India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are expected to launch negotiations for a free trade agreement on November 24 with an aim to boost economic ties between the two regions, an official said. GCC is a union of six countries in the Gulf region -- Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.

 

'The FTA will be launched on November 24. GCC officials will be here to launch the talks,' the official said.

 

India has already implemented a free trade pact with the UAE in May this year.

 

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal had, on November 16, said that India will be launching a new free trade agreement (FTA) next week.

 

This would be a kind of resumption of FTA talks as earlier two rounds of negotiations held in 2006 and 2008 between India and GCC. Third round did not happen as GCC deferred its negotiations with all countries and economic groups.

 

India imports predominately crude oil and natural gas from the Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and exports pearls, precious and semi-precious stones; metals; imitation jewellery; electrical machinery; iron and steel; and chemicals to these countries.

 

India's exports to the GCC grew by 58.26 per cent to about USD 44 billion in 2021-22 against USD 27.8 billion in 2020-21, according to data from the commerce ministry.

 

The share of these six countries in India's total exports has risen to 10.4 per cent in 2021-22 from 9.51 per cent in 2020-21. Similarly, imports rose by 85.8 per cent to USD 110.73 billion compared to USD 59.6 billion in 2020-21, the data showed.

 

The share of GCC members in India's total imports rose to 18 per cent in 2021-22 from 15.5 per cent in 2020-21.

 

Bilateral trade has increased to USD 154.73 billion in 2021-22 from USD 87.4 billion in 2020-21.

 

Besides trade, Gulf nations are host to a sizeable Indian population. Out of about 32 million non-resident Indians (NRIs), nearly half are estimated to be working in Gulf countries.

 

These NRIs send a significant amount of money back home.

 

According to a November 2021 report of the World Bank, India got USD 87 billion in foreign remittances in 2021. Of this, a sizeable portion came from the GCC nations.

 

Saudi Arabia was India's fourth-largest trading partner last fiscal. From Qatar, India imports 8.5 million tonnes a year of LNG and exports products ranging from cereals to meat, fish, chemicals and plastics.

 

Kuwait was the 27th largest trading partner of India in the last fiscal, while the UAE was the third-largest trading partner in 2021-22.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has mandated the registration of foreign food manufacturing facilities for exports of milk, meat, egg powder, infant food, and nutraceuticals with effect from February 1, 2023.

 

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has decided that from February 1, 2023, registration of foreign food manufacturing facilities falling under specified food categories that are intending to export certain food shall be mandatory.

 

The food category includes milk and milk products; meat and meat products, including poultry and fish; egg powder; infant food; and nutraceuticals.

 

The FSSAI has requested that all exporting countries provide a list of existing manufacturers as well as those who intend to export such food products to India in the format attached to the email addresses dramit.sharma@fssai.gov.in and import@fssai.gov.in. Based on the list provided by the competent authority of the exporting country, the registration of the facilities will be done by the FSSAI at its portal.

In a relief to exporters, the government on Thursday reduced the export obligation under a key incentive scheme for 192 products whose exports declined more than 5% on-year in FY22.

 

These products include certain types of silver, precious metals and concentrates, revolvers and pistols, wrist watches, citrus fruits and some textiles.

 

In a notification, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said that its regional offices will re-fix the average annual export obligations under the EPCG scheme, which allows import of capital goods for pre-production, production and post- production at zero customs duty.

 

'This implies that the sector/product group that witnessed such decline in 2021-22 as compared to 2020-21 would be entitled for such relief,' the DGFT said.

 

Spices such as ginger and turmeric, woven cotton fabrics, cheese and curd, paint varnishes, garments, and tomatoes are also among the goods identified for the relief.

 

The relief comes amid India’s merchandise exports contracting a sharp 16.65% to $29.78 billion in October with key sectors such as petroleum products, engineering goods and textiles.

 

India’s goods exports in FY22 were $422 billion as against $291.8 billion in FY21.

India is home to several agricultural and non-agricultural (including manufacturing) products that are region-specific and every district has products that are unique and provide livelihoods and generate income, said an official press release.

