India looking at FTAs for strategic considerations also, says Commerce Secretary

India is considering Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to ensure the smooth supply of critical minerals. Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal stated that India is negotiating with Australia for critical mineral supplies for batteries used in electric vehicles.

Higher imports by India, the world’s biggest buyer of vegetable oils, would help top producers Malaysia and Indonesia bring down stocks and support Malaysian prices.

There is no proposal at present to impose import restrictions on more electronic goods. The government decided to impose import curbs on laptops, personal computers and certain more electronic devices from November 1 on security grounds to reduce imports from nations like China and boost domestic manufacturing.

India received nearly 700 applications from bidders with which it shares land borders for public procurement contracts as of June 30, with 110 pending for review by various ministries. In 2020, India amended public procurement norms to allow any eligible bidder from a border-sharing country to participate in procurement only if they are registered with […]

The portal for which European Union has raised data privacy concerns has details of MSMEs of every G20 member including the sectors and products they deal with. Some G20 members have also had apprehensions with the digitisation goal, which involves transparency provisions.

Officials said that the utilisation of the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) is as high as 90% in around 113 products especially labour intensive items where duties were reduced to nil from 5% under the pact. “90% of the exports of these products to Australia are happening through the FTA (free trade agreement) […]

Pineapples from Meghalaya are exported to Abu Dhabi. Meghalaya has a diverse range of agro-climatic conditions which results in a variety of agricultural and horticultural products. Being grown by local communities in traditional manner, these crops are mostly naturally organic. These factors attribute towards the produce from the state slowly being recognised for their unique […]

“The domestic production of edible oilseeds increased marginally. However, domestic consumption/demand for edible oils has been increasing at a pace faster than that of production due to growth in population and improvement in the living standards of people i.e. around 10 lakh tonnes per annum,” she said.

Nepal’s government wants to export tomatoes to India in large quantities on a long-term basis, but it needs India to provide access to the market and other necessary facilities. This comes as India starts importing tomatoes from Nepal due to a record-high spike in prices in the country.

Violation of the law can attract a penalty of up to two years of imprisonment or with fine of at least Rs 2 lakh for the first offence which increases to Rs 5 lakh minimum for the second and subsequent offences. These orders are issued by the department in consonance with the WTO (World Trade […]