Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal met with chief executives of leading global corporations as well as industry stakeholders here and discussed investment opportunities in India and areas to further strengthen the bilateral trade partnership with the US.

 

Goyal, who is in the US on an official visit, held a series of meetings with the CEOs of investment and financial giants on Monday.

 

Following a meeting with smart and sustainable buildings solutions provider Johnson Controls Chairman and CEO George Oliver, Goyal tweeted that he 'exchanged views on enhancing company's role in decarbonisation & developing sustainable buildings in India.'

 

They also discussed developing security products through Research and Development, the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence.

 

In his meeting with the CEO and Chairman of investment management giant Blackstone Stephen Schwarzman, Goyal discussed expanding India's investment landscape, including infrastructure, renewables and green hydrogen. They exchanged views on the 'deepening of India's capital markets and private equity landscape,' Goyal said in a separate tweet.

 

Goyal met Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach and co-founder and co-Executive Chairman of global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, Henry Kravis.

 

In a tweet after his meeting with Kravis, Goyal said he exchanged views on 'attractive investment opportunities in India including in infrastructure, manufacturing and startup incubators.'

 

Later, at a business roundtable organised by the US-India Business Council at Nasdaq, Goyal 'spoke about India's remarkable economic transformation and huge potential. Stronger India-US trade and surging crossflow of investments are adding new value and dynamism to our bilateral partnership.'

 

Earlier in the day, Goyal addressed a roundtable of stakeholders from industry, think tanks and academia at the Council on Foreign Relations. The interaction focused on strengthening the India-US trade partnership and India's role as a trusted investment destination. 'Discussed wide-ranging issues including India's G20 Presidency,' Goyal tweeted.

 

Goyal began his engagements in New York with a visit to the Tata Innovation Center at Cornell Tech which houses a mix of academic and research teams and corporate offices for technology companies, startups and venture capitalists.

 

He said Tata Innovation Center's work in 'cutting-edge technology is a testimony to India-US cooperation in the sector, enhancing our mutual competitiveness & productivity.'

 

After arriving in New York Sunday, Goyal addressed members of the diaspora at a community reception in Edison, New Jersey where he lauded contributions made by members of the Indian-American community in strengthening bilateral relations.

 

He will travel to Washington DC Tuesday and will attend the 13th Trade Policy Forum (TPF) meeting on January 11. He will also hold a bilateral meeting with US Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai.

 

According to the data of the commerce ministry, in 2021-22, the bilateral trade between the US and India stood at USD 119.42 billion as against USD 80.51 billion in 2020-21.

The Philippines’ agriculture department is planning to import 22,000 tons of onions to boost domestic supply as surging prices of the cooking ingredient, possibly the most expensive in the world, helped push inflation to a 14-year high.

The import proposal was arrived at during a meeting of the department’s executive committee and will be recommended to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for approval, its assistant secretary Rex Estoperez said in a phone interview Sunday. Marcos is also the agriculture secretary.

 

The proposed purchase 'will be good for a month and to pull down prices,' Estoperez said. 'We can’t sit idly because one of the drivers of inflation is the price of onions.'

 

The purchase would be a 'temporary solution' and there are no further plans to import for now, he said. The Southeast Asian nation consumes around 17,000 tons of onions a month, Estoperez said. The agriculture department expects the planned imports, once approved, would arrive no later than the first week of February, he said.

 

Red onions were selling for as much as 650 pesos ($11.68) a kilogram in the Philippines and the white variety was priced as high as 600 pesos, about three times the price of chicken and around 25% costlier than beef, based on the retail prices of farm commodities monitored by the agriculture department as of Jan. 5.

 

Onion is a key ingredient in Filipino cuisine which most households use along with garlic. The price spike hit consumers particularly hard during the yearend holidays with food taking centerstage in many gatherings, prompting not a few to air their rants on social media.

