Speaking at the launch, Jurin said Northeast India was close to Thailand both geopolitically and culturally, adding that the Thailand-Myanmar-India highway project would boost trade and investment between the two countries.

 

The highway, being built under India’s Look East policy, will link Moreh in India with Mae Sot in Tak province.

 

'The festival will play a significant part in tightening the ties,' said Jurin, who is also deputy prime minister.

 

Northeast India is home to the Tai peoples, who share ethnic and language roots with Thai people. Jurin noted they also celebrate versions of Thailand’s Songkran festival – known as the Sangken festival in Arunachal Pradesh and Bohag Bihu in Assam.

 

Thailand would sign a mini-free trade agreement (FTA) with Assam and other India states, said the commerce minister.

 

Northeast India comprises the eight states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim.

 

The Indian government plans to use the Northeast as a gateway to Asean, with the three-country highway serving as the new trade link.

 

Thailand-India trade in the first six months of this year was worth 314.196 billion baht, up 34.26 per cent from the same period last year, according to the Department of International Trade Promotion. Thai exports to India were worth Bt185.94 billion.

 

The two-day festival, which also commemorates the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Thailand and India, is being held at Centara Grand Hotel in CentralWorld, Bangkok.

Pursuant to the meeting of Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Datuk Zuraida Binti Kamaruddin with the IVPA delegation, at New Delhi, Wan Aishah Wan Hamid, CEO, MPOC, on behalf of Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) and Sudhakar Desai, President on behalf of Indian Vegetable oil Producers Association (IVPA), signed an MoU to further the cooperation between the two Organizations on 28th July 2022 on the sidelines of MIACES’22 at Kuala Lumpur.

 

MOU is expected to continue to enhance and expand the co-operation in areas of mutual interest.

 

The MoU was exchanged in the presence of the Honorable Minister Datuk Zuraida Binti Kamaruddin, in the presence of Larry Sng Wei Shien, Chairman MPOC, Mad Zaidi Mohd Karli, Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Faisal Iqbal, Director, MMD, MPOC, Dr Bhavna Shah, Regional Head, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal & Bangladesh, N P Singh, Second Secretary (Labour), High Commission of India, Vipin Gupta, Vice-President, IVPA and Hemant Bansal, Vice-President, IVPA.

 

MPOC, having its registered office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has collaborated with IVPA to promote and create opportunities for the greater acceptance of Malaysian Palm Oil among Indian consumers, food manufacturers and other end users.

 

MoU is a step toward creating greater awareness of Malaysian Palm Oil benchmarked through the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification standards, whose objectives include demonstrating sustainability practices within the Malaysian palm oil industry.

 

IVPA, an apex body of Vegetable Oils Producers, was established as a Not-for-Profit Organization in 1977, having its registered office in New Delhi to help and foster the development and growth of the Indian Vegetable oils and Fats and allied industry. IVPA represents stakeholders from across the Edible Oil Value Chain.

 

The vision of IVPA is to Promote Sustainability, Economic Growth and Excellence in the Edible Oils and Oilseeds Value Chain in India, and IVPA has been a Credible Voice in the Indian Oil & Oil seeds Industry. IVPA advocates and provides inputs for Policies that increase Stakeholders’ Value and Spur Economic Growth in the country.

 

All the major players in the Edible Oil business, namely Adani Wilmar, Ruchi Soya Industries, Emami Agrotech Ltd, Cargill India, Bunge India, ADM Agro, Agro Tech Foods, Louis Dreyfus, Cofco Agri/ Noble Resources, Gemini Edibles & Fats, Gokul Refoils& Solvents, 3F Industries etc. are among the notable members of the Association and constitute almost 70 per cent of the Indian Veg oil trade.

 

The MoU interalia covers various areas of cooperation, including:

 

Educate Indian consumers on the nutritional and health benefits of palm oil. Promote Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil by enhancing trade opportunities by identifying, sharing and highlighting the latest opportunities for Certified Malaysian palm oil.

 

Exchange palm oil, edible oils and fats related business, technical, policy and administrative information, data and material through its research bodies.

 

MPOC will extend their cooperation to promote `Atmanirbhar Bharat’ by assisting the Indian Palm oil industry in sourcing technical know-how.

 

Jointly create an expert panel to assist the development of India’s palm oil industry by providing information and expertise on the latest technology applications and adoptions both upstream and downstream.

 

India and Malaysia have long established historical and cultural ties, which have developed into excellent diplomatic and trade relations. Economic and commercial relations are the mainstay of the bilateral relationship.

