With exports and investments on the slide, the Centre is considering a five-year extension of tax benefits for units in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) by extending the sunset clause beyond March 31, 2020 to boost investor sentiment. “There is a feeling in the Commerce Ministry that an extension of SEZ tax benefits could be critical in kick-starting the investment cycle. A five-year possible extension is being discussed with stakeholders, including the industry and government,” a government official told BusinessLine. Removing Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on the export turnover of SEZs is also being considered, the official added. According to the sunset clause, the 100 per cent income tax exemption on export income for SEZ units under Section 10AA of the Income Tax Act for the first five years, 50 per cent for next five years and 50 per cent of the ploughed back export profit for subsequent five years, will expire on March 31, 2020. “All SEZs that are operational on or after April 1, 2020 will not be given income tax exemptions, which are the biggest drivers for investments. If the government seriously wants to do something for the economy, it should give more time to SEZs. This will help a large number of projects that have not yet been operational to take off,” said Hitender Mehta, Managing Partner, Centrum Legal. A total of 351 SEZs have been notified so far, of which only 234 SEZs are operational. This means, there are 117 SEZs that may lose motivation to start operations if income tax benefits lapse in April 2020. The government should either extend the sunset clause for SEZs or at least keep the SEZs notified till date out of its purview, according to the Export Promotion Council for EoUs and SEZs. “Investors joined the SEZ scheme keeping in mind the incentives available in the scheme, including income tax exemption. Withdrawing such a major incentive will hamper the image of India in the minds of investors, especially foreign players,” a representative said. Exports from SEZs are growing at a faster rate than overall exports from the country. In April-June 2019, even as overall export growth from India slowed down to 2 per cent valued at Rs 5,62,000 crore, exports from SEZs posted a robust 15 per cent growth at Rs 1,85,763 core. Total investments by SEZs notified under the Act so far stand at Rs 4,76,166.49 crore, and 21,17,685 persons have been provided employment in these zones. The Commerce Ministry has been trying to convince the Finance Ministry to do away with MAT on SEZs. Earlier this year, the government slashed the MAT rate to 15 per cent from 18.5 per cent.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
An inter-ministerial group will meet on October 29 here to discuss the possibility of further simplification and easing of the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy with a view to attract overseas investors, an official has said. The meeting will be chaired by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Secretary Guruprasad Mohapatra. Officials from different ministries, including defence, information and broadcasting, electronics and IT, and finance, will attend the meeting, the official said. The exercise assumes significance as the department is holding series of internal meetings with different ministries and departments to look at sectors where more liberalisation of the FDI policy is possible. Although FDI is allowed through automatic route in most of the sectors, certain areas such as defence, telecom, media, pharmaceuticals and insurance, government approval is required for foreign investors. Under government route, foreign investor has to take prior approval of respective ministry/department. Through automatic approval route, the investor just has to inform the RBI after the investment is made. There are nine sectors where FDI is prohibited and that includes lottery business, gambling and betting, chit funds, Nidhi company, real estate business, and manufacturing of cigars, cheroots, cigarillos and cigarettes using tobacco. Recently the government has relaxed FDI norms in several sectors like single brand retail trading, contract manufacturing, and coal mining. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech in July had proposed relaxation in the FDI norms for certain sectors such as aviation, AVGC (animation, visual effects, gaming and comics), insurance, and single brand retail with a view to attract more overseas investment. Currently, a standard operating procedure is laid out by the DPIIT through which foreign direct investment proposals are processed within a fixed time period of 8-10 weeks. During April-June period of the current fiscal, FDI into India increased by 28 per cent to USD 16.33 billion.
