India and the European Union have agreed to resume talks for a balanced, ambitious and comprehensive trade agreement and also launch negotiations for a stand-alone investment protection pact, the External Affairs Ministry said on Saturday. These decisions were taken during a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the heads of state or government of all the 27-member states of the bloc with a focus on expanding overall cooperation in areas of trade, investment and connectivity. The two sides also launched a sustainable and comprehensive connectivity partnership, the ministry said and described the summit as a watershed moment in the ties.
The commerce ministry on Monday said it has started a COVID-19 helpdesk to help resolve issues of exporters and importers pertaining to international trade such as customs clearance delays and banking matters. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), an arm of the ministry, took this initiative to monitor the status of exports and imports, and difficulties being faced by trade stakeholders in view of the surge in COVID-19 cases. DGFT has accordingly operationalised a COVID-19 Helpdesk to support and seek suitable resolutions to issues arising in respect of international trade, the ministry said. It added that the helpdesk would look into issues relating to import and export licensing, customs clearance delays and complexities arising thereon, import/export documentation, and banking matters.
Exports during April 1-14 last year were aggregated at USD 3.59 billion. In April 2020, the outbound shipments had contracted by a record 60 per cent due to COVID-19 related lockdown. Imports during the period under review swelled to USD 19.93 billion as against USD 6.54 billion during April 1-14 last year, the data showed. The final figures for April 2021 would be released during mid-May by the ministry.
Exports have surged by 60.29 per cent to USD 34.45 billion in March, even as the outbound shipments contracted by 7.26 per cent during the full 2020-21 fiscal to USD 290.63 billion.
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Bringing down import tariffs by at least 50 per cent holds the key to achieve competitiveness in India, former deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said. Stating that the Indian economy has not witnessed fast enough growth, Ahluwalia said the underlying challenge is the ineffectiveness to translate broad uncontroversial objectives of competitiveness and growth into concrete and actionable policy programmes yielding results in a time-bound manner. He was speaking at a webinar on improving India s competitiveness for inclusive economic growth by CUTS International on Tuesday. In addition, Ajit Pai, distinguished expert, economics and finance at NITI Aayog, stressed on the need for designing a sequential strategy of policy interventions in order to achieve the objectives of competitiveness.
The commerce ministry will soon seek the Cabinet’s approval for the national logistics policy, which aims to promote seamless movement of goods across the country.
“The policy is at the near-finalisation stage. Consultations with all ministries, departments and other stakeholders have happened. All their views and comments have been factored in. It will soon go for the Cabinet approval,” Pawan Agarwal, special secretary at the commerce ministry’s logistics division, said on Wednesday.
A comprehensive institutional framework is also being set up to ensure the smooth implementation of the policy, Agarwal added. Towards this end, a national logistics council, a central advisory committee on logistics, and an empowered group of secretaries have been planned.