 

Palm oil products are the cornerstone of the trade relations between the two countries. Indian industrialists have made significant contributions to the development of the Malaysian palm oil industry, particularly in the palm oil refining sector. Groups such as Tata and Birla pioneered establishing palm oil refineries in Malaysia in the 1970s and 1980s.

Taking lead in celebrating 2023 as 'International Year of Millets', India has planned to hold several programmes within the country and abroad to popularize millets. The government's programmes will revolve around 'seven sutras' ( seven themes) including measures on how to promote these climate-resilient and less water consuming coarse cereals as a tool of sustainable agriculture.

 

Different ministries, including the ministry of external affairs, will be involved in popularizing millets which are a rich source of protein, fibre, minerals, iron, calcium and have a low glycemic index. India is a major producer of millets, accounting for 80% of Asia’s production and 20% of global production. India’s average yield of millets (1,239 kg/hectare) is also higher than the global average yield of 1,229 kg/ha.

 

'The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) had in 2021 declared 2023 as 'International Year of Millets' (IYOM-2023) at the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The proposal of India was supported by 72 countries. The Prime Minister subsequently had given responsibility to a group of ministers to promote millets,' said agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

 

'Nutritious grains (millets) should once again get a respectable place in our food plate,' said Tomar while addressing the nutritious food festival - Millets Culinary Carnival - at Dilli Haat on Saturday.

 

As part of 'seven sutras’ in the run-up to the IYOM, the government's programmes will deal with issues relating to enhancement of production/productivity; nutrition & health benefits; value addition; processing & recipe development; entrepreneurship development; international outreach and policy interventions for mainstreaming millets.

 

Major millet crops grown in India are Pearl Millet (Bajra), Jowar (Sorghum) and Finger Millet (Mandua/Ragi) with production share of 61%, 27% and 10%, respectively. The government had notified them as 'nutri-cereals' four years ago.

 

Tomar last Wednesday held a meeting of the parliamentary consultative committee of his ministry on millets where the participants, including MPs from both the houses of Parliament, discussed India's plan for grand celebrations of IYoM- 2023.

 

'A committee of secretaries under the chairmanship of cabinet secretary and a core committee, chaired by secretaries in the agriculture ministry, have been constituted to oversee the programmes and policies on popularizing nutri-cereals. The action plan of IYOM-2023 focuses on strategies to enhance production, consumption, export, branding etc.,' said Tomar.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), has informed that it has recognised/notified 224 food testing laboratories (including 53 State Government laboratories, 145 private laboratories and 26 other Government laboratories for primary testing and 20 laboratories for testing referral food samples).

 

FSSAI does not establish primary food testing labs but recognizes and notifies labs based on voluntary applications. Further, FSSAI is implementing a Central Sector Scheme named 'Strengthening of Food Testing System in the Country including provision of Mobile Food Testing Labs (SOFTeL), under which State Food Testing Laboratories (SFTLs), are provided funds for setting up lab with basic lab equipment, installation of high end equipment and establishing microbiology lab.

 

FSSAI has also provided grants to States for National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accreditation, Certified Reference Materials, Consumables and for hiring contractual manpower.  To extend reach of basic testing facilities even in remote areas, FSSAI has sanctioned/provided 254 mobile food testing labs called Food Safety on Wheels (FSWs).

 

Ministry of Food Processing Industries has informed that total Food Testing Laboratories (FTL) projects completed from 2019 till date is 41 and on an average 37 persons have been employed in each FTL project. Therefore, total direct and indirect employment generated since 2019 is 1517. The details of funds released for food testing laboratories by Ministry of Food Processing Industries is Rs 25.96 crore in 2019-20, Rs 23.32crore in 2020-21 and Rs 34.43 crore in 2021-22. Further, the Draft Regulations for Genetically Modified foods have also been notified.

 

The food ministry has extended the deadline for private firms to open letters of credit (LCs) for importing rice until August 21 this year.

 

The move comes as traders have been shy in opening LCs amid the increasing dollar cost and uncertainty whether they would be able to make profit by bringing in the staple grain.

 

By the end of June, the government started allowing private firms to import rice to curb the spiralling domestic prices by increasing supply in local markets.

 

Until now, the food ministry has granted permission for businesses to import around 10 lakh tonnes of rice at reduced duty and they have since received clearance to bring 600,000 tonnes, said a senior official of the food ministry.