Source: Economic Times
Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal is hopeful that India will break into the top 25 countries on the World Bank’s ease of doing business index, which ranked the country 14 notches up to 63 among 190 countries in this year’s index. The minister said the government will closely work with the states to make it easier to start business, ensure contracts are properly executed and respected, and empower businesses with a stable policy and regulatory regime in order to reach the top 50 ranks. “By 2024-25, we would like to break into the top 25, but that is a very big challenge and one must appreciate that only the top progressive and highly developed economies are in the top 25,” said Goyal, who is in Stockholm to attend the 19th Indo-Swedish Joint Commission and is leading the Indian delegation. India has been ranked ninth among the most improved, with a score of 3.5 in the change in ‘Doing Business’ score. “I think investor sentiment is already looking up. It’s a mix of several factors—demand, capacity utilisation, international situation, global challenges and how the trade wars pan out, availability of capital,” he said. The report assesses improvement in ease of doing business environment in Delhi and Mumbai but Bengaluru and Kolkata too will be accounted for in the index from next year. Goyal added that the recent reforms such as reduced corporate tax rate will be a very powerful tool to attract investments as India’s tax rates are now comparable to developed economies and those in Southeast Asia. “Steps are being taken in terms of making availability of land, working with the environment ministry and handholding investors to get clearances much faster. We are also looking at cluster approach sectorally to encourage industries with common facilities for testing and effluent treatment,” he said. To attract investment, the government has also offered countries including Sweden to create ‘investment enclaves’ for their investors with ready plug and play infrastructure that will help in creating an enabling ecosystem.
GROWTH, EXPORTS
Goyal said while slowing economic growth is something that plays out every few years, and is not happening for the first time in India, going forward, one will see a revival of the investment cycle and uptick in demand. India’s economic growth slumped to a sixyear low of 5% in the April-June quarter with growth in private consumption expenditure slipping to an 18-quarter low of 3.1%. “From the first quarter of calendar year 2020, I think we will be looking at an uptick in exports and bridging the trade deficit we are grappling with,” Goyal said.
Source: Economic Times
India Inc on Thursday cheered as the country jumped 14 places to the 63rd position on the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking, and said the performance was an indicator of the Narendra Modi-led government's reformist credentials. Industry bodies exuded confidence that India will climb the rankings further to be among the top 50 nations on the World Bank's 'Doing Business' 2020 report, as envisioned by the Prime Minister. "The reform initiatives aimed at digitising, streamlining and rationalising regulatory compliances and procedures have imparted a huge fillip to the investor sentiment by ensuring faster processes, lower transaction costs and greater transparency," CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said. He said the extraordinary jump in the ranking is an outcome of sustained and consistent multi-year business reforms, especially in the indicators of starting a business, dealing with construction permits, trading across borders and resolving insolvency, where the country has noted remarkable improvement. "I am confident that this momentum of business reforms will be maintained and India will be among top 50 destinations as was envisioned by our PM," Banerjee said. Reformist credentials of the @narendramodiji's government has unlocked yet another milestone. From 142nd to 63rd place in the @WorldBank ranking in 2019 is a great achievement for a growing economy and it would boost opportunity for foreign trade #EaseOfDoingBusiness," Assocham Balkrishan Goenka tweeted. Stating that improvement in the ranking is the true reflection of the diligent efforts, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry President D K Aggarwal said the government should focus on the reforms in land acquisition, implementation of fixed term employment in all the states and de-criminalisation of businesses as stringent labour laws are a major roadblock to enhance production possibility frontiers and employment generation in the economy. "Going ahead, we look forward to further improvement in ease of doing business to the level of below 50 in the next year's ease of doing business rankings," Aggarwal said. India jumped 14 places to the 63rd position on the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking released on Thursday, riding high on the government's flagship 'Make in India' scheme and other reforms attracting foreign investment. The country also figured among the the top 10 performers on the list for the third time in a row. The rankings come at a time when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and various rating agencies have slashed the country's growth forecasts amid a slowdown in the global economy. India was ranked 142nd among 190 nations when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014. Four years of reform pushed up India's rank to 100th in World Bank's 'Doing Business' 2018 report. It was 130th in 2017 when it was ranked lower than Iran and Uganda. Last year, the country jumped 23 places to the 77th position on the back of reforms related to insolvency, taxation and other areas. In its report, the World Bank commended the reform efforts undertaken by the country "given the size of India's economy".
