Referring to the current times of crisis, the Prime Minister said India would play a leading role in the global revival. He said that this is closely linked with two factors. First is - Indian talent and second is India's ability to reform and rejuvenate. He elaborated that world over, the contribution of India's talent-force is highly recognised, especially the contribution of the Indian tech industry and tech professionals. He described India as a power-house of talent that is eager to contribute. He added that Indians are natural reformers and history has shown that India has overcome every challenge, be it social or economic. He said that when India talks of revival it is: Revival with care, Revival with compassion, Revival which is sustainable - both for the environment and the economy. The Prime Minister listed the gains made during the last six years such as: total financial inclusion, record housing and infra construction, Ease of Doing Business, bold tax reforms including the GST. PM said that the green-shoots of economic recovery could already be seen as owing to the indomitable Indian spirit. He said that technology today helps the Government every benefit to the beneficiaries directly, including, providing free cooking gas, cash in the bank accounts, free food grains to millions of people and many other things. PM said India is one of the most open economies in the World and is inviting all the Multinational Companies to set up their business in India. The Prime Minister described India as a land of many possibilities and opportunities. He described the various reforms initiated in the Agriculture Sector and said that it provides a very attractive investment opportunity for the global industry. The Prime Minister said that the latest reforms are providing a boost to the MSME Sector and that they would be complimenting the big industry. He said that there are investment opportunities in the defence sector and the space sector. The Prime Minister said that the pandemic has once again shown that India's Pharma industry is an asset not just for India but for the entire world. It has played a leading role in reducing the cost of medicines especially for developing countries. He said that Atma Nirbhar Bharat is not about being self-contained or being closed to the world but about being self-sustaining and self-generating. This is an India that is reforming, performing and transforming. This is an India that offers new economic opportunities. This is an India that is adopting a human-centric and inclusive approach to development. India awaits you all, he said. He expressed happiness that the Forum was also marking the 100th birth anniversary of Pandit Ravi Shankar, who took the beauty of Indian classical music to the world. He also highlighted how Namaste has gone global as a form of greeting. He said that India is ready to do whatever it can to further global good and prosperity.
Source: PIB
The United States is in talks with India on market access for its goods in exchange for reinstating New Delhi's trade concessions under the Generalised System Of Preferences (GSP), U.S. ambassador to India Kenneth Juster said on Thursday. "The GSP by law requires that there be some market opening measures in recipience of that preferential system, and that's what we have been trying to reach an agreement on with the government of India," Juster said at India Global Week 2020, an online business summit. Last year, Washington scrapped India's trade concessions under the GSP programme that allowed duty-free entry to the U.S. market for up to $5.6 billion of Indian exports in retaliation for New Delhi's high tariffs and rules on e-commerce. Juster also said India and the United States needed to move to a free trade pact.
Source: Economic Times
The 15th summit between India and the European Union will be held via video conference on July 15, officials of the influential grouping said on Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold extensive talks with President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on a range of issues in the summit, they said. The leaders are expected to reiterate their determination to promote effective multilateralism and a rules-based multilateral order, with the United Nations (UN) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at its core, the officials said. The summit will be an opportunity to strengthen the EU-India strategic partnership based on shared principles and values of democracy, freedom and rule of law, they said. The summit is aimed at delivering concrete benefits for the people in the EU and India, the officials said, adding the leaders will discuss ways to boost cooperation in areas of security, climate, environment, trade and investment, digital economy and connectivity.