 

However, between July 1 and July 27, private traders imported just 5,500 tonnes of rice, according to food ministry data.

 

Officials said a number of firms that are yet to open LCs to import rice had urged the government to the extend the deadline that ended yesterday.

 

'Our objective is to facilitate imports and that would not be possible if we did not extend the deadline,' he added.

 

Chitta Majumder, managing director of Majumder Group of Industries, which operates rice mills and also imports the grain, said banks are not showing interest to open LCs amid the dollar scarcity. In addition, they are asking for a higher rate -- Tk 107 per dollar -- in case of payments above $100,000.

 

'Rice prices are high in India and in this situation, many are not showing interest to import the grain assuming they would not be able to make profit,' he added.

 

Majumder got permission to import 50,000 tonnes of rice and his firm has imported around 2,000 tonnes so far.

 

Over the last one month, rice prices declined for the government move to facilitate imports by slashing import tariff to 25 per cent from 62.5 per cent until October 31.

 

Yesterday, prices of the coarse grain stood at Tk 48 to Tk 50 per kilogramme in Dhaka, down 2 per cent from a month ago, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

India's macroeconomic fundamentals are intact and there is no risk of the economy entering into recession or stagflation, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Monday.

 

She said the government is trying to keep inflation below 7%.

 

'I would like to say there is no question of India getting into stagflation or, what it is called in the US, technical recession,' she said, replying to a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the price rise. 'There is absolutely zero probability of India slipping into recession.'

 

Retail inflation eased to 7.01% in June from 7.04% in the previous month, according to data released July 12.

 

Govt Plays No Favourites: Sitharaman

It exceeded the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) target band of 2-6% for the sixth consecutive month.

 

Sitharaman said India has sufficient foreign exchange reserves to handle any global headwinds. The RBI has been deploying a part of this to shore up the rupee.

 

The finance minister said all indicators showed that India was doing better than others, citing the latest goods and services tax (GST) collections, which rose 28% to Rs 1.49 lakh crore, the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for manufacturing that touched an eight-month high in July and strong core sector performance in June.

 

'Strictly speaking, the Indian economy in all these aspects is showing very positive signs,' she said. Agencies have downgraded global growth but India remains the fastest expanding economy despite the lowering of projections. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week pared India's growth forecast for FY23 to 7.4% from 8.2% estimated in April.

 

Sitharaman said the banking sector in the country is also healthy compared with that of other countries. Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of scheduled commercial banks have reached a six-year low of 5.9%, she said, adding that the government debt-to-GDP ratio fell to 56.29% in FY22.

 

India has recovered admirably from challenges posed by the pandemic and geopolitical developments and measures by the RBI and the Centre have helped stabilise the economy, she said.

 

Steps to contain Inflation

 

Sitharaman asserted that the government is making all efforts to keep inflation below 7% and had already undertaken several measures to ensure the supply of goods at cheaper prices to MSMEs and the common man. She said the Centre reduced customs duty on crude oil from 35.75% first to 8.25% and now to 5.5% and has taken other steps such as reducing duty on steel scrap and other inputs used by industry. She added that edible oil prices have corrected sharply following steps taken by the government.

 

GST rate rejig

 

Defending the recent changes in GST rates on some products, she said the increase was only applicable to registered branded items, so there will be no adverse impact on the poor, adding that the move was aimed at plugging revenue leakage. The decision had been taken after discussions at three levels - it was cleared by the GST Council, which has state finance ministers as members, and it was arrived at through consensus and not by vote.

 

With regard to compensation cess, she said compensation was pending only for June and would be cleared soon.

 

Fifty five non-exempted Central Ministries/Departments are mandated to spend at least 10% of their Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) for Central Sector and Centrally Sponsored Schemes in the North Eastern Region (NER) to accelerate the pace of development. The details of Budget Estimates, Revised Estimates and Actual Expenditure under 10% GBS since financial year 2018-19 is given in Table 1 below:

 

Table 1: Budget Estimates (BE), Revised Estimates (RE) and Actual Expenditure under 10% GBS (Rs.  in crore)
Year	Budget Estimate	Revised Estimate	Actual Expenditure
2018-19	47,994.88	47,087.95	46,054.80
2019-20	59,369.90	53,374.19	48,533.80
2020-21	60,112.11	51,270.90	48,563.80
2021-22	68,020.24	68,440.26	70,874.32*
Total	235,497.13	220,173.3	455,670.43
Source: Statement 11 of Union Budget, various years Note: *Actual Expenditure figures are provisional and subject to vetting of Ministry of Finance.

