Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industry (MoS), Smt. Anupriya Patel today met Mrs. Amal Salih Saad Mohamed, Minister of Trade and Supply,  Republic of Sudan, who is on a two day visit to New Delhi to attend 17th CII-EXIM Bank Conclave on India-Africa Growth Partnership held on 19-20 July 2022.

 

The Ministers reviewed the bilateral relations with a focus on trade and investment, defence & maritime cooperation. Both sides appreciated that there is a deep-rooted cultural and people-to-people ties between both the two countries. Many students from Sudan are pursuing their higher studies in institutions across India. Both sides agreed to further strengthen and diversify trade and economic linkages.

 

MoS emphasized that India has always stood in solidarity with the people of Sudan and partnered in undertaking development projects, capacity building and humanitarian assistance. She also called upon Sudan to effectively utilise and benefit from the preferential market access offered by India under India’s Duty- Free Tariff Preference (DFTP) Scheme for Least developed countries (LDCs) and LDCs services waiver schemes.

India may allow sugar mills to export more than previously permitted to help them prevent contract defaults, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

The government is considering allowing additional sales of 1 million to 1.2 million tons of sugar for the year ending Sept. 30, said the people, who asked to remain anonymous citing confidential matters. That’s on top of the current quota of 10 million tons.

 

India, the world’s second-biggest sugar producer, restricted exports in May to safeguard its food supplies. Now, with inventories appearing sufficient to satisfy domestic consumption, growers have asked to ship more volume. Any additional shipments this year would be bearish for global prices.

 

The Indian Sugar Mills Association had asked the government to allow exports of an additional 1 million tons including as much as 700,000 tons of raws, according to Aditya Jhunjhunwala, president of the millers group. Some of the volume has already been contracted, he said.

 

A spokesperson representing both the trade and food ministries didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

 

Preliminary reports suggest that the sugar cane area in top growers Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra is higher for the crop that will be harvested in the season starting Oct. 1, suggesting supplies are adequate going into next year, Jhunjhunwala said.

 

Even after exporting an additional 1 million tons this season, the country will have more than 6 million tons in closing stockpiles on Sept. 30, enough to meet local demand before cane crushing starts in October, said Jhunjhunwala.

The central government on Wednesday informed the Parliament that there is no proposal to offer export subsidies for pulse traders.

 

This was in reply to a starred question on whether the government intends to offer export subsidies to Indian pulses traders in view of low domestic prices.

 

 

On whether any steps will be taken to ensure that the cost of imported pulses remains at or above par with the Minimum Support Price, Union Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal in Lok Sabha said: 'The decisions regarding opening or restriction of imports and the rates for import duties are done keeping the interests of both the domestic farmers and the consumers.'

 

At present, imports of tur and urad are under the 'free category' till March 31, 2023.

 

India is a large consumer of pulses, and it meets a sizable portion of its vegetable protein needs through imports.

 

It has been kept under the free category taking into consideration the production, availability, prices, and market conditions to protect the interest of domestic farmers while ensuring adequate availability at reasonable prices for all the consumers across India.

 

The Department of Consumer Affairs monitors the daily retail and wholesale prices of 22 essential food commodities, including tur and urad, submitted by the 184 price monitoring centres that have been set up with Central assistance by State Governments and UT Administrations across the country.

 

Taking into account price trends, the Government takes various measures from time to time to augment domestic availability and stabilize prices of essential food commodities and make them accessible to consumers, including marginalized communities, at affordable prices.

 

'These steps, inter alia, include releases from the buffer to cool down prices, imposition of stock limits, monitoring of stocks declared by entities to prevent hoarding as also requisite changes in trade policy instruments like rationalization of import duty, changes in import quota, restrictions on exports of the commodity etc,' the government said.

Rice import from India resumed at Benapole land port after 10 months, following a ban from Bangladesh government to ensure fair prices at domestic markets. 

 

A total of two consignments, consisting of 512 metric tonnes of Rice entered Bangladesh on Thursday and Sunday. 

 

Each tonne of rice is being imported at Tk30,650 ($340). For every kilogram of rice, Importers are paying Tk9.90 at 27.5% import duty.