 

To realize the true potential of a district, fuel economic growth and generate employment with an aim of impetus to rural entrepreneurship, the Government has launched a transformational scheme One District One Product (ODOP) under Atma Nirbhar Bharat.

 

As per the official statement, Rajouri, a border district of J&K UT has been selected as a dairy district under the scheme as it has huge potential in the dairy sector. The dairy sector is one of the crucial sectors in the Indian economy that not only provides employment to rural households but also contributes to the economy of the country.

 

The dairy field is among the biggest in the Agriculture sector, especially in animal husbandry. This is because there are pastoral societies that keep a large number of cows and other people who just keep cows as a means of earning second income. The major occupation of the rural people of Jammu and Kashmir is agriculture and livestock rearing making it a major source of income and employment here.

 

The dairy sector not only generates income and employment among the farmers but also supplements the varied nutritional requirements of the individuals. District Administration under the overall supervision of the District Development Commissioner Rajouri, Vikas Kundal has been taking several measures to strengthen the dairy sector and efforts are being made to enhance milk production in the district, read the official press statement.

 

The Department of Animal Husbandry is also working on all the modalities to help dairy farmers enhance milk production in the district to make the district an export hub for the identified products.

 

The Department of Animal Husbandry has worked on all parameters before rolling out the schemes. The Department has organized a number of awareness camps, house visits and other distribution activities in the far-flung areas of the district.

 

According to officials, the major support has been provided by the Panchayat Raj Institutions as they are the backbone of the government. They play a very prominent role in implementing the schemes that are introduced by the government for the socioeconomic development of the people.

 

Another factor contributing to the expansion of the dairy sector is that the department is in complete contact with the beneficiaries and facilitated them during the Pashudhan mela at Lakhanpur.

 

It is because of the untiring efforts of the District Administration and Department of Animal Husbandry that the district has witnessed fairly reasonable growth in terms of milk production from 3.67 lacs litres per day to 3.85 lacs litres per day since the launch of the ODOP scheme in the district and has become milk surplus.

 

The field functionaries of the department are also encouraging the farmers to take benefit of these farmers’ friendly schemes being implemented by the Department for their socio-economic development.

 

After an increase in production, the major concern for the dairy unit holders is the market linkage facilities; and the department is also working on the lines to establish dairy cooperative societies to provide market linkages to the societies in the district.

 

As per officials, efforts of the District Administration are also fully backed by the dairy farmers of the district who are also extending full support for the successful implementation of the ODOP initiative of the government.

 

The farmers have also expressed their gratitude to the Government for launching these ambitious schemes for their welfare and appealed for continuing such initiatives in the near future to ameliorate their socio-economic status.

The Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI) and the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to facilitate trade and investment between Telangana and Turkey.

 

Agritech, education, Information Technology, Life Sciences, pharma, real estate and infrastructure, energy, clean tech, aerospace are some of the areas offering scope for collaboration between the State and Turkey, FTCCI vice-president Suresh Kumar Singhal said in a release on the MoU signing. Orhan Yalman Okan from the Turkish Consulate in Hyderabad, Hulya Gedik, Chairperson of Turkey-India Business Council, Turkey and Chair of International Trade Committee, FTCCI, Chakravarthi AVPS were among those who participated in the programme.

 

Mr.Singhal also highlighted how Telangana has been growing consistently and offered opportunities to expand the trade and investment. The infrastructure in Hyderabad is of global standards, he said.

 

The MoU with FTCCI is to co-ordinate efforts to collect, combine, analyse, evaluate and diffuse information in relation to trade, industrial and technological cooperation and investments between India and Turkey, said Ms. Gedik. There are plans to have meetings of officials concerned of both the countries as also to identify challenges to trade and economic cooperation and represent the same to the two respective governments, she told the programme organised with the support of WTC Hyderabad.

With a view to expanding and increasing millet cultivation across the state, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma launched Assam Millet Mission.