 

Several infrastructure development projects including connectivity projects have been taken up by the concerned Ministries and Departments of the Central Government in the North Eastern Region (NER). These relate to improving air connectivity, rail connectivity, road connectivity, waterway connectivity, power connectivity and telecom connectivity in the NER. These inter-alia include:

 

Air connectivity: Total 28 projects have been completed from 2016-17 to 2021-22 with the approved cost of Rs. 975.58 crore and completion cost of Rs. 979.07 crore. There are 15 ongoing projects with sanctioned amount of Rs. 2,212.30 crore.

Rail connectivity: As on 01.04.2022, Ministry of Railways has sanctioned 19 projects costing Rs.77,930 crore for 1,909 km length falling fully/ partly in North Eastern Region including those sanctioned since 2014, which are at different stages of planning/approval/execution, out of which 409 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs.30,312 crore incurred upto March, 2022. These include (i) 14 New Line Projects covering a length of 1,181 km at a cost of Rs.61,520 crore, out of which 361 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs.27,458 crore incurred upto March, 2022; and (ii) 5 Doubling/Multi tracking Projects covering a length of 728 km at a cost of Rs.16,410 crore, out of which 48 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs.2,854 crore incurred upto March, 2022.

Road Connectivity: A total of 4016.48 km costing Rs.58,385 crore, are ongoing in NER. These projects were undertaken during the last 5 years. The completed projects in NER cover a length of 3099.50 km at a cost of Rs.15,570.44 crore. The ongoing projects are likely to be completed by May 2024. The major ongoing Capital Road Connectivity projects in NER include the 4 Laning of Dimapur- Kohima Road (62.9 km) in Nagaland; 4 laning of Nagaon bypass to Holongi (167 km) in Arunachal Pradesh; Alternate two-lane Highway from Bagrakote to Pakyong (NH-717A) (152 km) in Sikkim; 2 laning of Aizawl – Tuipang NH-54 (351 km) in Mizoram; and 4 laning of Imphal –Moreh section of NH-39(20 km) and 2-laning of 75.4 km in Manipur.

Waterway connectivity: River Brahmaputra from Dhubri (Bangladesh Border) to Sadiya (891km) was declared as National Waterway-2 (NW-2) in 1988. The waterway is being developed with fairway of required depth and width, day and night navigation aids and terminals. The facilities created and planned would cost Rs. 461crore during 5 years (2020-2025). River Barak was declared as National Waterway-16 (NW -16) in the year 2016. It connects Silchar, Karimganj and Badarpur in Cachar valley of Assam with Haldia and Kolkata ports through Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) Route. The facilities created and planned would cost Rs.145 crore during 5 years (2020-2025).

Power connectivity: Ministry of Power has also undertaken power generation (hydro/thermal) projects since 2014 in the North Eastern States. Further, the transmission and distribution network has also been strengthened in these North Eastern States. 03 Hydro Electric Projects (above 25 MW) totaling to 740 MW have been undertaken in the North Eastern States. A Gas based Power Project in the State of Assam viz. Lakhwa Replacement Power Project of 69.755 MW capacity (7 x 9.965MW) by M/s Assam Power Generation Corporation Ltd. was commissioned on 14.02.2018. Further, Government of India has launched various schemes to enable States including North Easter /augmentation of sub-transmission & distribution infrastructure along with metering and IT enablement of distribution infrastructures etc. For strengthening of transmission network in the North-Eastern Region, Inter-State Transmission projects have been undertaken, which includes new transmission lines, extension/upgradation of existing substations, augmentation of transformation capacity, reconductoring of transmission lines etc. Further, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.(PGCIL) is executing two major Intra State power transmission and distribution schemes viz. (i) North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP) for Six States (Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland) for strengthening of the Intra-State Transmission and Distribution Systems (33 kV and above) sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs.6,700 crore; and (ii)Comprehensive Scheme for Strengthening of Transmission and Distribution System in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs.9,129.32 crore.

Telecom connectivity: Department of Telecommunications has also undertaken several projects in the North Eastern States for strengthening telecom connectivity in the region, which, interalia, include (i) Mobile Services in uncovered villages in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh (National Highways only) and seamless coverage along National Highway; (ii) Mobile connectivity in Meghalaya and along National Highways on 4G Technology; (iii) Mobile connectivity in Arunachal Pradesh and 2 Districts of Assam; (iv) Bharat Net and Wi-Fi Connectivity for Village Panchayats in North Eastern Region; and (v) Hiring of 10 Gbps International Bandwidth for Internet Connectivity to Agartala from BSCCL, Bangladesh via Cox Bazar. In the North Eastern States, 1,358 towers covering 1,246 villages have been installed and providing services.