Source: Economic Times
India is adopting a multi-pronged strategy to enhance trade and business partnership with Bangladesh amid Beijing's recent efforts to woo Dhaka with duty-free access to its products. While Chinese trade concessions can push Bangladesh into a “dual deficit and debt trap”, India is activating various connectivity initiatives for seamless movement of Bangladeshi products to the landlocked northeastern states and other parts of India, ET has learnt. There is a major push to connectivity initiatives via sea ports, inland water transport, rail and highways that will enable Bangladesh to connect with Bhutan and Nepal markets too along with India, according to experts who focus on cross-border trade and connectivity issues. Both India and Bangladesh are undertaking various measures to restore the pre1965 rail and other connectivity links. Last week’s decision to resume border trade via West Bengal despite opposition from the Mamata Banerjee government will help increase Bangladeshi exports to India after a hiatus, said sources. Foreign minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday wrote to his Bangladeshi counterpart reinforcing special ties. India had offered duty-free access to several Bangladeshi products a decade before the Chinese decision and that step helped reduce deficit in Dhaka’s trade with New Delhi, said a source while stating that India’s terms and conditions from trade concessions to loans are more favourable. Beijing has mulled over years before giving trade concessions to Dhaka and the step can push it towards a debt trap, said the above mentioned source.
Source: Economic Times
Diversion basically serves two purposes: the essentially Chinese products enjoy duty-free access and it also doesn’t reflect in China’s overall massive trade surplus with India, which stood at a massive $48 billion in FY20. After Singapore and Hong Kong, Vietnam has emerged as the third Asian trade partner, which counts on massive Chinese investments, to turn its usual trade deficit with India into a decent surplus in a span of just three years. Between FY18 and FY20, India’s trade balance with Vietnam swang from a surplus of $2.8 billion to a deficit of $2.2 billion, according to official data. While India’s imports from the south-east Asian nation jumped from $5 billion in FY18 to $7.3 billion in FY20, its exports crashed from $7.8 billion to $5.1 billion during this period. This was also the period (FY18-20) when Beijing’s trade war with Washington hit a peak and China was scouting for destinations to divert a part of its supplies from the American market. Even India has been pressuring China in recent years to trim a huge bilateral trade imbalance in favour of the neighbour. These may have promoted China to divert its supplies to India through some Asean members and Hong Kong by abusing the rules of origin of imported products, analysts have pointed out. But this also makes it very difficult for India to target China effectively, as Beijing can bypass New Delhi’s tariff and non-tariff measures by diverting its supplies through these destinations. Vietnam is a part of the 10-member Asean with which New Delhi has a free trade agreement (FTA). Interestingly, imports of not just electronics and electricals (of which Vietnam is a key supplier) but also copper products, capital goods, iron & steel and inorganic chemicals have risen since FY15. China, undoubtedly, remains the dominant exporter of these products. Diversion basically serves two purposes: the essentially Chinese products enjoy duty-free access and it also doesn’t reflect in China’s overall massive trade surplus with India, which stood at a massive $48 billion in FY20. Already, as FE had reported earlier, an unusual 118% year-on-year spurt in India’s merchandise imports from Singapore to a record $16.3 billion in FY19 had alarmed customs officials. Consequently, India’s trade balance with Singapore exacerbated dramatically, from a surplus of $2.7 billion in FY18 to a deficit of $4.7 billion in FY19. Similarly, India ran a trade deficit with Hong Kong, a proxy for Beijing, for the first time in over two decades in FY19. The deficit widened to $6 billion in FY20 from $5 billion in FY19, marking a sharp turnaround from a surplus of $4 billion in FY18.
Source: Financial Express
Courier imports are now under greater scrutiny with enhanced checks leading to delay in clearances at Bangalore, Delhi and Hyderabad. “There is an issue in clearances of courier,” said a person privy to the development. Customs officials, however, maintain that there is no issue in clearances. Clearances at ports, airports and customs stations have begun to normalise after almost 10 days. Customs authorities had resorted to 100% physical checks of China-origin shipments. Courier imports have been on the radar of authorities after it was found that the route was being misused by some ecommerce platforms to bring goods declaring them as gifts, which are duty-free. Some such Chinese platforms operating via mobile apps selling goods including Shein have been banned as part of a larger clampdown. The Federation of Indian Export Organisations has flagged the issue with the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs saying the delay is hurting exporters. “Courier import clearances at Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi have been delayed..." said Ajay Sahay, director general, Fieo. “We would like to bring to your notice the problem faced by the exporters, many of whom have imported goods through courier for export production,” Fieo said in the letter to CBIC chairman. A customs official said there could be some issues due to transition of clearance from Express Industry Council of India to customs.
