not the threat that it was ... when the Chinese threatened to cut off the Japanese,” he said. First, users of rare earths have stockpiled the minerals for a “rainy day.” Second, they also have figured out how to “use less rare earth to achieve the same results” in such products as lasers and magnets. And third, different minerals and chemicals are increasingly being used as rare earth substitutes. Mr. Kennedy predicts that once investors have “realized the threat wasn’t as dire, markets would bounce back.” Still, he isn’t optimistic about the U.S.-China trade negotiations, which broke off May 10 after an 11th round of talks failed to produce an agreement. U.S. officials accused the Chinese of reneging on agreements they’d made in earlier rounds. “The Chinese first are going to have to signal they will talk,” he said. Then they will have to go back to where they stood before they backpedaled on earlier concessions. “I don’t see any body language from the Chinese that they’re about to do that,” Mr. Kennedy said.
Source: The Hindu
Mumbai: The rupee on Thursday fell marginally by 4 paise to close at 69.87 against the US currency, extending its decline for a third straight day, due to a stronger dollar and investors awaiting the allocation of key portfolios in the newly elected government. Foreign fund inflows, strong gains in equities and easing crude oil prices, however, helped the local currency contain losses. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex), the domestic currency opened at 69.76 a dollar and fell further to touch the day's low of 69.93. It finally settled at 69.87 per dollar, down 4 paise over its previous close. The rupee on Wednesday had settled at 69.83 to the US dollar. Rupee falls for 3rd day, slips 4 paise to 69.87 on strong dollar; fund inflows, gains in equities restrict local currency’s dip "Rupee opened on a strong note but failed to hold at the higher levels. This is going to be the third straight session of fall in the rupee," said V K Sharma, head PCG & capital markets strategy, HDFC Securities. The rupee has now depreciated by 36 paise in the three sessions to Thursday. The dollar inched towards one-week high levels against major rivals in global markets after US-China trade worries unnerved investors. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his council of ministers were set to take oath at 1900 hours Thursday for a second term as suspense mounted on who will get the big four berths -- Home, Finance, Defence and External Affairs. Going ahead, macroeconomic data like gross domestic product data for January-March quarter and provisional estimates for the whole 2018/19 fiscal year ending in March to be released on Friday and RBI monetary policy outcome would give further direction to the rupee, Sharma said. RBI's monetary policy outcome is scheduled to be released on 6 June. Forex traders said easing crude oil prices in the overseas market, foreign fund inflows and heavy buying in the domestic equity market restricted the fall in the local unit. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.02 percent to 98.12. Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.58 percent to trade at $69.05 per barrel. Foreign funds infused Rs 1,664.74 crore in the capital markets on a net basis on Thursday, provisional data showed. After a day's breather, benchmark Sensex Thursday resumed its record-setting spree by rallying 330 points on gains in index heavyweights RIL, HDFC and TCS amid expiry of May derivative contracts. After soaring over 400 points, the 30-share index ended 329.92 points, or 0.84 per cent, higher at 39,831.97 — its fresh-closing high. The broader NSE Nifty also settled at a new closing peak at 11,945.90, gaining 84.80 points or 0.71 percent. Government bonds fell, leading to 0.13 percent rise in the yield to 7.14 percent. The Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 69.8805 and for rupee/euro at 78.0095. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 88.4706 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 63.97.