Source: Economic Times
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma today informed that the government is contemplating to formulate a trade policy that would encompass both domestic and international opportunities for business and investment. The Chief Minister made the announcement while addressing at “The Shillong Dialogue” organised by Asian Confluence in collaboration with the Meghalaya Basin Development Authority. The theme of the event was — Creating trans- boundary value chains in Agri/Horticulture and Tourism with Northeast India. The Chief Minister told the gathering which included entrepreneurs from India and Bangladesh that Northeast and South East Asian countries has huge potential for exchange of trade and business. “Meghalaya is engaging with different countries in South East Asia to explore the potential for trade and cooperation in sectors like agriculture, horticulture and tourism,” the Chief Minister said. He informed the gathering that Meghalaya is harping on its rich potential of agri-horti produces and is hosting the first Northeast Food Show in December next, where participants from different parts of the country including South East Asia are actively participating. “Meghalaya and its neighbouring countries can find areas of mutual interest and work together that would benefit the business communities and other stakeholders including farming communities,” the Chief Minister added. Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi also attended the programme. He said that Bangladesh is willing to provide all necessary facilitation to India and is more than willing to offer investment opportunities in Bangladesh.
Source: Economic Times
A delegation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation (APCCIF), led by its president K.V.S. Prakash Rao and general secretary P. Bhaskar Rao, met Minister for Industries and Commerce and Information Technology Mekapati Goutham Reddy on Thursday and pleaded for release of pending industrial incentives and subsidies amounting to about ₹2,500 crore. They complimented the government for paying due attention to industrial growth and promoting Andhra Pradesh as a destination for investments, for proactively working on Industrial Policy 2020-2025 with a focus on Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs), start-ups, agriculture and food processing, mass employment sectors like apparels and automobiles and identifying exports, new markets and new exportable products as per international standards. While pleading for release of the pending incentives, Mr. Prakash Rao and others pointed out the impact of the global / national economic slowdown on trade and industry and the remedial action that was required. If the prevailing situation continues, MSMEs, textiles (ginning and spinning), real estate, granite, food processing and automobile sectors would land in deeper trouble, resulting in layoffs, they expressed concern. The APCCIF delegation comprised L. Raghu Ram Reddy from A.P. Textile Spinning Mills Association, B. Venkat Ram Reddy from ITC, T. Parthasarathy of A.P. Small Scale Industries Association and Ch. Siddharth, M. Ravi and D. Anvesh from the automobile, aquaculture and electronics sectors and A. Satyanarayana, executive director of APCCIF.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Commerce and Industry & Railways Minister, Piyush Goyal, participated in the 19th Indo – Swedish Joint Commission for Economic, Industrial and Scientific Cooperation (JCEC) in Stockholm in Sweden from 22nd to 23rd October 2019. The JCEC discussed areas of cooperation for both sides. Commerce and Industry Minister reiterated the importance placed by the Prime Ministers of both the countries on the Joint Action Plan and Joint Declaration on Innovation Partnership. The Commerce and Industry Minister highlighted the potential of the Indo – Swedish partnership under the Memorandum of Understanding in innovation, energy, healthcare, defence, Sustainable Urban Development and railways. The India-Sweden Business Leaders Round Table (ISBLRT), was an important outcome of Swedish Prime Minister, Mr. Stefan Lofven’s last visit to India in 2016, creating a robust framework for bringing the business communities of both countries closer. Piyush Goyal addressed the JCEC with an overview of all the ease of doing business measures including structural and procedural reforms undertaken by the Indian Government at the Centre and State level. He further showcased the opportunities available in India under all the different industries including road, railways, highways, renewable energy, housing, smart cities and healthcare. He invited Swedish business community to support and participate in these opportunities and serve the huge Indian and export market from India. Ms. Anna Hallberg, Swedish Minister for Foreign Trade, agreed with Piyush Goyal that India offers an immense opportunity for Swedish businesses and highlighted that trade and investment could be taken to a higher level. She informed that there are more than 200 Swedish companies in India and more than 70 Indian companies in Sweden. At the JCEC new areas of collaboration were identified like electromobility, road safety, space research and traditional Indian medicine (Ayurveda, naturopathy). Commerce & Industry Minister proposed the setting up of an Investment Enclave for Swedish investors in India with ready plug and play infrastructure that will help in creating an enabling ecosystem for Swedish companies in India, which was well received by the Swedish side. Both sides also agreed for greater cooperation between the Start-up ecosystems of both countries. The Indian and Swedish sides complemented the Investment Facilitation Mechanism implemented through Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade and Invest India in coordination with the Embassy of Sweden which has successfully resolved issues being faced by many Swedish companies in India. The Swedish Minister welcomed India’s offer to participate in the opportunities mentioned by Commerce and Industry Minister, including the Investment Enclave and looked forward to working together on innovative and smart solutions for improving the lives of people of both countries. The protocol of the JCEC provides a roadmap for taking Indo-Swedish Economic, Industrial and Scientific Cooperation to a higher level between the businesses and the Government of both countries.