Source: Economic Times
In a bid to give a boost to its Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, the government is looking at increasing customs duties and has initiated an inter-ministerial consultation. "The government has begun a fresh round of assessment of current customs duties on directions from the Prime Minister’s Office," said a source in the government who is in the know."The government now wants that all key import oriented ministries should re-assess their current import duties and come up with suitable suggestions,” the source told CNBC-TV18.Ministries will hold discussions with their stakeholders over the next few days before submitting a final proposal. The final decision will be taken at the highest political level. The list of ministries and departments contacted by the Finance Ministry's revenue department includes pharmaceuticals, electronics and information technology, new and renewable energy, heavy industry, textiles, chemicals and fertilizers and commerce among others. These ministries will submit a detailed list of items with an analysis on the immediate economic impact, alternatives available in India alongwith a proposal on the quantum of hike in customs duties that can be taken to reduce dependence on imports, sources said. “The exercise is to curb imports and increase efforts towards Atmanirbhar Bharat. Normally, such an exercise is done during the pre-Budget efforts, but this time the mandate is very clear that India needs to reduce the imports and has to start manufacturing for its domestic consumption and exports,” government sources added. The government should increase the duties with the specific intent to attract domestic and foreign investment in Indian manufacturing as well as to help it achieve scale, said Ajai Sahai, Director General of export promotion body FIEO, said “The duties should not be increasing perpetuity but for the period for up to which scalability is achieved. It should be a balanced economic decision,” he said. Meanwhile, government sources told CNBC-TV18 that the PMO will meet top Finance Ministry officials via video conference on July 13, to discuss the revenue position. The Fin Min will present the current status of revenue, initial trends of revenue collections and would provide suggestions to augment collections.
PORT CONGESTION STILL CONTINUES
Meanwhile, congestion continues to remain a problem at Indian ports after India started to review Chinese imports following the violent border face-off between the two countries' army personnel at Galwan Valley.Nine days ago, customs authorities began to clear Chinese origin consignments following a 100 percent inspection but about 20-25 days of cargo is still held up at various ports, said a source. "Ports are overloaded with containers, consignments, couriers and parcels,” the source added. The delays have impacted pharma, electronics, mobile handset manufacturers, MSME, chemicals and fertiliser sectors. Also, Indian MSMEs have been particularly hit hard as many of them rely on value addition -- a process that has been pushed down further --- before selling goods in the Indian market, sources said. Sector-specific associations have sent fresh representation to the finance ministry and customs authorities to speed up clearances. "We are seeing delays even now," said Dinesh Dua, Chairman of pharma export body Pharmexcil. "Encouragingly though, we have calls from customs offices to share with them the list of stuck consignments. We are hopeful that now, consignments will start getting cleared.” Sahai of FIEO warned that the delays could impact exports as several inputs used in local production are imported.