 

A drop in local output helped lift onion prices, said Estoperez. Onions contributed 0.3 percentage points to the Philippines’ overall inflation, the same as rice, National Statistician Dennis Mapa said in a briefing last week. Consumer prices in December rose 8.1%, reaching a 14-year high, from 8% the previous month.

 

Half of the planned imports will be distributed in the main island of Luzon and the remaining will be shipped to Visayas and Mindanao, Estoperez said. While domestic harvests are continuing, the output is only expected to peak in the March-to-May period, resulting in the need to augment supply, he said.

An official spokesman in a statement issued here said that inaugurating the Mega Fruit Plant Nursery at Chakroi in R S Pura, the LG congratulated the farmers and fruit growers on the occasion.

 

He said that the nursery would provide best technologies as well as true-to-type quality planting material that would reshape the horticulture sector in the area.

 

'It is a massive achievement that in one year a mega fruit plant nursery has been established in an area where cross border shelling was a normal thing in fields,' the LG said. 'The policies through holistic development plan have laid the foundations for a sea change in J&K's economic growth.'

 

He shared the vision of the government to bring a significant change in the lives of farmers of J&K and accelerate the growth of J&K’s economy.

 

'Our effort is to make sub-tropical fruit cultivation a multi-faceted business by increasing efficiency of orchards with the help of various interventions like setting up new nurseries and new plant material testing labs,' the LG said. 'The government is committed to serve the present and future needs of farmers in an integrated manner. Our endeavour is also to convert the potential of farms and orchards into farmer's power and transform all the districts of both Kashmir and Jammu divisions into a hub of export with the cultivation of niche crops and value addition of special products.'

 

He said that to meet the future challenges and to ensure a new wave of growth momentum, 29 projects approved by the Apex Committee for Holistic Development of Agriculture and Allied Sectors were being implemented.

 

'The plan worth Rs 5013 crores will bring significant change in the lives of around 13 lakh farming families of J&K including 2.62 lakh small and marginal farming families,' the LG said.

 

He said no other region in the country had made such a revolutionary intervention in the agriculture and allied sector.

 

'All arrangements, from seed to market have been made through the implementation framework of the plan,' the LG said.

 

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had ensured that there would be no shortage of funds for farmers of J&K.

 

The LG also suggested improving productivity and tackling challenges as well as opportunities of the agriculture and allied sectors.

 

'A strong agricultural marketing ecosystem will increase the farm income and reduce the value loss. We are working on covering the entire value chain including inputs, harvesting, processing, packing, storage, besides meeting the need of quality planting material and developing infrastructure and other facilities while taking climatic conditions into consideration,' he said. 'We have also made provisions to arrange and grow 80 percent of fodder requirements locally within J&K.'

 

Speaking on the services extended by the government, the LG said that around 31 lakh land passbooks have been generated and more than 400 public services have been made fully online with a provision of Public Services Guarantee Act.

 

On the issue of proper functioning of the Ranbir Canal, he said that a permanent solution via a policy for uninterrupted and proper functioning of the Ranbir Canal would be ensured.

 

The LG also clarified that there was no such rule for compulsory buying of cattle from outside the region to avail the subsidy.

 

'And if there is any, I declare it and void,' he said.

 

Chairman District Development Council (DDC) Jammu, Bharat Bhushan extended his gratitude to the Centre under PM Modi for ensuring peace in border areas, which led to development works like the Mega Fruit Plant Nursery at Chakroi.

 

Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture Production Department, Atal Dulloo congratulated the Horticulture Department for completing the project of Mega Fruit Plant Nursery within a stipulated time frame.

 

This mega fruit plant nursery established with state-of-the-art equipment like automatic weather monitoring system would facilitate easy supply of quality fruit saplings.

 

VC SKUAST Jammu, Prof J P Sharma stressed the need to convert low-density orchards into high-density orchards and increase farmer’s income through horticulture.