 

Along with launching the Millet Mission, Chief Minister Dr. Sarma also inaugurated six Soil Testing and Quality Control Laboratory at Bongaigaon, Morigaon, Udalguri, Golaghat, Karimganj and Darrang and two knowledge centres at Dhemaji and Titabor virtually at the same programme. Synchronizing with the programme, Sarma also started the process of distributing 126 combined harvester, 1000 mini trucks, 450 village level farm machinery bank, 12000 Solar PV Pump Set, 8500 five HP Diesel Pump set, 5091 power tillers, seeds 223963 quintals, 1461 multipurpose pulveriser.

 

Sarma said, 'In the annals of agriculture history of the state, it is a historic day. The day which marks the launching of Assam Millet Mission is targeted to raise nutrition quotient and doubling of farmers’ income. The mission will also increase crop productivity and contribute to crop diversification'.

 

The Chief Minister said that the mission has been launched in synergy with Prime Minister’s aim of Atmanirbharta (self-sufficiency). With the launch of the millet mission, the farmers of Assam can diversify their cropping practices and other than conventional crops, they can extend their farming to grow millets.

 

He, therefore, congratulated Agriculture Department for taking the initiatives in launching the millet mission which in the beginning will be practised in 25000-hectare crop land. Subsequently it will be extended to 50000 hectare of farm land in the state.

 

He also said that the knowledge centres he inaugurated today will help the farmers of the state to gain knowledge and handholding about millet farming. He informed that in the coming days 96 more knowledge centres will be set up across the state under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) for quantum leap in agriculture production.

 

Sarma urged upon the farmers to take the advantage of Mission Basundhara 2.0 and convert the status of their lands to patta land. He also informed that from next year, his government has set the MSP for paddy at Rs. 2040 per quintal. He, therefore, asked the farmers to sell their paddy to the government. He also said that with the subsidy, government is helping the local youth to set up mills and other agri infrastructure.

 

Sarma also asked the farmers to plant trees of different varieties example sal, agar etc around their farm land which besides giving them commercial benefits will also mark as demarcation of their lands. He also asked them to diversify in palm farming.

 

Moreover, considering the huge demands of lemon, bhut jolokia, joha rice, he asked the farmers to grow these crops abundantly to become economically self-sufficient. He also asked them to be judicious in their farming practices and help the state in starting a new revolution in agriculture. He also talked on the necessity of making Assam self-sufficient in milk, poultry, fish, egg etc and the government’s intervention to give a new lease of life to these sectors.

 

Minister Agriculture Atul Bora while speaking on the occasion gave a brief outline of the schemes of his department for the growth of agriculture. He thanked the Chief Minister for leading the way in helping the Agriculture department to launch different schemes for the welfare of the farmers and growth of agricultural production.

The government on Wednesday notified exports of 8,606 tonnes of raw cane sugar under the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) scheme to the US.

 

Shipments under the TRQ enjoy relatively low customs duty. After the quota is reached, a higher tariff applies on additional imports.

 

'The quantity of 5841 MT (raw/refined) sugar to be exported to EU and quantity of 8606 MTRV raw cane sugar to be exported to USA under TRQ scheme from October 1, 2022, to September 30, 2023 has been notified,' the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a public notice.

 

India, the world’s second biggest producer and the largest consumer of sugar, has a preferential quota arrangement for sugar export with the European Union as well. The DGFT said that the quota will be operated by APEDA.

The government said nine special vostro accounts have been opened with two Indian banks after permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to facilitate overseas trade in Indian rupee. Sberbank and VTB Bank-the largest and second-largest banks of Russia respectively-are the first foreign lenders to receive approval after the RBI announced the guidelines for overseas trade in the rupee in July.

 

Another Russian bank Gazprom, which does not have its bank in India, has also opened this account with Kolkata-based UCO Bank.

 

'Nine accounts have been opened. One in UCO Bank, one in Sber, one in VTB and six with IndusInd Bank. These six are different Russian banks,' commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal said while releasing trade data.

 

The move to open the special vostro accounts clears the deck for settlement of payments in rupee for India-Russia trade, enabling cross-border transactions in the Indian currency.