Source: CNBC
In a presentation to the government on ‘Ease of doing business for Atmanirbhar Bharat’ earlier this week, industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) suggested effective implementation of a single-window system (SWS) to rationalise procedural time and costs of approvals and clearances involved in starting a business. India Inc has suggested policy measures pertaining to approvals for starting a business, dispute resolution and logistics infrastructure to make industry more competitive globally. In a presentation to the government on ‘Ease of doing business for Atmanirbhar Bharat’ earlier this week, industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) suggested effective implementation of a single-window system (SWS) to…
Source: Economic Times
The recent spike in Covid-19 cases has halted the revival in Surat’s synthetic textiles hub. With roughly 215 fresh daily cases and the tally at 6,313 (with 200 deaths), business activity across the textile value chain — right from spinning yarn to making garments — has come to a near-standstill. In addition, despite the rupee depreciating to Rs 76.97 a dollar between April and June, the industry has not been able to leverage it in terms of exports. Surat commands a 45 per cent share in total man-made fibre/synthetic textiles produced, as well as synthetic textile yarn, fibre, fabrics and made-ups, accounting for annual exports of $6 billion.“On the one hand, business activity across the textile value chain had just begun, at 5-10 per cent of the original capacity. However, in the last 2-3 days, the spike in cases led to markets being closed again. On the other hand, the opportunity to make the most of the April-June period — in terms of domestic and export business — was lost, given the rupee depreciation,” said Rakesh Chaudhary, vice-president of the Nylon Spinners’ Association. Pre-Covid, Surat would manufacture 20-25 million metres of synthetic textiles a day, down from the peak of 40 million metres before demonetisation and GST impacted capacity utilisation. According to Chaudhary and Devkishan Manghani, advisor (textile trade committee), Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI), textile manufacturing and trading had touched 5-10 per cent of the original capacity. However, civic authorities have ordered the closure of key textile markets, leading to a halt in business activity.“If textile markets don’t operate, then the whole backward value chain will not know how much to produce, with inventory piling up,” said Chaudhary, adding that in terms of nylon chips alone as raw material, inventory levels have risen from 200 tonnes to 3,000 tonnes.The other predicament facing the industry, especially in Surat, is that of Chinese imports of nylon yarn. According to Narain Agarwal of the Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC), as against the domestic production of 120,000 tonnes, close to 25,000 tonnes was being imported, with China accounting for 58 per cent of the same. The industry body has made representations to the government for imposing an anti-dumping duty on nylon yarn, which expired in January 2018. “At a time when the domestic industry is suffering from lack of business, Chinese imports are adding pressure to the books of Indian nylon yarn producers. At present, imported Chinese nylon yarn is cheaper than the Indian variety by Rs 15-20 a kg, which is affecting domestic business even more,” said Agarwal. Meanwhile, domestic nylon yarn attracts an inverted GST rate of 18 per cent on raw material caprolactam, and 12 per cent on the finished yarn — with manufacturers left with accumulated tax impacting their liquidity.
Source: Business Standard
Asserting that economic activity is steadily coming back on track, Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal on Thursday said the government will undertake measures to boost demand and there is both monetary and fiscal headroom available. He hinted that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may further cut interest rates as a monetary policy tool to perk up demand. "We have announced packages along the way and most of the packages so far have really been about cushioning the demand shock. We haven't, so far at least, been going to the rebuild of the demand phase. We will in the future. We do have monetary and fiscal space to do that," he said. There is lots of monetary space as interest rates here are still significantly positive unlike western Europe, where there is zero to negative rates, he said at the India Global Week 2020. "So, there is a significant scope for lowering interest rates in India, and the Reserve Bank has been systematically lowering interest rates... "It takes some time for transmission, but it's happening. Even on the fiscal front, we do have some space. Our debt to GDP ratio is actually significantly lower than that of the US, UK, or in many of the European countries," he said. The RBI brought down the benchmark interest rate to a record low of 4 per cent in May. Sanyal further said there was no point in taking measures to rebuild demand during the lockdown phase as it would not have led to desired results. "As we get into the rebuild phase, opening up the lockdown, certainly, we will be in the position to use various tools to rebuild demand...," he said. Beside, he said, the government has announced various supply side reforms, including in agriculture and labour. Pointing out that the post-COVID-19 world will be fundamentally different, he said it will have its own supply chains, geo-politics and changed consumers behaviour. "So, given all these, as a policymaker, I have to be very very careful not to simply press the accelerator on demand and try and reinflate the world we left behind. So, this is the context in which you will see our policy responses. We have included a lot of supply side measures, which is quite different from many other countries," he said. Participating in the webinar, Citi India CEO Ashu Khullar said the first quarter for India is going to be very difficult and probably there could be contraction of 20 per cent. He also said the corporate results are going to be quite difficult. However, the good news is that the supply side is easing up, he said. While there are certain supply challenges, increasingly the constraint is perhaps going to be on the demand side, he added. Appreciating the efforts of RBI, Khullar said the central bank has been very proactive in terms of providing liquidity and cutting rates. As a result of these measures, there are early indications of risk-taking come back in a measured manner, he added.