 

An official spokesman said: 'The Mega Fruit Plant Nursery houses 50 different blocks for growing mother plants of different fruits including citrus fruits. Spanning over more than 800 kanal, the Mega Fruit Plant Nursery will grow and provide saplings of guava, mango, litchi, other citrus fruits and also of the dragon fruit. It is the biggest fruit nursery in north India.  In the coming time, 10 lakh saplings of fruit plants will be distributed to farmers. Micro irrigation system was also established in the mega fruit nursery for irrigation in addition to other advanced facilities and modern equipment. Tissue culture lab and other labs will also be established in the coming time.'

 

Several publications including Mega Fruit Plant Nursery Chakroi Magazine, cultivation of litchi and strawberry and strategic management of stone fruit were also released on the occasion.

 

The LG also planted a sapling in the premises of the nursery to mark the occasion.

 

Divisional Commissioner Jammu Ramesh Kumar, Deputy Commissioner Jammu Avny Lavasa, and Director Horticulture Jammu Ram Savak were also present at the inauguration event.

The Meghalaya government is working towards fostering development-friendly environment through initiatives such as the Meghalaya Milk Mission, Piggery Mission and Meghalaya State Aquaculture Mission 2.0 to harness rural entrepreneurship and improve living conditions.

 

Under the initiative, the state government looks to consolidate Meghalaya as self-sufficient on resources and infrastructure and retaining its status as a high-value contributor to the nation’s animal husbandry industry, said a statement.

 

The Meghalaya Milk Mission intents replicating the country’s White Revolution structure by encouraging new farmers to participate as a community-based dairy cooperative societies. Under the initiative, 66 dairy co-operative societies, 588 beneficiaries with 1,066 cattle have been provided with Rs.25 ccore financial support to boost productivity.

 

Piggery Mission

To improve the economic and nutritional status, the state government launched a Rs.209-crore Piggery Mission uplifting the incomes of over 25,000 households. The mission aims to affect a radical shift in domestic pork production. The mission’s primary objective is to establish economically viable, self-sustaining breeding and fattening units throughout the State. Through this mission, 253 co-operatives received close to Rs.45 crore in monetary grant, the release said.

 

Aquaculture Mission 2.0

The state government has also launched the Meghalaya State Aquaculture Mission 2.0 with Rs.378 crore investment to enhance aquaculture output. Over 7,000 fishers benefitted from the scheme.

 

'To make the most of upcoming opportunities in the industry, the mission is actively enhancing vital aspects of aquaculture in the state, such as area and productivity expansion; critical infrastructure development; establishing sanctuaries for conserving indigenous and endemic species; and capacity building in terms of human resources,' it said.

 

Due to the topography, climate, and socioeconomic circumstances of Meghalaya, only about 10 per cent of the State’s land area can be used for agricultural. Therefore, a popular source of secondary income the villagers rely on is raising livestock. The application of modern technologies has raised the potential for commercial livestock and poultry farming as a full-time occupation for a decent living, the release added.

The Niti Aayog is preparing an index on agriculture transformation which will rank states on their performance on farm sector policies, a move that will help the Centre gauge measures taken by the states to increase farmers' income.

 

A senior government official told ET that the Agriculture Transformation Index is likely to measure the performance of states across seven pillars - inputs, sustainability, productivity and diversification, policy, preservation, processing and exports, and farmers' income and welfare.

 

'The index is aimed at capturing the new policy paradigm in agriculture, at the core of which are sustainable diversification of crops, improvement in productivity and increasing farmers' income,' said the official, who did not wish to be identified.

 

With the help of stakeholder ministries, the Aayog has developed more than half-dozen indices, including health, education and water sustainable development index, to rank states annually on measurable parameters. The government believes the exercise has helped improve the country's overall performance across sectors.

 

In 2018, the government had accepted the proposals of the committee on doubling farmers' income, following which an empowered committee was formed to review and monitor the progress.

 

The panel had recommended seven sources of income growth for farmers, including improvement in crop productivity, improvement in livestock productivity, resource use efficiency.