Source: Press Information Bureau
The official's remarks came as India jumped 14 places to take the 63rd position on the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking. India needs a fresh set of “bold reforms” in the next three to four years if it wants to be among the top 50 countries with ease of doing business, a top World Bank official said on Thursday. The official’s remarks came as India jumped 14 places to take the 63rd position on the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking. With the current reform agenda that the bank is watching like Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, enforcing contracts, tax reforms being completed next year or the year after, India can get within the top 50, “may be even in the 40”, Simeon Djankov, Director of Development Economics at the World Bank, said in an interview. India will face greater competition from other economies in Latin America and Europe to move up the ladder in the ease of doing business report. "But then to improve beyond that you need fresh set of reforms,” Djankov said. "India needs to ask, what it can do to from being in the top 50 to the top 25 economies. And for that you need to recharge," he said, adding that the government need to come up with a new set of priorities for the next four years. "I don't think, that exists yet," Djankov said. The upward movement in the ease of doing report is a result of the reforms undertaken by the Modi Government in its first term. "It (top 25) is possible, but for a large democracy like India, it's extremely difficult,” said the top World Bank official.
Source: Business Standard
Weakness has been fairly broad-based, with both domestic spending and external demand losing momentum, Fitch said. New lending as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) may dip to 6.6 per cent this fiscal year from 9.5 per cent in 2018-19 owing to a large squeeze in credit from non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). These estimates assume that the sluggish pace of lending is maintained throughout the year, according to Fitch Rating. The Indian economy decelerated for the fifth consecutive quarter in April-June (June quarter). GDP expanded by a meagre 5 per cent yoy, down from 8 per cent a year earlier. This is the lowest growth since 2013. Weakness has been fairly broad-based, with domestic spending and external demand losing momentum, Fitch said in a statement. “We expect economic growth (in India) to be 5.5 per cent in 2019-20, before picking up to 6.2 per cent in 2020-21 and 6.7 per cent in 2021-22. Nevertheless, growth is likely to significantly below its potential over the next year or so,” it added. Several factors, including a downturn in world trade and a severe credit squeeze, have taken a heavy toll on lending. NBFCs have faced a severe tightening of funding over the past year and a half. They have, in turn, sharply reduced the supply of credit to the commercial sector. The auto and real estate sectors have been particularly hit by this. The data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) show that the flow of new lending from non-bank sources was down 60 per cent yoy between April and September. In contrast, banks’ lending has held up well in recent months, mitigating part of the shortfall in overall credit supply. However, bank lending could not prevent a sizeable credit crunch in the first half of 2019. Fitch said the success of the inflation-targeting framework adopted by the RBI in 2016 in reducing inflation had been associated with sharply rising real lending interest rates since mid-2018. While the RBI has been able to lower interest rates, policy rate cuts have not been fully passed through to new rupee loans. As a result, inflation-adjusted (real) borrowing costs have increased, weighing on credit demand. The lack of monetary policy transmission in India derives from high public-sponsored deposit rates against a backdrop of stretched banks’ balance sheets. Competition from public schemes, which offer more attractive deposit rates to customers, have made banks reluctant to cut deposit rates. Banks have maintained elevated lending rates to preserve their margins amid high funding costs. The authorities have taken measures over the past couple of months to shore up the economy and revive credit. For example, they are trying to ease NBFCs’ liquidity positions by encouraging banks to purchase high-quality NBFC assets through credit guarantees and additional liquidity. The government also proceeded with further capital injections into banks and recently unveiled a plan to cut corporate tax rates.
