 "Govt to turn attention to spectrum sale, textiles")
These measured are likely to be taken up by the Cabinet on Wednesday. The Cabinet might consider a proposal to finalise the base price and auction terms for the upcoming sale of airwaves in seven telecom spectrum bands. Sources said after Cabinet approval, the process to start the spectrum sale would begin. An official said the sale was likely to start in August.
The government has been on a reform drive since Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan announced his decision to not opt for a second term.
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The inter-ministerial Telecom Commission had decided that for the spectrum acquired in upcoming auctions, a spectrum usage charge (SUC) of three per cent of adjusted gross revenue would be charged from mobile operators. A weighted average formula would be used for calculating the SUC on the total spectrum holding for all bands. This will be the biggest auction of airwaves so far and a sale at the base price would fetch the government Rs 5.36 lakh crore over 20 years. The government is auctioning 700 MHz for the first time, for which the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had recommended a record high base price of Rs 11,485 crore a MHz. If all available airwaves under this band were sold, it would yield Rs 4 lakh crore.
However, industry players had termed the price too high and had sought to defer the sale of this band citing lack of ecosystem. The government expects a revenue of Rs 98,995 crore from communication services in 2016-17, which includes proceeds from spectrum auction and other fees levied by the department of telecommunications (DoT).
The Cabinet is also likely to take up the National Textiles Policy-2016. In the works since last year, the policy aims to achieve $300-billion exports by 2024-25. India exported $36.25 billion worth of textile and related goods in the last financial year, 2.4 per cent drop from 2014-15. Competing nations Bangladesh and China have been blamed for aggressively edging out Indian exporters from traditional markets like Europe. The high price of domestic cotton, coupled with heavy duties on import of cheaper Chinese varieties, also hampered production of cotton goods, said an expert.
Cotton-based readymade goods, among the highest foreign exchange earners, fell two per cent; cotton fabrics fell more than four per cent. The new policy also aims to create 35 million jobs by 2024-25. "The policy rests hugely on job creation as we have set a target of doubling the total number of people currently employed in the sector," a ministry source said on conditions of anonymity.
The Cabinet might also soon take up a review of the India-Korea Free Trade Agreement. The government is currently reviewing the trade agreement with South Korea and is expected to update it soon. India's CEPA with South Korea was implemented in January 2010 to liberalise trade norms. Bilateral trade, estimated at $16.58 billion in 2015-16, is heavily in favour of South Korea. India's exports to South Korea fell nearly 23 per cent in 2015-16 to $3.54 billion.
Indian companies have sought a review of trade agreements with other nations that they claim have benefitted the country's trading partners more. They have pointed to steel products, which they said should be excluded from the free trade agreements (FTAs) with Japan and South Korea because these countries were flooding the Indian market.
ISSUES TO BE TAKEN UP
- The Cabinet might consider a proposal to finalise the base price and auction terms for the upcoming sale of airwaves in 7 telecom spectrum bands
- It is also likely to take up the National Textiles Policy-2016. In the works since last year, the policy aims to achieve $300-bn exports by 2024-25