India has exported 16.92 lakh tonnes of sugar till January 4 of the ongoing 2022-23 marketing year, including 59,596 tonnes of the sweetener to neighbouring China, trade body AISTA said on Tuesday. Among other neighbouring nations, India has exported 1.47 lakh tonnes of sugar to Bangladesh, and 82,462 tonnes to Sri Lanka during October-January 4 of the current marketing year, All India Sugar Trade Association (AISTA) said in a statement.

 

The sugar marketing year runs from October to September. The government has allowed export of 6 million tonnes till May of the 2022-23 marketing year.

 

According to AISTA, mills have exported a total of 16,92,751 tonnes of sugar from October 1, 2022 to January 4, this year.

 

Over 3.47 lakh tonnes of sugar is under loading, while 2.54 lakh tonnes of sugar has been delivered to refineries considered to be deemed export in the said period, it said.

 

Of the total exports undertaken so far, maximum exports have been to Somalia at 1.70 lakh tonnes, followed by the UAE at 1.69 lakh tonnes, Djibouti at 1.50 lakh tonnes, and Sudan at 1.37 lakh tonnes.

 

India exported 1.36 lakh tonnes to Malaysia, 1.18 lakh tonnes to Indonesia, and 1.08 lakh tonnes to Saudi Arabia till January 4 of the current marketing year, AISTA added.

 

Sugar exports from India, one of the world's major sugar producing nations, stood at 11.2 million tonnes in the 2021-22 marketing year.

 

AISTA has made an initial projection of sugar output to be lower at 35.8 million tonnes during the 2022-23 marketing year, from a record 36.5 million tonnes in the previous year.

 

The wheat production in the country is set to jump to a record this year as all-time high prices prompted farmers to expand planting areas, and opting of high-yielding varieties, news agency Reuters said. Scientists and traders have projected ‘good weather conditions’, another factor for the largescale wheat production. India, which is world's second largest wheat producer, may consider lifting a ban on exports of the staple becaus eof the higher output. The move will help ease concerns over persistently high inflation in food prices.

 

'This year production could rise to 112 million tonnes because of the higher area and favourable weather,' Gyanendra Singh, director at the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research told the agency.

 

India is also world's second-biggest consumer of wheat. Last year, India banned exports of the  staple crop in May after a sharp, sudden rise in temperatures clipped output, even as exports picked up to meet the global shortfall triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

 

India's wheat output fell to 106.84 million tonnes in 2022 from 109.59 million tonnes a year earlier, the Central governement stated. The surge in wheat prices to a record despite the ban on exports of the grain indicates a far bigger drop in this year's output.

 

The US Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service has pegged production at 100 million tonnes, while traders estimated output fell to as low as 95 million tonnes because of a heatwave early last year.

 

This year, Reuters said that the weather in key wheat-producing states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana has been favourable with temperatures hovering below normal levels.

 

'The current cold wave is good for the crop's growth. Farmers have opted for newer high-yielding varieties which are more resilient to climate change,' said Singh.

 

Farmers have planted wheat on 33.22 million hectares since 1 October, when the current sowing season began, up nearly 1% from a year earlier.

A 7-day long Startup-India Innovation Week to celebrate the National Startup Day started today across the nation with several events to reach ecosystem stakeholders and enablers. 

 

Following is a snap shot of events that were successfully conducted on Day 1 of the Startup India Innovation Week:

 

Workshop on Alternative Investment Funds

 

Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) organized a workshop on Alternative Investment and their Central role today, chaired by Anurag Jain, Secretary, DPIIT as part of the Startup India Innovation Week 2023 at Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi. 

 

DPIIT has worked closely with the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), and Ministry of Labour and Employment (M/o-L&E) to allow Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) to invest in startups. 

 

The workshop focused on sensitizing representatives from Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), SIDBI to mobilize domestic capital into the startup ecosystem through AIFs.

 

The 2-hour workshop began with an overview of the startup investment landscape in India followed by sessions on Investments in AIFs, Regulatory Framework for AIFs, and opportunity by these organizations to invest in AIFs. Thereafter, Indian, and Global success stories were shared. 