Source: Financial Express
|
Item |
Price |
Unit |
Fluctuation |
Date |
|
PSF |
1099.19 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2019 |
|
VSF |
1671.92 |
USD/Ton |
-0.17% |
5/30/2019 |
|
ASF |
2496.31 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2019 |
|
Polyester POY |
1091.96 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2019 |
|
Nylon FDY |
2429.78 |
USD/Ton |
-0.59% |
5/30/2019 |
|
40D Spandex |
4411.22 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2019 |
|
Nylon POY |
1229.36 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2019 |
|
Acrylic Top 3D |
2747.97 |
USD/Ton |
-1.04% |
5/30/2019 |
|
Polyester FDY |
5467.01 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2019 |
|
Nylon DTY |
1337.83 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2019 |
|
Viscose Long Filament |
2343.01 |
USD/Ton |
-0.61% |
5/30/2019 |
|
Polyester DTY |
2675.66 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2019 |
|
30S Spun Rayon Yarn |
2437.02 |
USD/Ton |
-0.30% |
5/30/2019 |
|
32S Polyester Yarn |
1793.41 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2019 |
|
45S T/C Yarn |
2762.43 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2019 |
|
40S Rayon Yarn |
1966.97 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2019 |
|
T/R Yarn 65/35 32S |
2371.93 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2019 |
|
45S Polyester Yarn |
2719.04 |
USD/Ton |
-0.53% |
5/30/2019 |
|
T/C Yarn 65/35 32S |
2220.07 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/30/2019 |
|
10S Denim Fabric |
1.33 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
5/30/2019 |
|
32S Twill Fabric |
0.78 |
USD/Meter |
-0.19% |
5/30/2019 |
|
40S Combed Poplin |
1.04 |
USD/Meter |
-0.14% |
5/30/2019 |
|
30S Rayon Fabric |
0.61 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
5/30/2019 |
|
45S T/C Fabric |
0.69 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
5/30/2019 |
Source: Global Textiles
Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.14463 USD dtd. 30/05/2019). The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com. SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.
Japan announced 132.6 billion yen ($1.2 billion) in aid to Bangladesh on that will go toward economic development, a high-speed railway and other projects. The assistance, announced on Wednesday during a visit by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also will go to Japanese companies doing business in Bangladesh and will support efforts to boost energy efficiency throughout Bangladesh, the foreign ministry said in a statement. Hasina, who is beginning a third consecutive five-year term, expressed thanks to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe following a signing ceremony at his official residence in Tokyo, reported Japan Today. She told reporters she welcomed Abe's promise that "Japan will stand by Bangladesh" as her nation seeks to join the developed world by 2041. Abe said the leaders had "a meaningful exchange" on various issues, including Hasina's continued support for Japan's opposition to North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Bangladesh and Japan also reiterated their agreement to work together against terrorism, Abe added. Promoting trade between Japan and Bangladesh is important for both sides, with Bangladesh importing mostly steel, autos and machinery from Japan, and Japan importing clothing products and jute. Japanese imports from Bangladesh have quadrupled compared to 2009 levels. Japanese companies setting up shop in Bangladesh are also growing, mostly in textiles and manufacturing. Japan has welcomed Bangladesh's support for its wish to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council, as well as for its position on nuclear weapons. Japan has been wary of what it sees as security and economic threats from neighbouring China and has been courting other nations in Asia as well as the US and Europe. This week alone, Abe is meeting with leaders of the Philippines, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and Laos in addition to Bangladesh. He just finished hosting a four-day visit by US President Donald Trump, which ended on Tuesday.
Source: India Blooms
A high level duo lead by Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan presiding over proceedings addressing a press conference today, Thursday announced that 313 Pakistani products will be declared ‘duty-free’ by China, ARY News reported. A press conference conducted by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan and Advisor to Prime Minister on commerce Abdul Razak Dawood in a press briefing expressed happiness on the successful arrival of stranded Pakistani prisoners in Malaysia. 315 prisoners of Pakistani descent were freed from Malaysian prison after completion of their jail terms. Taking over proceedings Dawood expanded on trade and business related matters of the State, saying: There has been a lot of talk about our export’s suffering and people question related to our export figures quite often, I would like to clear the air on our exports.” “We must take a look at the global trade, global trade has suffered a 3 percent decline due to the US-China ‘trade war’, due to global trade decline our primary target markets have reduced prices on the products we are importing, prices have been reduced up to 7.2%.”Adding further, Dawood said that there is no significant change in the export figures from last year, “where global trade has suffered a 3% deficit Pakistan has maintained it’s export figures to that of last year which is a positive indication, a reasonably good performance.” Continuing on Dawood counted the quantum increase in export items quoting increments in the garments and textile sector. “Our trade imports have decreased by $4 billion which is an indicator that Pakistan is moving towards self reliance and our trade gap is closing.” The commerce advisor expressed hope that the upcoming year will yield even better trade results for the country if market access is provided to the businessman. Shedding light on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China, Dawood said that they have added an additional clause to the agreement empowering Pakistan to reserve the right that if Pakistan’s industry suffers due to China then Pakistan can take ‘safeguard measures’ which consist of short and long-term measures. “A business delegation from Pakistan is heading to China on June 17, and I myself will go to China in July and then a major delegation will embark towards China in November,” revealed Dawood. We aim to bring investments from China and increase our exports to China. Answering a question related to the Judiciary Awan opined, “The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has noticed attorney general of Pakistan for June 14 along with other stakeholders, due to binding law of the SJC demanding secrecy an in-camera briefing is held and till the SJC does not set terms and priorities pertaining to the verdict and gives us clear instructions, we are lawfully bound to not share that information with the media.” Awan announced that the Minister for Law will hold a briefing on whatever decision is undertaken by the SJC.