 

The RBI has allowed these special vostro accounts to invest the surplus balance in Indian government securities to help popularise the new arrangement.

 

On when the rupee trade with Russia may begin, Barthwal said there is a process involved in it and hopefully it would materialise soon.

 

Barthwal said he held a meeting with officials of UCO Bank, RBI and the Department for Financial Services and discussed ways to promote rupee trade.

Introduction of new crop varieties using scientific technology in the agriculture sector has helped India attain food security, said Union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. Interacting with agriculture students at Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University, Shekhawat hailed the agriculture scientists for steering India to become self-sufficient in food production with the introduction of various new seed varieties.

 

Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University Vice-Chancellor Vishnu Vardhan Reddy conferred honorary doctorate on Shekhawat. The Jal Shakti Minister said, it is a memorable day for him to receive the honorary doctorate from ANGRAU. He lauded the university scientists and staff for their relentless services, which placed the university in the 11th position among the 74 agricultural universities in the country.

 

Shekhawat said the newer inventions by agriculture scientists not only made India self-reliant in food production but also allowed India to export different food grains and materials to foreign countries.

'It is a proud moment as all the global nations today are looking towards India for food grains, which has been made possible due to advancements in the agriculture sector,' he added.

 

State Agriculture Minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy said ANGRAU has been playing a key role in the development of the farm sector in the State. He said BPT-5204 (Samba Masoori), MTU-7029 and MTU-1001 (Vijetha) paddy varieties developed by ANGRAU have gained popularity across the country. The minister also said the university has embarked on the use of drone technology, which is a first-of-its-kind reform in the agriculture sector to reduce cost of cultivation.

Robust global demand and negligible inventories have pushed up mandi prices of Basmati paddy this season sharply across the key rice growing regions in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.

 

Mandi prices of Basmati paddy at Karnal (Haryana) and Rajpura (Punjab) are currently ruling around Rs 3,800 – Rs 4,000/quintal, Rs 400 – Rs 500/quintal more than the prices prevailed a year ago.

 

'Negligible carry forward stock from the previous year, large number of pending exports orders have pushed up the mandi prices of new crop this year,' Vijay Setia, chairman and managing director, Chaman Lal Setia Exports, a leading exporter of aromatic rice, told FE.

 

Setia said that rice prices are expected to rise in the domestic market while realisation from the exports of the aromatic long grain rice has seen a sharp spike in the first half of the current fiscal.

 

Currently, the procurement of Basmati paddy by traders from the farmers is going at a brisk pace and will continue till next month.

 

According to the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics data, the value of Basmati rice exports rose by more than 37% during April-September 2022 to $2.2 billion from $1.6 billion in the same period last fiscal.

 

The per tonne export realisation of aromatic rice rose by 24% to $1057/tonne in April-September 2022 from $853/tonne a year ago period.

 

'The prospects of the Basmati rice exports in the second of the current fiscal year are bright as demand has been rising steadily,' Vinod Kaul, senior executive director, All India Rice Exporters’ Association, said. He said besides the demand from traditional markets in the middle countries, there has been encouraging demand for aromatic rice from the European Union this season.

 

M Angamuthu, Chairman, Agricultural Processed Food Products Exports Development Authority, said that Basmati rice exports prospects are encouraging as there are several countries in the middle east that need rice to meet their domestic demand.

 

To boost exports, APEDA has set up Basmati Export Development Foundation in collaboration with the industry, through which the farmers in key growing states are informed about the usage of certified seeds, good agriculture practices and judicious use of pesticides to meet the international standards

 

In September, the government banned exports of broken rice and put a 20% export duty on non-Basmati ‘white’ rice varieties. However, Basmati rice export was put outside the export restrictions.

 

Out of the total annual production of 9 million tonne (mt) of Basmati rice, 4.5 mt is exported. In 2021-22, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates and Yemen had a share of 65% in value of aromatic rice export of $ 3.5 billion.

 

Pakistan exports around 0.9 – 1 mt of Basmati rice annually and harvesting this year has been disrupted because of flooding in the many parts of the key growing region.