 

ASCEND SAMAGAM

 

DPIIT organized the ASCEND (Accelerating Startup Calibre & Entrepreneurial Drive) SAMAGAM today as part of the Startup India Innovation Week 2023. The objective of the workshop is to capacitate and augment knowledge on key aspects of entrepreneurship and continue efforts towards creating a robust startup ecosystem in Northeast.

 

ASCEND Samagam is being conducted as a follow up to ASCEND Workshops organized by DPIIT for the entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, students, and ecosystem enablers in all eight States of Northeast India during the months of November and December 2022.

 

The ASCEND SAMAGAM conducted in virtual mode witnessed active participation of 110+ participants across all states in Northeast states including stakeholders such as State officials, startups, and aspiring entrepreneurs.

 

Webinar on Founders of Today, Leaders of Tomorrow

 

Startup India hosted a webinar on the topic “Founders of Today, Leaders of Tomorrow” on 10th January 2023. The session was led by three experts, including Prof. Surya Kumar, Dean - Innovation, Translation & Startups IIT Hyderabad, Chris Cander, Schulich Business School, Canada, and Prof Dhruv Nath, Angel Investor and Ex-Management Development Institute, Gurgaon.

 

In addition to the above, startup related events were also organised across various centres across the country:

 

Association For Scientific Pursuits for Innovative Research Enterprises (Hyderabad) : The centre hosted a conference on two topics: IT (Information Technology) strategy for startups and Startup Valuation at ASPIRE, University of Hyderabad. The conference was organised in a hybrid mode with participation of over 20 startups offline. Two experts from their respective fields led the conference and engaged the audience in the informative program.

 

Sardar Patel Technology Business Incubator (Mumbai) : The centre hosted a workshop on the topic: The Art of Pitching. Expert speaker Mr. Dinesh Israni, Naman Angels India Foundation, led the workshop which was hosted in a hybrid format. The event witnessed participation from over 40+ startups and ecosystem enablers.

 

Agri Business Incubation Society (Coimbatore): The centre hosted a physical program to celebrate the National Startup Day. It was inaugurated by Prof. Dr. V. Geethalakshmi, Vice-Chancellor, TNAU (Tamil Nadu Agricultural University) and the Chief Guest for the session was Dr. Rakesh Chandra Agrawal, DDG (Agricultural Education), ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research), New Delhi. 120 startups registered for the event and over 100 people participated in the session. A special exhibition area was also organised for selected startups to display their innovative product and services. The event witnessed participation from government officials, startups, students, and faculty members.

 

SR Foundation (Warangal) : The centre hosted a physical startup innovation competition at their centre ‘SR Innovation Exchange.’ Over 78 teams applied for the first round, and 30 teams were selected for the final round, which was held at the centre today. Top 5 teams were selected as winners and facilitated with cash prizes and grants in kind. Enthusiastic participants and students were in attendance for the event.

Malaysian Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Mohamad Sabu’s visit to Namakkal gives poultry farmers a hope that egg exports from Namakkal will increase in the coming days.

 

Namakkal, known as 'Egg Town' and 'Poultry Capital,' has around 1,100 poultry farmers and produces five to six crore eggs per day, transporting 1.50 crore to 1.75 crore eggs to Kerala, 45 lakh eggs to the Noon Meal Scheme, 40 lakh eggs to Bengaluru, and the remaining eggs are sent to various parts of Tamil Nadu and other States on a daily basis. Likewise, eight crore eggs are exported to foreign countries such as Muscat, Dubai, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) per month from Namakkal.

 

In December, for the first time, eggs from Namakkal were exported to Malaysia, and in the first phase, 50 lakh were exported. On Sunday, Mr. Mohamad Sabu visited a poultry farm and an egg collection centre in Namakkal and interacted about how the chicken eggs are processed before being exported to Malaysia. The Minister discussed with Tamil Nadu Poultry Farmers’ Association (TNPFA) president K. Singaraj and All India Poultry Products Exporters’ Association (AIPPEA) secretary Valsan Parameswaran. .