In addition, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) is implementing various schemes/packages viz. North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS), Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) Scheme, Special Packages of Assam [Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), Dima Hasao Autonomous Territorial Council (DHATC) and Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council(KAATC)], Hill Area Development Programme(HADP), Social and Infrastructure Development Fund (SIDF), Schemes of NEC (North Eastern Council) and North East Road Sector Development Scheme (NERSDS), for the development of North Eastern Region. Under these developmental schemes/ packages, 1,350 projects worth Rs.15,867.01 crore, including connectivity projects, have been sanctioned during the financial years 2014-15 to 2021-22. The year-wise details of the projects sanctioned areas under:-

 

(Rs. in crore)
S.No.	Financial Year	Projects sanctioned under schemes of MDoNER and NEC
		No.	Cost
1	2014-15	71	1,500.40
2	2015-16	126	1,564.53
3	2016-17	152	1,925.45
4	2017-18	274	3,114.46
5	2018-19	70	1,340.33
6	2019-20	174	1,983.91
7	2020-21	206	1,685.31
8	2021-22	pib.gov.in
02 Aug, 2022 India observes Chabahar Day with emphasis on linkage with Central Asia. The Ministry of Port, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) on Sunday observed ‘Chabahar Day’ in Mumbai to mark the Chabahar – Link to International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) – Connecting Central Asian Markets.   Sonwal in his address stated that India’s vision is to make Shahid Beheshti Port at Chabahar a transit hub and linking it to INSTC to reach out to Central Asian Countries, said the MoPSW press release.   He said that India looks forward to businesses and logistics companies utilizing the incentives of the Shahid Beheshti Port and Chabahar Free Trade Zone.   The Union Minister further urged all the representatives and stakeholders to come forward with suggestions to reduce the transportation time and cost further to make a cheaper, shorter, faster and more reliable route from India to Iran and Central Asia, added the release.   The event was attended by Minister of State, MoPSW, Shripad Yesso Naik, Nurlan Zhalgasbayev, Ambassador-Republic of Kazakhstan, Asein Isaev, Ambassador- Kyrgyzstan, Lukmon Bobokalonzoda Ambassador Tajikistan, Shalar Geldynazarov Ambassador, Turkmenistan, Dilshod Akhatov, Ambassador- Uzbekistan, Jalil Eslami, Deputy of Port and economic affairs of PMO, Zakia Wardak, Consul General (CG), Afghanistan, Dr AM Alikhani Consul General of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Masoud Ostad Hossein, Advisor to the minister & head of the centre for international affairs of ministry of Road and Urban Development, Iran, Rajeev Jalota, Chairman, Indian Ports Association and Sunil Mukundan, MD, IPGL who graced the event through their presence along with other esteemed guests.   During the event, the delegates from the Central Asian countries highlighted how Chabahar link with INSTC can play a vital role in boosting EXIM trade in their regions and its potential to further boost development in the landlocked countries, said the release.   The Chabahar Port is a key pillar of India’s India-Pacific vision to connect Eurasia with the Indian Ocean Region.   The port will also be part International North-South Transport Corridor network connecting India. INSTC (International North-South Transport Corridor) is India’s vision and initiative to reduce the time taken for EXIM shipments to reach Russia, Europe, and enter the central Asian markets.   The Chabahar Port located in Iran is the commercial transit center for the region and especially Central Asia.   Notably, the first rail transit cargo from Russia to India entered Iran recently through the Sarakhs border crossing, marking the official launch of the eastern section of the North-South railway corridor.   International North-South Transport Corridor is a corridor to increase trade between India and Russia. This trade route is 7200 Km long and the transport of freight is through a multi-mode network of roads, ships, and railways. This route connects India and Russia through Iran and Azerbaijan.   The corridor is aimed at reducing the carriage cost between India and Russia by about 30 per cent and bringing down the transit time from 40 days by more than half.   Russia, India, and Iran are the founding member states of INSTC. The agreement was signed in 2002.   There are 13 member states of the INSTC project – India, Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Tajikistan, Kyrgystan, Oman, Turkey, Syria and Ukraine.   Bulgaria is the Observer State. The Baltic countries like Latvia and Estonia have also expressed willingness to join the INSTC.   India shows interest in extending INSTC membership to countries like Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.   Establishing a land route via Kabul and Tashkent to form the INSTC’s 'Eastern corridor' would maximise the potential of this collaboration.   Also, India wants to include Chabahar port to be included in the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).   The potential export sectors in India that benefit from INSTC include perishable goods (fruits and vegetables), high-value items like ATMs, industrial printers, 3D printers, robotic assembly accessories, etc., cross-border e-commerce, and sectors that are likewise. (ANI)    Source:  theprint.in