Source: Economic Times
These details, along with the address of manufacturer and importer, common generic name and consumer-care information, must be written legibly on 40% of the packet while ecommerce companies must mention it on their website, failing which there would be penalties ranging from a fine of Rs 25,000 for the first offence going up to Rs 1.5 lakh or/and imprisonment for repeated violations. The consumer affairs ministry has ordered that every product sold by companies and ecommerce platforms must prominently display its country of origin, price, weight and dates of manufacture and expiry. These details, along with the address of manufacturer and importer, common generic name and consumer-care information, must be written legibly on 40% of the packet while ecommerce…….
Source: Economic Times
Chennai-headquartered Loyal Textiles on Thursday launched reusable personal protective equipment (PPE), masks and protective fashion wears amid the coronavirus pandemic The gears were launched in collaboration with Reliance Industries and Switzerland-based HeiQ. Loyal Textiles has used Reliance Industries'' fibre R|Elan FeelFresh, which was then treated with ''HeiQ Viroblock'' in manufacturing this fabric, the company''s Chairperson Valli M Ramaswami said in a video conference. Loyal Textile Mills also has engineered the fabric with a Viral Barrier PU film lamination from Taiwan that adds up as another powerful protective layer. Currently, the company is producing around 50,000 masks and 4,000 PPE per day, Ramaswami said adding that the total capacity is of 1 lakh masks and 6,000 PPE. When asked if the company is planning to apply for a patent for this line of products, she said Loyal Textiles will soon do so after getting results from some international labs. "We are waiting for reports from a few international labs. After getting them, we are planning to apply for a patent for this product line," she added. Talking about distribution channels, she said the company is in talks for tie-ups with e-commerce as well as retail companies for making the COVID-19 anti-viral, reusable PPE, masks and protective fashion wear range across the country. The company is looking at exporting the products soon, she added.
Source: Outlook India
The United States and Kenya formally launched negotiations Wednesday on a bilateral trade deal, which the countries hope could be replicated across Africa. “Under President [Donald] Trump’s leadership, we look forward to negotiating and concluding a comprehensive, high-standard agreement with Kenya that can serve as a model for additional agreements across Africa,” said U.S. Ambassador Robert Lighthizer in a joint U.S.-Kenya statement. The first round of discussions, held over the next two weeks, will be conducted remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic. Both countries announced formation of a working group to “lay the groundwork for a stronger future trade relationship” in August 2018, the same year the relationship between the two countries was upped to a strategic partnership. Trump and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta officially agreed to pursue trade negotiations in February 2020. The U.S. and Kenya also announced a new strategic cooperation framework Wednesday, meant to help Kenya benefit fully from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which allows most products from sub-Saharan Africa into the U.S. duty free. The program is scheduled to expire in 2025. The negotiations have seen some pushback. Nearly 30 nongovernmental organizations signed a letter Tuesday against the proposed agreement, arguing that bilateral free trade would hurt Kenyan agriculture and manufacturing and undermine regional economic integration efforts through the African Continental Free Trade Area. Lighthizer emphasized a deal’s potential for regional unity, saying, “We believe this agreement with Kenya will complement Africa’s regional integration efforts, including in the East African community and the landmark African Continental Free Trade Area, and the United States pledges its continued support to help the AfCFTA achieve its fullest potential.” Betty Maina, Kenya’s cabinet secretary for industrialization, trade, and enterprise development, said in the statement that an agreement would boost Kenyan exports and foreign investment and would create jobs. Trump, who opposes U.S. membership in the World Trade Organization, has led the charge to negotiate separate bilateral agreements with American trade partners.
