India Trade Policy

He called for mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) to facilitate trade

India has reduced its tariffs significantly over the years, bringing them down to the world average level, yet the domestic industries continue to suggest increasing the duties, a senior government official said on Wednesday. Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade Amardeep Singh Bhatia said that it needs to be examined why such requests come. "On the export market side and integration with the (global) supply chains, there is also a lot of work which has been done in terms of reduction in tariff, the weighted tariff has come down substantially and it is almost at the world average level. But of course, there are pressures that it should be increased by the domestic industry, which we need to look at why these requests keep coming up. Why are we not competitive enough," he said. India has also free trade agreements with different countries to push exports. The Secretary was speaking at CII's Global Policy Forum 2024. Cut in customs duties on raw ..

The balances in the RVAs are built through inward remittances in freely convertible currencies

Senior officials of India and Australia have reviewed the progress of talks on the proposed free trade agreement between the two countries, the commerce ministry said on Monday. The two countries had implemented an interim trade pact in December 2022 and now they are negotiating to widen the scope of the pact for a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). "The three-day stocktake visit for the India-Australia CECA concluded in New Delhi on December 6," the ministry said. The stocktake discussions covered several critical areas of the agreement, including trade in goods, services, mobility, agri-tech cooperation, and more. "The discussions also centered on market access modalities that align with India's food security objectives," it said. Both parties evaluated the progress made so far and outlined a path forward for the early conclusion of the CECA. The Indian delegation was headed by Additional Secretary and Chief Negotiator, Department of Commerce, Rajesh Agrawal,

Coming calendar year may see change in trade partner dynamics for copper rods, concentrate imports

Growth may falter if the President-elect follows through on his stated agenda

The talks come at a time when multiple domestic steelmakers, such as JSW Steel and SAIL, are also in talks with the landlocked nation to import coking coal

The CBIC should do away with the IGCRS Rules for the EOUs, as they serve no useful purpose, only cause harassment and encourage corruption

Trump's return to power could also bring a fresh wave of scrutiny toward India. In October, he had cited it as the "biggest tariff charger" and has threatened reciprocal tariffs

The commerce ministry's investigation arm DGTR has recommended imposition of an anti-dumping duty of up to USD 339 per tonne on imports of PVC resins from seven countries, including China, the US and Korea, with a view to guard domestic producers. In its preliminary findings, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has concluded that 'PVC suspension resins' have been exported to India at a price below the normal value, resulting in dumping. The notification of the directorate said that the imports from these countries - China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea RP, Taiwan, Thailand and the US - have caused material injury to the domestic industry. "Accordingly, the authority recommends imposition of provisional anti-dumping duty on the imports," it has said. The recommended duty ranges between USD 25 per tonne and USD 339 per tonne. The finance ministry takes the final decision to impose duties. The DGTR conducted the probe following applications regarding the same from domestic ..

Indian officials still tend to think of trade as a zero-sum game, with tariffs as the only real levers

Experts say higher trade curbs under Donald Trump could hurt India's export competitiveness

Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

India has not been able to attract a notably greater share of global FDI. Some of this is due to political resistance to stronger ties with China, some of it is held back by structural barriers

IES is an interest subvention scheme, under which benefits in the interest rates charged by the banks are given to the exporters on their pre and post shipment rupee export credits

16th Brics Summit in Russia's Kazan to be the first with new members

During the meet, Finance minister commended the strong performance of the Mexican economy in the last six years following prudent fiscal policies

Soybean production in the country has increased by about 6 per cent to nearly 126 lakh tonnes in the current kharif season due to favourable weather conditions, an organisation of the crop processors said on Tuesday. Its acreage remained almost the same as last season, the trade body said. During the last kharif season, the average productivity of soybean per hectare in the country was 1,002 kg, while this time it has increased to 1,063 kg, Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA) Executive Director D N Pathak told PTI. "This time the distribution of monsoon rains in the major soybean producing areas of the country was good, which boosted the crop yield. The adoption of advanced methods of farming by cultivators and increased the crop yield," he said. After the sowing of soybean during the kharif season of 2023, there was a severe lack of moisture in the fields due to lack of rain for three weeks in the major soybean producing areas in August, as a result the crop productivit

US-India Strategic Partnership Forum President and CEO Mukesh Aghi on Monday emphasised that exports are going to be a major job creator for India as the country moves towards becoming a USD 5 trillion economy. Aghi, who was speaking at an event organised by the USISPF, also stressed that India and the US should continue to strengthen their economic engagements and increase the bilateral trade to USD 500 billion going forward. He said creating nearly 1.2 million jobs per month is going to be a challenge, highlighting the importance of job creation to ensure there is no social unrest among the youth. "As India's economy goes from 4 to 5 trillion dollars, one of the biggest job creators is going to be exports because we have a challenge and the challenge is how do we create 1.2 million jobs (in India) a month and unless we are able to meet that objective we will start seeing some kind of social unrest among the youth itself...," Aghi said. "So I think it is important to keep on drivi

Petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri lauded India's economic growth under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the country has advanced from the 10th largest economy in 2014 to the 5th largest by 2019, surpassing the UK. Speaking at a community reception, organized by Consul General of India in Houston, D C Manjunath, at India House here, Puri emphasized Houston's pivotal role in the global energy sector, particularly in green hydrogen and aerospace. Expressing his thoughts about deepening US-India collaboration in the clean energy sector, Puri praised India's refining capacity and initiatives in biofuel blending, aiming to boost refining capacity to 300 million metric tons per annum. He termed the US-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership as a cornerstone of future collaboration between the two countries. He acknowledged the political successes of Prime Minister Modi's party in the recent elections and said the country under Modi's regime has advanced from the 10th largest econ