 

Imported parboiled Swarna rice is said to be sold at Tk47-48 per kg in the domestic market.

 

Md Matiar Rahman, director of the India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce said on August 31 last year, Bangladesh barred rice imports from India to ensure better market price for locally produced products.

 

'Nevertheless, as domestic crops were drastically damaged by the floods in the country's northern regions, the food ministry allowed 95 importers to import 4,09,000 tonnes of rice from India on June 30,' he added.

 

He further mentioned that 379,000 metric tonnes of boiled rice and 30,000 metric tonnes of Atap rice are among the imported products. 'The ministry also has directed to complete marketing of the imported rice by August 11.'

 

Mamun Kabir Tarafdar, deputy director (Traffic) of Benapole Port, said rice would be released within 24 hours so traders can clear the rice quickly from the port. 

 

On the other hand, a request has also been made to ensure that the trucks are not stuck at the Indian border for a long time, he added.

 

Meanwhile, buyers have complained that the price of imported rice is high. 

 

Mintu Mia told the Bangla Tribune: 'Swarna coarse rice is being sold at Tk45 per kg. I was hoping that when Indian rice imports start, the prices will drop in the domestic market.'

Commerce secretary BVR Subrahmanyam on Wednesday said that the time has come for India and Africa to start talking to engage in a Comprehensive Economic Partnership or a free trade agreement (FTA).

 

He also said that India will sign a free trade pact with the UK by October, finish the talks for a pact with Canada by the end of the year and also have an agreement with the EU by the middle of next year.

 

'The African Continental FTA, which came into force last January… It's early years, a lot of it has to get operationalized. The time has come for India and Africa to also start talking (on) how can they engage in a Comprehensive Economic Partnership or a free trade agreement,' Subrahmanyam said at the Valedictory Session of the 17th Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-EXIM Bank Conclave.

 

He said that India’s bilateral trade with Africa- at $90 billion- is booming and can easily touch about $150 billion in three years.

 

The secretary added that India is already thinking of similar FTAs with Israel and GCC.

 

'India would be more than happy to engage with fellow countries in Africa or even the large African Continental FTA…in terms of actually can we have a partnership there? That's going to be a win-win for both sides,' he said.

 

Emphasising on the need to go beyond traditional items, he said almost a quarter of India's exports are engineering products, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and a lot of industrial products.

 

'When I see the trade provider of Africa, a lot of it is actually raw materials,' he said, highlighting the importance of investment relationships with India.

 

As per Subrahmanyam, India has been giving duty free access to LDCs- which are unilateral and one sided- to about 27 countries covering about 98% of the tariff lines but six countries are not yet in it.

 

'And I can name them Angola, Congo, Djibouti, Mauritania, South Sudan and one or two more,' he said, adding that a letter to these countries’ missions would get that access.

 

He also said that India and the African continent can help each other with raw materials, technologies, manufacturing, potential investment, education, health, pharmaceuticals and become part of global value chains.

To promote exports of agricultural produce from the district, a district-level and cluster-based Common Facility Committee (CFC) has been constituted. The collector will be the chairman of the committee, which will provide all kinds of support to the export-aspiring farmers of the district.

 

Under the Agricultural Export Policy, 2019, issued by the ministry of commerce and industry, the Government of India, and, according to the instructions given by the Government of Madhya Pradesh for the implementation of the Agricultural Export Policy, the cluster-based Common Facility Committee (CFC) has been constituted under the chairmanship of the district collector. To implement the policy at the district level, collector Manish Singh has constituted the district-level, cluster based CFC to give concrete shape to the implementation of the policy on the ground.

 

Chief executive officer of the zilla panchayat Vandana Sharma will be the coordinator of the committee. The deputy director, Horticulture, has been nominated as the member-secretary of the committee and deputy director, Farmers’ Welfare and Agriculture Development Department, assistant general manager or his representative, APEDA, deputy commissioner, Cooperatives, project director, ATMA, senior scientist, Major Agricultural Science Centre, general manager, District Industry Centre (DIC), have been nominated to the committee as members.