Source: Voice of America News
The Holding Company for Cotton, Spinning, Weaving, and Clothes signed a contract on Thursday to establish a new spinning factory at the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company in al-Mahalla al-Kubra, anticipated be the largest spinning factory in the world. Set to be located on an area of about 62,500 square meters, the factory accommodates more than 182,000 spinning wheels with an average production capacity of 30 tons per day.Construction on the factory is estimated to take around 14 months at an estimated cost of roughly LE780 million.The contract was signed between the holding company’s chairman and the deputy chairman of Gama Construction, the project’s winning tender.It comes as part of the state’s comprehensive development plan for cotton, spinning and weaving companies under the Ministry of Public Business Sector.This plan will take around 30 months to implement at a cost exceeding LE21 billion and includes a total modernization of construction and machinery – of which contracts are in place to import from international companies alongside comprehensive development in management, marketing and training systems.The development plan involves increasing specialization and removing redundant activities in more than one company by merging 23 spinning, weaving, dyeing and processing companies into nine, and merging nine cotton trade and ginning companies into a single entity.The merger aims to have the ten remaining companies become strong entities capable of competing and integrating while tripling current production capacity.Those companies set to be merged will continue operating as usual until the completion of the merger expected for summer 2021.
Source: Egypt Independent
Around 70,00,000 people in these three provinces will be affected due to the cash withdrawal restrictions; these curbs were announced after local governments, police and banks failed to persuade people not to throng banks in large numbers to withdraw all their cash. The Communist Party of China has put strict curbs on cash withdrawal from banks amid fears of bank runs and the rising number of non-performing assets in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. The restrictions have been imposed as a pilot project in Hebei province of China and will subsequently be implemented in two more regions, Zhejiang and Shenzhen, by October, Bloomberg quoted the People's Bank of China as saying. Around 70,00,000 people in these three provinces will be affected due to the cash withdrawal restrictions. As per government agencies, these curbs were announced after local governments, police and banks failed to persuade people not to throng banks in large numbers to withdraw all their cash.The People's Bank of China said the move will keep the "unreasonable demands of large amounts of cash" in check, while regulators will ensure the people's normal needs for large transactions is also taken care of, the news agency reported. Under this two-year project, limits have been imposed on cash withdrawals for individuals and businesses. Individuals withdrawing between 1,000-300,000 yuan and businesses withdrawing more than 500,000 yuan will require prior government approval, the report said. The decision has reportedly been taken as people have been thronging the government banks to withdraw money in large sums in the wake of various reports of banks' inability to pay back customers their hard-earned money. This has forced authorities to impose limits on the cash withdrawals. Chinese banks are also trying to quell rumours of banks' inability to pay back. Baoding Bank in the Baoding city of Hebei province recently released a statement, urging people not to believe in rumours and not withdraw all their cash from the banks. The similar statement was issued by Yangquan Commercial Bank after rumours over its declining financial health. The current situation has risen in the wake of Chinese government baling out several struggling banks last year.
Source: Business Today
Belarusian textile company Orsha Linen Mill is modernising its garment factory at a cost of more than Br3 million ($1.23 million). The company processes linen fibre and produces fabrics as well as finished piece and sewing products from them. All groups of finished pieces including men's, women's, and children's clothing are made at the sewing factory. Orsha began modernising its garment factory in late 2019 with the main goal of increasing output capacity and product choice. The factory employs about 200 workers and has a capacity to make nearly 3 million pieces per annum. The company is also setting up an additional facility on 1,000 sq m of land, which is expected to create 60 new jobs. The construction and installation work is complete, and the facility is expected to be commissioned soon, Belarusian media reports said. The new facility will have two process lines—one to make trousers out of flax and the other to produce shirts and blouses. It will have capacity to produce nearly 14,000 pieces per month. At present, 80 per cent of Orsha's products are exported to 43 countries across the world. The modernisation project will enable the company to begin making new products with better quality standards, the reports added.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