02 Aug, 2022 CBIC: Extension of Customs clearances beyond normal working hours in Inland Container Depots. The CBIC vide Circular No. 11/2022-Customs dated July 29, 2022 regarding extension of Customs clearances beyond normal working hours in Inland Container Depots.   As a measure of trade facilitation and the ease of doing business, the CBIC has been enabling the facility of 24×7 Customs clearance across numerous sea ports and air cargo complexes across the country. Presently, this facility is available at 20 sea ports and 17 airports.   Board is in receipt of representations from the trade for extension of the facility of 24×7 Customs clearance to ICDs across the country, so as to cater to the requirements of the trade. The matter has been duly examined.   Since the requirements from members of the trade and the local circumstances may vary from place to place, Board hereby advises all the Pr. Chief / Chief Commissioners, having jurisdictions over Inland Container Depots (ICDs) to consider having the ICDs within their jurisdictions designated with extended facility of Customs clearance beyond normal working hours in any of the following ways, namely :-   (a) The facility of Customs clearance may be made available on a 24×7 basis, similar to the current Board guidelines for Sea Ports and Air Cargos/Airports;   (b) The facility of Customs clearance may be extended on all seven (7) days of the week (including holidays), with stipulated timings (say from 9 :30 AM to 6 :00 PM);   (c) The facility of Customs clearance may be extended beyond normal working hours for specified days in a week and with specified timings.   The decision to designate an ICD in any manner under para 3(a), 3 (b) or 3(c) above, based on location requirement and resources availability, could be for specified imports viz. goods covered by ‘facilitated’ Bills of Entry only, or specified exports viz. reefer containers with perishable/ temperature sensitive export goods sealed in the presence of Customs officials only or goods exported under free Shipping Bills only, or for all the three categories mentioned.   For such purpose, the various relevant aspects should be considered, which include, requests from the trade associations, volume of regular imports and exports, nature of import/export commodities, participation of other agencies or entities concerned/involved, importers-exporters, customs brokers. The consultation with custodians be made in relation to arrangements to be made by them for such purposes. If the ICD is not working with waiver of cost recovery charges, it must agree on the aspect of cost recovery charges as well in a proper manner.  Source:  a2ztaxcorp.com
01 Aug, 2022 Overall share of goods exports in GDP increased to 13.3% in 2021-22 from 10.9% in 2020-21. The share of exports of goods and services in GDP has increased from 18.7% in 2020-21 to 21.4% in 2021-22.   The details of exports of goods and services and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at current prices, and percentage share of India’s exports in GDP for the last five financial years (latest available data) are as follows:   S.No. Year India's export of goods and services (in Rs. Crore) GDP (in Rs. Crore) % Share of exports of goods and services in GDP 1 2017-18 32,11,521 1,70,90,042 18.8 2 2018-19 (3rd RE) 37,66,294 1,88,99,668 19.9 3 2019-20 (2nd RE) 37,52,188 2,00,74,856 18.7 4 2020-21 (1st RE) 37,04,533 1,98,00,914 18.7 5 2021-22 (PE) 50,63,885 2,36,64,637 21.4     The details of sector-wise share of goods exports in the annual GDP (at current prices) for the last five financial years (latest available data) are given at Annexure. It reveals that overall share of goods exports in GDP has increased from 10.9% in 2020-21 to 13.3% in 2021-22.   The details of the annual rate of growth of exports and the corresponding annual rate of growth of GDP (at current prices) for the last three financial years are given below:   S.No. Year India's export of goods and services (in Rs. Crore) % Growth in exports GDP (in Rs. Crore) % Growth in GDP 1 2018-19 (3rd RE) 3,766,294   18,899,668   2 2019-20 (2nd RE) 3,752,188 -0.4 20,074,856 pib.gov.in Back to First Prev … 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 … Next Go to Last