Gloomy picture
Source: Business Standard
A combination of factors is responsible. This includes a deepening of the general economic slowdown and corporation tax cuts. The government might be impelled to steeply cut its direct tax collection target, with growth in this regard slumping to 3.5 per cent up to mid-October from the same period in the earlier financial year, as against the Budget target of 17.3 per cent. The year formally began on April 1. A combination of factors is responsible. This includes a deepening of the general economic slowdown and corporation tax cuts. Collection will have to rise by 30 per cent in the remaining period of the financial year to achieve the Budget estimate. Last months's rise in direct tax collection was five per cent. In the first six and a half months, corporation tax revenue grew by only 2.5 per cent. “The growth target was unrealistic to begin with, looking at the economic activity slump. The corporation tax rate cut will further impact collection. The numbers will likely see a steep downward revision in the upcoming Budget for the next fiscal,” said a government official. To arrest corporate slowdown, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced steep cuts last month in corporation tax, with retrospective effect from April 1. The rate was cut from 30 per cent to 22 per cent for existing companies that do not enjoy any exemptions. And, to 15 per cent from the earlier 25 per cent for new manufacturing companies. With surcharge and cess, the effective rate for existing companies has come down to 25.17 per cent, from 35 per cent. According to an earlier report in this publication, combined tax outgo for the September quarter was down 3.1 per cent year-on-year. As a result, the average effective rate of tax for the sample of 200 firms declined to 22.9 per cent during the quarter, as against 28.5 per cent in the year-ago one. The tax cut boosted post-tax earnings by Rs 3,900 crore, equivalent to 5.6 per cent of their pre-tax profit of the September 2019 quarter. This means lower collection for the government in the immediate term. The hope is that the rate cuts would revive corporate sector growth, resulting in higher tax collection. “That will be somewhere in the medium term,” said the official. Last week, revenue secretary A B Pandey told Business Standard the government would consider revising the steep collection target. "We will consider that next month, when the Budget making exercise (for 2021-22) will start. At that time, we will take stock of revenue collection and projection for next year and come up with revised estimates." Overall advance tax collection, including corporate and personal income, grew six per cent between April and September, the first six months of 2019-20, as against 18 per cent in the year-ago period, according to sources. Collection after the second instalment stood at Rs 2.2 trillion. Within the collection, corporation tax mop-up grew 6.5 per cent and personal income tax by 3.5 per cent. Advance tax growth thus far in 2019-20 is the lowest in at least four years. The growth rate was 18 per cent in 2018-19, 11 per cent in 2017-18 and 14 per cent in 2016-17 in the same period. About 45 per cent of direct tax revenue collection comes from advance tax, 35 per cent from Tax Deduction at Source, 10 per cent from self-assessment and 10 per cent from recovery.
Source: Business Standard
The rupee snapped its five-day winning streak to finish 11 paise lower at 71.02 against the US dollar on Thursday, weighed by unabated foreign fund outflows and a weak trend in domestic equity markets. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened on a strong note at 70.79, but lost ground during the day to touch a low of 71.08. It finally settled at 71.02, lower by 11 paise against its previous close. “The rupee opened higher against the US dollar, but was weighed down after domestic equities witnessed selling pressure in the latter half,” said Gaurang Somaiyaa, forex and bullion analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Private Ltd. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell by 0.01 per cent to 97.48. PTI
Source: Business Line
|
Item |
Price |
Unit |
Fluctuation |
Date |
|
PSF |
995.10 |
USD/Ton |
-0.71% |
10/24/2019 |
|
VSF |
1517.39 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
ASF |
2169.02 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
Polyester POY |
1014.89 |
USD/Ton |
0.70% |
10/24/2019 |
|
Nylon FDY |
2304.01 |
USD/Ton |
-0.61% |
10/24/2019 |
|
40D Spandex |
4085.02 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
Nylon POY |
5343.03 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
Acrylic Top 3D |
1236.81 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
Polyester FDY |
2169.72 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
Nylon DTY |
2304.01 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
Viscose Long Filament |
1116.67 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
Polyester DTY |
2523.10 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
30S Spun Rayon Yarn |
2125.90 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
32S Polyester Yarn |
1618.46 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
45S T/C Yarn |
2417.09 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
40S Rayon Yarn |
1781.01 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
T/R Yarn 65/35 32S |
2275.74 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
45S Polyester Yarn |
2374.68 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
T/C Yarn 65/35 32S |
1964.77 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
10S Denim Fabric |
1.25 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
32S Twill Fabric |
0.69 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
40S Combed Poplin |
0.96 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
30S Rayon Fabric |
0.57 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
|
45S T/C Fabric |
0.66 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
10/24/2019 |
Source: Global Textiles
Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.14135 USD dtd. 24/10/2019). The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com. SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.