Agriculture sector in Jammu and Kashmir registered a nearly 4 per cent growth last year, while the food processing industry grew over 11 per cent, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said on Tuesday.

 

Sinha added that the agriculture and allied sectors in Jammu and Kashmir were performing much below their potential in recent years, but the administration took several measures to boost growth.

 

'The agriculture growth last year was recorded at 3.9 per cent and food processing at 11.18 per cent,' Sinha said while addressing the valedictory session of a multi-stakeholder convention here on holistic development of agriculture and allied sectors in Jammu and Kashmir.

 

Sinha said the farm and allied sectors in Jammu and Kashmir were performing much below their potential in recent years.

 

'J&K administration took several measures to reverse the declining trend by filling credit gaps, diversification, high-density plantation, building storage capacity, market linkages and extension services,' he added.

The European Union has proposed separate chapters on sustainable food systems, energy and raw materials in its free trade agreement (FTA) with India. Part of the proposal has sought profitable food systems, inclusion of environmental performance, methane emissions measurement standards and facilitating trade and investment in energy and raw materials.

 

Officials said intense negotiations are expected on these issues that have been included for the first time in India's trade agreements. The second round of talks is scheduled for September.

 

EU said a sustainable food system is 'profitable throughout (economic sustainability); has broad-based benefits for society (social sustainability); and a positive or neutral impact on the natural environment (environmental sustainability), including climate change.' ET has reviewed the text of the proposal.

 

EU has also suggested an annual action plan to monitor progress by establishing objectives and milestones.

 

'EU's proposal that food systems should be profitable, but our Public Distribution System is not. India will have to safeguard its interests on PDS and minimum support price if such an obligation kicks in,' said an expert on trade issues.

 

Similarly, the EU proposed 'reducing the use of antimicrobials, chemical pesticides and fertilizers, improving animal welfare and promoting sustainable food production methods and practices, such as organic farming,' which experts said, may have an implication on India's dairy produce and meat exports.

 

In the chapter on energy raw materials, the EU has said that for production of renewable energy, the two sides 'shall not adopt or maintain any measure including local content requirements affecting the other party's products, service suppliers, investors or enterprises.'

In India, a cumulative area of 29.41 lakh ha, 38.19 lakh ha and 59.12 lakh ha have been brought under organic cultivation in the last three years (2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22) using organic manure and other organic inputs, which constitute 2.10%, 2.72% and 4.22% of the cultivable land of 140 million ha. Apart from this, Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) is prescribed for entire cultivable land in the country that promotes balanced use of fertilizers including chemical, organic and bio-fertilizers. 

 

Government has been promoting organic farming through dedicated schemes of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region (MOVCDNER).  Farmers are provided financial assistance (Rs. 31000/ ha / 3 years in PKVY and Rs. 32500/ ha/ 3years under MOVCDNER) for organic inputs such as seeds, bio fertilizers, bio-pesticides, organic manure, compost/ vermi-compost, botanical extracts etc.  Apart from this, support is also provided for group/ Farmers Producers Organization (FPO) formation, training, certification, value addition and marketing of their organic produce. In addition, Organic cultivation on either side of River Ganga and Large Area Certification have also been introduced under PKVY to increase acreage under organic cultivation using organic manure / bio-fertilizers.  

 

This information was given by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

The PPP mode of investment in Indian ports has made a remarkable progress in the last 25 years, beginning from the Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNP), resulting in the capacity addition and productivity improvement. The sustainability of the first agreement between the concessioning authority and concessionaire on PPP mode, which has completed its 25th year of success in July, this year, has had tremendous impact on the development of PPP projects in major ports. Now, JNP has become the first major port of the country to become 100% Landlord port having all berths being operated on PPP model.

 

JNP is one of the leading container ports of the country and is ranked 26th among the top 100 global ports (as per Lloyds List Top 100 Ports 2021 Report). Currently, five container terminals are operated at JNP, of which only one is port owned. With its state of the art facilities JNP meets all the international standards, user-friendly atmosphere, and excellent connectivity by rail and road to the hinterland. Facility of backup infrastructure like CFS, connectivity with ICDs, full-fledge Custom House, Airport, Hotels, proximity to Mumbai, Pune, Nashik city and its industrial belt makes it an unique container terminal. 

