India and Myanmar pioneered a new bilateral trade payment system as the Yangon office of Punjab National Bank on Tuesday completed the first transaction exceeding Rs 1 crore for a shipment of pulses under the Rupee-Kyat Settlement Mechanism.
The initiative aims to streamline trade transactions between India and Myanmar, enhancing efficiency by eliminating complexities associated with exchange rates through direct payment in local currencies.
The Central Bank of Myanmar introduced guidelines for payment procedures via the Special Rupee Vostro Account (SRVA) on January 26 this year. The mechanism covers both sea and border trade, encompassing transactions for goods and services.
The success of the first exports of Goa's famed 'malcorado' mango, also called 'mankurad' to the United Kingdom recently has opened a window of hope among farmers in the State.
The 'malcorado mango' had earned a GI tag in August last year.
"A consignment of three quintals (300 kgs) of the much sought after native Goan variety of mango was shipped from the Manohar International Airport and the entire project was coordinated by the Agriculture Products Export Development Agency (APEDA) for the exporters, Kay Bee Exports," an official of the Agriculture Department said.
The official also said that the experiment to export the malcorado was kick started with the interest shown by the Maharashtra-based Kay Bee Exports whose officials got in touch with the Goa Agriculture Department and then, one thing led to another.
APEDA officials then enquired with a number of cultivators and then zeroed in on the horticulture farms in the Sattari region. The mangoes for export were eventually sourced from the farm belonging to Dr Francis Pinto located in the Naneli area of Valpoi and managed by Rakesh Singh.
The founder and CEO of Kay Bee exports, Prakash Kakkar, himself visited Goa to ensure that the malcorado mango export experiment succeeds, said an official of the Agriculture Department.
The success of the project, according to him, bodes well for Goa's famed malcorado mango which is known to have a very short shelf-life, much lower than neighbouring Ratnagiri's 'Alphonso' made famous by exports to western countries.
The RBI on July 2 proposed rationalising regulations that cover export and import transactions with an aim to promote ease of doing business and empower banks to provide more efficient service to their foreign exchange customers.
The commerce ministry has sought views of different departments on proposed measures to revive special economic zones and facilitate business transactions between SEZ and the domestic market, a senior official said on Monday. The official said that the ministry has suggested allowing the sale of products manufactured in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the domestic market on payment of duty foregone on inputs as that would help promote value addition.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that the final details of a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Russia were being worked out, and that deepening trade and economic cooperation would be one of the key themes of the visit.
India’s coffee exports rose 43 per cent in dollar value terms to $926.55 million in the first half of calendar year 2024 on increase in global prices and aided by a 13 per cent growth in volume. In the same period last year, coffee exports stood at $647.76 million.