The government of the country answered the claims of the apparel manufactures y and reduced taxes at source on the export of products including garments. Banglasdesh boost its exports. The Asian country, one of the biggest production hubs for the textile industry, has announced a tax reduction at source on the export of products including garments from 0.7%-0.6% for the current fiscal year. Corporate tax on apparel manufactures has also been cut from 15% to 12% for fiscal 2019, according to Just Style. This movement plans to attract more investment and create future jobs in the sector. The measure comes after a claim from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (Bgmea), that demanded the government to contribute with tax in exports to fight the increase of production costs. The exports of the Bengali textile and clothing industry generate 30 billion dollars every year, 16% of the total country’s economy GDP. The sector employs around four million workers in the country.
Source: The MDS
On Nov. 5-6, leaders in apparel will gather for the 11th annual Bangladesh Denim Expo (BDE) and the second annual Sustainable Apparel Forum. Organized by Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE) and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the event will host 100 exhibitors from 11 countries in International Convention City in Bashundhara, Dhaka. This year’s theme for BDE is responsibility, which complements the sustainability forum running alongside it. Andrew Olah, as well as representatives from H&M, Tonello and Jeanologia, will speak in depth on the subject, and attendees will learn from product displays, presentations, seminar sessions and panel discussions. The Sustainable Apparel Forum, taking place on the first day of the event, will host more than 50 speakers who will lead presentations on sustainability issues and best practices as they relate to human resources, transparency in business, water conservation, purchasing practices, sustainable chemical management, waste management, circular economy in textiles and climate change. “The time for talking on sustainability issues is over. It is now time for action,” said Mostafiz Uddin, the event’s organizer. “That’s why the focus of this year’s show is on practical, pragmatic actions the textile industry can adopt to improve its environmental footprint.” This is the first year BDE has set supply chain standards for its exhibitors. Earlier this month, the organizer announced it adopted corporate social responsibility (CSR), environmental and chemical usage standards that will require exhibitors to provide proof of compliance with industry standards. Kingpins initiated the protocol and encouraged other trade show organizers to implement the same standards.
Source: Sourcing Journal
Following is the text of European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s statement after the bank’s policy meeting on Thursday, Draghi’s last meeting before his term ends: Based on our regular economic and monetary analyses, we decided to keep the key ECB interest rates unchanged. We expect them to remain at their present or lower levels until we have seen the inflation outlook robustly converge to a level sufficiently close to, but below, 2% within our projection horizon, and such convergence has been consistently reflected in underlying inflation dynamics. As decided at our last meeting in September, we will restart net purchases under our asset purchase programme (APP) at a monthly pace of 20 billion euros as from 1 November. We expect them to run for as long as necessary to reinforce the accommodative impact of our policy rates, and to end shortly before we start raising the key ECB interest rates. We also intend to continue reinvesting, in full, the principal payments from maturing securities purchased under the APP for an extended period of time past the date when we start raising the key ECB interest rates, and in any case for as long as necessary to maintain favourable liquidity conditions and an ample degree of monetary accommodation. The Governing Council reiterated the need for a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy for a prolonged period of time to support underlying inflation pressures and headline inflation developments over the medium term. In particular, the Governing Council’s forward guidance will ensure that financial conditions adjust in accordance with changes to the inflation outlook. In any case, the Governing Council continues to stand ready to adjust all of its instruments, as appropriate, to ensure that inflation moves towards its aim in a sustained manner, in line with its commitment to symmetry. The incoming data since the last Governing Council meeting in early September confirm our previous assessment of a protracted weakness in euro area growth dynamics, the persistence of prominent downside risks and muted inflation pressures. At the same time, ongoing employment growth and increasing wages continue to underpin the resilience of the euro area economy. The comprehensive package of policy measures that we decided at our last meeting provides substantial monetary stimulus, which will contribute to a further easing