Closer Ties, New Gateways

Showing signs of a balanced growth across all sectors, preliminary data released by the commerce ministry indicates that India’s exports nearly trebled in April to US S30.2 Bn in comparison to last year, same period. Experts attributed the rise to a positive growth in the export of commodities like engineering goods, gems, jewelry, petroleum products to name a few. Even the policy thinkers claim that the demand for these products is picking up in the western markets and is likely to remain on top of their lists for some time.

Another cause for a celebration is the new opportunities that are set to come India’s way after the country entered into an Enhanced Trade Partnership with the UK, earlier this week. Before the deal was cracked, UK PM Boris Johnson announced a £1 Bn investment in India’s private sector and showed his commitment to seek a Free Trade Agreement with India that promises to double trade by 2030.

Apart from this, fighting a hard battle against covid-19 is the nation’s highly unorganized MSME sector who is desperately seeking more support from the RBI claiming that its relief measures aren’t enough to keep their heads high in this corona wave. We hope the government takes cognizance of this issue and diverts resources to help this industry.

Exports jump to $30.2 billion in April; trade deficit at $15.24 billion

India's exports in April jumped nearly three-folds to $30.21 billion from $10.17 billion in the same month last year, according to commerce ministry's preliminary data released on Sunday.

British Trade Secretary Liz Truss and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal sign U.K.-India ETP agreement

British Trade Secretary Liz Truss and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal have signed the UK-India Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP) agreement, aimed at doubling bilateral trade by 2030.

Organic products exports rise over 80 times since 2002-03 to record $1.4 b last fiscal

Export of organic products from India grew 51 per cent to a record $1.04 billion in dollar terms during the 2020-21 fiscal compared with the previous fiscal. The increase has come after organic products shipments dropped by nine per cent to $689 million in 2019-20 from $757 in 2018-19.

RBI's relief: Hit by second Covid wave, MSMEs call for more support

Micro, small & medium enterprises (MSMEs), which have been hit badly by the second wave of Covid, have said that the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) steps to ensure liquidity and provide support are not enough. According to them, measures such as revisiting classification of bad loans and clearing pending dues from government agencies are also required.

Indian seafood industry fears further setback on freight hike, US retaliatory tariff

India’s largest market of aquaculture shrimps is the US, accounting for about 50% of the country’s total production. Already beset with problems on the production and export fronts, the Indian seafood sector fears further setback due to the proposed retaliatory tariff by the US and impending freight rate hike.