 

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Container Terminal (JNPCT) has 2 berths with total length of 680m and 15m draft which will be handed over under this PPP contract along with backup area of 54.74 hectares for 30 years. JNPCT is presently handling 9000 TEUs capacity vessels and with the upgradation it can handle 12200 TEUs capacity vessels. It is also proposed to increase the RMQC rail span from 20 meters to 30.5 meters at the port. Investment for this project will be carried out by the concessioner at a total cost of Rs. 872 crores. The concessioner has to upgrade, operate, maintain and transfer this terminal on PPP basis. This project will be implemented in 2 phases.

 

In Phase I, 400 meters berth length will be upgraded to handle 12,200 TEUs capacity vessels (370 LOA vessels of 15 meters draft and 56.4 Beam). JNPA has placed Letter of Award (LOA) to J M Baxi Ports and Logistics Ltd. and consortium member CMA Terminals on 28/06/2022 and the concession agreement will be signed on 27/07/2022. The concession will be Awarded after compliance to the conditions within 180 days. The period of phase I is 18 months from the date of award    of concession agreement and the cost of phase I is Rs. 591.99 crores.

 

In Phase II, 280 meters berth length will be upgraded to handle 12,200 TEUs capacity vessels. The development of phase II will be commenced after achieving 1.02 million TEUs or 7 years whichever is earlier. Phase II is to be completed within a period of 18 months and the cost of phase II is Rs. 280.17 crores

 

The Project received overwhelming response from 11 investors having both domestic and international presence. In order to win the tender, the equal joint venture between J M Baxi Ports and Logistics Ltd. and CMA Terminals offered a royalty price of Rs. 4,520 per TEU during the concession period. The royalty due will increase yearly in line with the rise on the basis of the wholesale price index (WPI). Under the new Major Port Authorities Act and the model concession agreement (MCA), the terminal operator is free to fix market determined tariff rates.  The MGC expected to increase from 4 lakh TEUs in the first year of operation to 9 lakh TEUs starting in the tenth year and continuing through the end of the 30-year contract.

 

PPP is considered as an effective tool for attracting the investment in the port sector. Until now 86 projects worth Rs. 55,000 Crores have been granted approval under PPP. The key projects on PPP being implemented include berths, mechanization, development of oil jetty, container jetties, O&M of the container terminal, O&M of International cruise terminal, Commercialization of non-core assets on PPP mode, Tourism projects, viz., marina, development of islands to promote tourism. With the cargo volume expected to increase between 1.7 to 2 times (of 2020) by 2030, the percentage of cargo handled at Major Ports by PPP or other operators, is expected to reach 85% by year 2030. Each passing year is a milestone to achieve this goal.

 

To achieve this goal, MoPSW has already identified a project pipeline up to FY 2025 with 13 projects, for FY 2022 (Rs. 6954 Crores) already approved by the MoPSW followed by 24 projects of value ~Rs. 12,550 targeted for award in FY 2023. Further, 44 projects of value ~Rs. 23,000 crore are scheduled for award in FY 2024 and FY 2025. High value projects namely Western dock at Paradip and JN Port Container Terminal of total value more than ~Rs. 3,800 crore have already been awarded with two projects of DPA, valued it ~Rs. 6000 crore, are under RFQ stage.

 

Expressing his views on the achievement, Union Minister of Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Shri Sarbananda Sonowal said, 'As the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has envisaged that PPP is grounded on the principle of inclusion of the private enterprises as able partners towards progress, this project will improve the utilization in crane and berth productivity of the terminal. Also, total handling of JNPCT will increase to 1.8 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from the present handling capacity of 1.5 million TEUs in 2020-21. This will reinforce JNPA’s position as the ‘Premier container port of India’. It is worth mentioning that this terminal will also be handling Ro-Ro vessels which will not only  lower the logistics cost, reduce transit time but will also contribute in reducing congestion on roads and promoting towards clean environment'.