in borrowing conditions for firms and households. This will support the euro area expansion, the ongoing build-up of domestic price pressures and, thus, the sustained convergence of inflation to our medium-term inflation aim. Let me now explain our assessment in greater detail, starting with the economic analysis. Euro area real GDP growth was confirmed at 0.2%, quarter on quarter, in the second quarter of 2019, following a rise of 0.4% in the previous quarter. Incoming economic data and survey information continue to point to moderate but positive growth in the second half of this year. This slowdown in growth mainly reflects the ongoing weakness of international trade in an environment of persistent global uncertainties, which continue to weigh on the euro area manufacturing sector and are dampening investment growth. At the same time, the services and construction sectors remain resilient, despite some moderation. The euro area expansion is supported by favourable financing conditions, further employment gains in conjunction with rising wages, the mildly expansionary euro area fiscal stance and the ongoing – albeit somewhat slower – growth in global activity. The risks surrounding the euro area growth outlook remain on the downside. In particular, these risks pertain to the prolonged presence of uncertainties, related to geopolitical factors, rising protectionism and vulnerabilities in emerging markets. Euro area annual HICP inflation decreased from 1.0% in August 2019 to 0.8% in September, reflecting lower food and energy price inflation. On the basis of current futures prices for oil, headline inflation is likely to decline slightly further before rising again at the end of the year. Measures of underlying inflation remained generally muted and indicators of inflation expectations stand at low levels. While labour cost pressures have strengthened amid tighter labour markets, the weaker growth momentum is delaying their pass-through to inflation. Over the medium term inflation is expected to increase, supported by our monetary policy measures, the ongoing economic expansion and robust wage growth. Turning to the monetary analysis, broad money (M3) growth increased to 5.7% in August 2019, after 5.1% in July. Sustained rates of broad money growth reflect ongoing bank credit creation for the private sector and low opportunity costs of holding M3. The narrow monetary aggregate M1 continues to be the main contributor to broad money growth on the components side. The growth of loans to firms and households remained solid, benefiting from the continued pass-through of our accommodative monetary policy stance to bank lending rates. The annual growth rate of loans to non-financial corporations increased to 4.3% in August, from 4.0% in July 2019, while the annual growth rate of loans to households remained unchanged at 3.4% in August. The euro area bank lending survey for the third quarter of 2019 indicates a slight easing of credit standards and increasing demand for loans to households, while demand for loans to firms remained broadly stable. Our accommodative monetary policy stance will help to safeguard favourable bank lending conditions and will continue to support access to financing, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises. To sum up, a cross-check of the outcome of the economic analysis with the signals coming from the monetary analysis confirmed that an ample degree of monetary accommodation is still necessary for the continued sustained convergence of inflation to levels that are below, but close to, 2% over the medium term. In order to reap the full benefits from our monetary policy measures, other policy areas must contribute more decisively to raising the longer-term growth potential, supporting aggregate demand at the current juncture and reducing vulnerabilities. The implementation of structural policies in euro area countries needs to be substantially stepped up to boost euro area productivity and growth potential, reduce structural unemployment and increase resilience. The 2019 country-specific recommendations should serve as the relevant signpost. Regarding fiscal policies, the mildly expansionary euro area fiscal stance is currently providing some support to economic activity. In view of the weakening economic outlook and the continued prominence of downside risks, governments with fiscal space should act in an effective and timely manner. In countries where public debt is high, governments need to pursue prudent policies and meet structural balance targets, which will create the conditions for automatic stabilisers to operate freely. All countries should intensify their efforts to achieve a more growth-friendly composition of public finances. Likewise, the transparent and consistent implementation of the European Union’s fiscal and economic governance framework over time and across countries remains essential to bolster the resilience of the euro area economy. Improving the functioning of Economic and Monetary Union remains a priority. The Governing Council welcomes the ongoing work and urges further specific and decisive steps to complete the banking union and the capital markets union.