 

Mr. Valsan said that Malaysia consumes three crore eggs per day. 'As the Minister’s words about Namakkal eggs increase their credibility, we hope that in January three to four crores of eggs will be exported to Malaysia, and that number will increase in the near future. Not only eggs, but all other poultry products will have a chance to be exported to Malaysia,' Mr. Valsan added.

The World Bank on Tuesday said that India is expected to be the fastest growing economy of the seven largest emerging-market and developing economies (EMDEs) though its economic growth is projected to slow to 6.9% in FY23 and 6.6% in FY24 from 8.7% in 2021-22.

 

'The slowdown in the global economy and rising uncertainty will weigh on export and investment growth. Governments increased infrastructure spending and various business facilitation measures, however will crowd-in private investment and support the expansion of manufacturing capacity,'

the World Bank’s said in its latest Global Economic Prospects report.

 

The global economy is projected to grow by 1.7% in 2023 and 2.7% in 2024, according to the multilateral lender.

 

'India is expected to be the fastest growing economy of the seven largest EMDEs,' it said, adding that monetary and fiscal tightening over the forecast horizon is expected to be less pronounced than in much of the rest of the (South Asia) region, as adequate policy buffers have provided breathing room to support the ongoing recovery and boost public investment.

 

The Bank said that extreme weather can also complicate the implementation of macroeconomic policies in many countries.

 

'For example, in India, more erratic monsoon rains have translated into more volatile food prices, destabilising households’ inflation expectations, undermining the ability to forecast inflation, and muddling the formulation of monetary policy,' it noted.

 

Global downturn

The Bank said that the 'sharp downturn' in global growth is expected to be widespread, with forecasts in 2023 revised down for 95% of advanced economies and nearly 70% of emerging market and developing economies and that global growth may decelerate sharply in 2023 to its third weakest pace in nearly three decades, cautioning that the world economy is 'perilously close' to falling into recession.

 

'Further negative shocks- such as higher inflation, even tighter policy, financial stress, deeper weakness in major economies, or rising geopolitical tensions-could push the global economy into recession. This would mark the first time in more than 80 years that two global recessions have occurred within the same decade,' the Bank warned.

 

Over the next two years, per-capita income growth in emerging market and developing economies is projected to average 2.8%, a full percentage point lower than the 2010-2019 average.

 

Growth in advanced economies is projected to slow to 0.5% in 2023. from 2.5% in 2022.. In the United States, growth is forecast to fall to 0.5% in 2023- 1.9 percentage points below previous forecasts and the weakest performance outside of official recessions since 1970 while the euro-area growth is expected at zero percent—a downward revision of 1.9 percentage points. In China, growth is projected at 4.3% in 2023—0.9 percentage point below previous forecasts.

 

Excluding China, the Bank said that growth in EMDEs is expected to decelerate to 2.7% in 2023 from 3.8% in 2022, reflecting significantly weaker external demand compounded by high inflation, currency depreciation, tighter financing conditions, and other domestic headwinds.

 

'By the end of 2024, GDP levels in emerging and developing economies will be roughly 6% below levels expected before the pandemic. Although global inflation is expected to moderate, it will remain above pre-pandemic levels,' World Bank said.

 

In India, which accounts for three-fourths of the region’s output, growth expanded by 9.7% on an annual basis in the first half of FY23, reflecting strong private consumption and fixed investment growth.

 

Growth in South Asia is projected to slow to 5.5% in 2023 on slowing external demand and tightening financial conditions before picking up slightly to 5.8% in 2024 but this pace reflects still 'robust growth in India, Maldives, and Nepal offsetting the effects of the floods in Pakistan and the economic and political crises in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka'. The deteriorating global environment, however, will weigh on investment in the region, the Bank cautioned.