Source: Ary News
US firm Simple Recycling will start collecting used textiles like old clothes, shoes, belts or handbags beginning June 17 in pink bags that will be mailed to households in Berlin in the weeks beforehand. Every recycling collection day, the company will pick up the bags, which should be left on pavements, and leave a replacement attached to the recycling bin. The new service is expected to save disposal costs. Berlin is a town in Connecticut state. The Ohio-based company already operates in Newington, New Britain and Plainville, among other Connecticut towns. While Berlin town pays $64 a ton to dispose of those waste, the Simple Recycling contract will be reimbursing the town $20 a ton collected, according to a US website report. Simple Recycling resells lightly used textiles domestically or abroad, where gently used or out-of-fashion clothing might be more marketable, while more heavily soiled clothing will be recycled for raw materials. The service is not meant to compete with local charities, a press release from the town said.
Source: Fibre2fashion
Pak urges Japan for concessionary access for key products
Advisor to the Pakistani prime minister on commerce, textile, industries, production and investment Abdur Razak Dawood requested Japanese ambassador to Pakistan Kuninori Matsuda for an early harvest program for concessionary market access for key products of Pakistan’s interest when the latter met him recently to discuss trade and investment opportunities. The meeting was attended by the Pakistani commerce secretary Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera and other officials of the commerce division. Dawood also discussed areas of Japanese cooperation and technical assistance for upgrading textile industry machinery and improving labour productivity, especially in the garments sector, according to Pakistani media reports. The government of Japan is already providing technical assistance for skill improvement in the garment sector in collaboration with the ministry of textiles.
Source: Fibre2fashion
Denim is one of the most growing sectors in Bangladesh RMG industry. Bangladesh is the 3rd largest denim garments exporter to the USA and 1st to the EU market. Bangladesh denim sector is facing many challenges like efficiency, quality ensuring, profitability, etc. Efficient denim professionals are vital to ensure the sustainable growth of the denim sector who will run the denim factories successfully. With the aim in mind to make efficient professionals for denim sector Textile Today Training has taken initiative to arrange training on ‘Denim Development & Manufacturing’ jointly with Amber Denim Ltd. Trainer Engr. Rafat Hasan Chowdhury will take the training session which includes in-house and factory training. Factory training is held at Amber Denim. Already Textile Today Training successfully completed the 1st and 2nd batch of ‘Denim Development & Manufacturing’ training with factory training at Amber Denim, one of the most well-organized denim mills in Bangladesh. The factory training of ‘Denim Development & Manufacturing’ was successfully completed on 5 May 2019 at Amber Denim. Engr. Rafat Hasan Chowdhury shared the well-organized operating procedure of Amber Denim mills with the help of the denim professionals working at Amber Denim Mills. He shared a number of developed fabrics by Amber Denim with the participants. Amber Denim has a well-organized set up to meet the demand of different buyers. Even the sample section of Amber is so disciplined that other garment factories can follow their sample section. From warping to weaving every segment of Amber Denim was introduced with the participants which will be helpful for them in the long run. ‘Denim Development & Manufacturing’ is one of the 18 Factory Skills Development Training Programs of Textile Today Training. Each subject is of 16 hours (12 hours in-house training and 4 hours of factory training). According to this frame, factory training is conducted at Amber Denim which will help the participants to go forward strongly and efficiently. In the later part of the day after the long training session on ‘Denim Development & Manufacturing’, Md. Hamidur Rahman, General Manager (Admin HR & Compliance) and Engr. Rafat Hasan Chowdhury handed over the certificates to the participants from BUTEX, BUFT, Skyrose Trading, S.M Engineering, etc. Textile Today Training is going to launch an advanced training on Denim Development & Manufacturing very shortly. Amber Denim and Textile Today Training are determined to go forward jointly to create efficient denim professionals who will face the future challenges of the denim sector in Bangladesh.
Source: Textile Today