Source: Reuters
Time is now that India focusses on market-oriented policies for short-run and human capital development for sustained long-run growth. Back in October 1949, when India was framing its constitution that would make it a democratic republic, China was adopting communism. The two neighbours, which had recently emerged from a colonial past, adopted starkly different approaches of societal organisation. While India distributed political power among its people, China chose an authoritarian model. The outcome of these choices have been vast as is evident today in China’s prominence on the global stage. From being at par with India in 1950s to surpassing India in all the aspects, China’s rise has been extraordinary. During the early nineteenth century, both the countries followed opposite growth trajectories. India’s per capita income grew from $533 in 1820 to $673 in 1913 while that of China declined from $660 to $552 (in 1990 dollars). Both the countries witnessed a fall in per capita income from 1913 to 1950, but the fall was more severe in case of China. So, by the year when India became republic, it was economically sound than China. In fact, even until 1978 the difference between the per capita GDP of both countries was not very significant. The aftermath of Mao’s calamitous programmes of the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward derailed China’s economic progress in the first three decades after 1950. But as Deng Xiaoping came to power in 1978, this trend reversed. From an equal standing, China’s per capita GDP today is approximately 4.6 times that of India. Thus, China’s economic performance holds some noteworthy lessons for India. One of the most important things that China did well was targeting human development. Its emphasis on education for all and provision of healthcare facilities by its communes helped the country to perform well on human development. Starting with the similar scores in HDI in 1950s (China-0.163 and India-0.160), China has shown a remarkable improvement by 1973 (0.407 against 0.289 for India). While China made its vast pool of human capital, its strength, India on the contrary, always faced concerns for education and healthcare. Even when India undertook economic reforms in early 1980s, its health and education levels were still a cause of worry. During the time when the life expectancy in China was 64 years and literacy rate was 66 percent in 1980, an average Indian died at the age of 54 while just 43.6 percent of Indian population was literate. Another considerable difference between the two countries was their focus on the type of industries. China leveraged on its pool of cheap labour by focussing on labour-intensive industries such as textiles, while India emphasized on heavy industries, which are predominantly capital-intensive and employ less labour. By introducing special economic zones (SEZs) in 1980, China pushed manufacturing growth and setting up of export-oriented industries while India focussed on SEZs much later. As a result, by 1998, China’s FDI investments were more than 10 times as that of India (Maddison estimates). Since India did not give the required push for labour-intensive manufacturing growth, the sector always remained sluggish and the country became a service-led economy. To the contrary, China became the manufacturing powerhouse of the world. Even Bangladesh is following China’s footsteps by greatly focusing on its manufacturing sector, which will create higher employment opportunities for its citizens. Since 2017, Bangladesh has surpassed India and has become the fastest-growing South-Asian country. Furthermore, it is effectively capturing the export-industries which are looking for China’s alternative following the increased labour costs and US-China trade war. In the light of these facts, India needs to learn from the holistic growth trends of its neighbours. Time is now that India focusses on market-oriented policies for short-run and human capital development for sustained long-run growth.
Source: Business World
DuPont Advanced Printing will be displaying its newest ink offerings for the growing digital textile market segment at Printing United from 23-25 October at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, TX. The company will be displaying its newest ink offerings for the growing digital textile market segment at Printing United 2019. At the show, DuPont will showcase its new DuPont Artistri P2700 pigment ink designed for roll-to-roll printing. Artistri P2700 is a medium viscosity ink that is designed to deliver excellent colour saturation, soft hand feel and unmatched wet and dry crock fastness. For Direct-to-Garment (DTG) printers, DuPont is highlighting innovative pre-treatment technology, which enables stain-free printing and superior hand feel on cotton/polyester blends. “And with new choices of gamut expanding colours, as wells as its new Color Series E, F and G pigment ink offerings for DTG printing, DuPont continues to offer the most complete and highest performance DTG ink,” the company reports. For more than 35 years, DuPont Advanced Printing has delivered bright colours via its Artistri digital inks, to textile customers. Artistri digital inks combine DuPont proprietary dispersions, polymers and ink formulations resulting in brighter, more robust digital inks for digital printing. Artistri®inks are designed to provide colour consistency across production runs and over time. From DTG to Roll-to-Roll (RTR) application DuPont is known for developing the bright, rich colours with high durability. “We are excited to launch our new pigment ink. Our customers are asking for the brightest, richest colors and we are delivering that with P2700,” said Jeff Hansen, Americas Marketing Manager – Digital Printing.
Source: Innovation in Textiles
