A free trade agreement (FTA) between the UK and India is 'absolutely achievable' by the Diwali timeline set by Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Narendra Modi with only some technical legal aspects left to be resolved, UK Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said on Thursday.

 

Confirming that both sides are now getting on with the market access aspects of a trade deal, the minister in-charge of the negotiations on the UK government side said that some 'compromise and cooperation' will be required on both sides to get a deal over the line.

 

'We have been set the challenge to get a deal by this Diwali, 24th October is seared in my brain,' she said, during a UK-India Week forum on trade relations.

 

'That's really helped our negotiators to really focus and where the big prizes are. It's imperative as we all want to get on so that our businesses get cracking. It is absolutely achievable.

 

'It might be in a practical sense we haven't completed some boring technical bit, but what we are clear is that by Diwali we have got that whole picture and we know where we have the mutually value-adding parts,' she said.

 

The minister said an FTA with India would take on a 'unique form' because a 'cookie-cutter, one size fits all' approach to negotiating a trade deal would not work.

 

'Undoubtedly, negotiations can be tough. Success comes through compromise and cooperation on both sides. There are times when we need to meet each other in the middle,' she said.

 

Earlier this week, the UK's Department for International Trade (DIT) said the latest round of talks concluded last week with discussions in 71 separate sessions covering 20 policy areas. The talks took place in a hybrid fashion with a majority of officials joining virtually and the fifth round of FTA talks is scheduled to be held in New Delhi next month.

 

The focus of the FTA negotiations is on reducing the barriers to trade, cutting tariffs and supporting companies to export. According to DIT, India-UK bilateral trade currently stands at around GBP 24 billion a year. Industry experts hope this figure could be boosted further with the conclusion of the FTA.

Egypt’s state grains buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), bought 815,000 tonnes of mainly French wheat in a tender, marking its biggest single purchase in years as prices slightly ease.

 

The purchase comprised 350,000 tonnes of French wheat, 240,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat, 175,000 tonnes of Russian wheat and 50,000 tonnes of Bulgarian wheat, GASC said.

 

The amount will be shipped in August, September and October 2022.

 

The lowest cost and freight offer was for Romanian wheat at $429.90 a tonne, traders said, a 10% drop from the lowest offer purchased in GASC’s last tender in June but still a 58% rise from a Romanian purchase made around the same period last year.

 

The purchase comes days after Egypt’s supply minister said that the government is looking for ways to trim its imports by raising the extraction percentage for flour used for subsidised bread to 87.5% from 82% and even using potatoes in bread making.

 

Egypt aims to save around 500,000 tonnes of imported wheat, targeting 5-5.5 million tonnes of imported wheat for the 2022/23 fiscal year, he added.

 

Earlier on Wednesday, the World Bank said it agreed to provide Egypt with $500 million to help finance its wheat purchases.

 

Egypt relies mainly on imported wheat to make heavily subsidised bread available to more than 70 million of its 103 million population.

 

Wednesday’s tender also included Russian shipments from the port Kavkaz after the state buyer made amendments to its tenderbook to allow all Russian ports to participate.

 

Traders previously said that approving Kavkaz could mean more competitive shipping offers.

The buyer also allowed 50,000 tonne cargoes instead of the usual 55,000 and 60,000.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has strongly pushed the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) as the key connectivity link between Russia and India via Iran by describing it as a truly ambitious project notwithstanding China hard pressing BRI as a mega connectivity initiative in the Eurasian region.

 

Addressing the 6th Caspian Sea Summit on Wednesday in the presence of leaders from Central Asia and Iran, Putin made special reference to the INSTC that connects India with Russia within the shortest possible time. He described the project, which is 7,200-kilometre-long, as a “transport artery from St Petersburg to ports in Iran and India”. INSTC aims to connect Caspian Sea region countries, including Kazakhstan.

 

Earlier this month, Russia sent consignments for India from St Petersburg via the Caspian port of Astrakhan and the Iranian Port of Anzali and from there to Bandar Abbas Port and thereafter to Western Indian ports to operationalise INSTC. The consignments are two 40 feet containers of wood laminates weighing 41 tonnes. The total journey will take less than 25 days cutting the nearly 40 days it currently takes to transport goods from Russia to India and vice-versa. Besides reducing time, INSTC is considered a viable option for Indo-Russian trade amid current geo-political challenges.

 

In the long run, INSTC would be an alternative to the Suez Canal and Mediterranean dominated by some powers and the Bosporus, according to sources who did not wish to be identified. It will also provide an alternative to the BRI in the region. The BRI connectivity projects in the Eurasian region connects Europe to China via Central Asian states and Russia and gives Beijing access to resources of the Eurasian region. Beijing has plans to connect Turkey and Iran via BRI. In the SCO documents, India in a deft diplomacy, has kept itself immune from endorsing BRI. The Chinese project, according to India, violates sovereignty as it passes through PoK. Besides, BRI has been pushing countries towards mega debt.

 

Connectivity via Chabahar Port and INSTC topped the agenda of Iranian Foreign Minister’s visit to India in June. There has been a plan to link INSTC with Chabahar Port which India has assisted to expand and is being used for connectivity with Afghanistan and Central Asia.

 

The INSTC is a multimodal transportation network encompassing sea, road, and rail routes. It links the Indian Ocean to the Caspian Sea via the Persian Gulf onwards into Russia and Northern Europe and offers the shortest connectivity route between them. Multimodal routes through sea, rail, and road under the INSTC aim to reduce the carriage cost between India and Russia by about 30%.

 

The foundation of the North-South transport corridor was laid on September 12, 2000, in accordance with an intergovernmental agreement signed between Russia, Iran, and India. Azerbaijan joined this agreement in 2005. This agreement was ratified by 13 countries (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Armenia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine). The project has a number of components: Northern and Western Europe –– the Russian Federation, Caucasus –– Persian Gulf (Western route); Central Asia –– Persian Gulf (Eastern Route); Caspian Sea –– Iran-Persian Gulf (Central Route).

Agricultural exports may top $60 billion in a few years

India recently restricted wheat and sugar export by allowing them only with government permits. The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), which is mandated to promote agri exports, faces a tough job in such a situation to maintain a balance. In an interview with BusinessLine, APEDA Chairman M Angamuthu said when there is a strong export demand in the global market which keeps on increasing rapidly, India has to strike a balance between domestic requirements and global demand. However, an export-led agricultural research and development strategy is the way forward to improve productivity, qualitatively and quantitatively on sustainable basis, he said. Excerpts:

Thanesar MLA Subhash Sudha on Wednesday inaugurated a two-day subtropical fruit expo at the Centre for Subtropical Fruit, Ladwa, in Kurukshetra district.

 

The MLA said, 'The best mango varieties in the country are being prepared at the Ladwa in. Farmers from across the country come here for mango saplings.'

 

'The main objective of this expo is to provide a platform to farmers to get information about the latest farming techniques, especially with a view to promote horticulture under the Mera Pani-Meri Virasat and crop diversification schemes of the state government. This will help farmers to use fewer resources more efficiently and increase their income,' the MLA said.

 

On the first day, different varieties of mangoes were displayed at the expo, while on Thursday, the focus will be on different varieties of pear, peaches and plums. Usman, a farmer from Raipur, brought 235 varieties of mangos at the expo.

 

Officials of the Horticulture Department said different varieties of mangoes were being prepared at the Ladwa centre in collaboration with Israel.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Assam produces nearly 3.1 lakh metric tonnes of spices annually. The state holds a major share in the production of spices such as Ginger, Turmeric, Coriander, Mustard, Chilli, Garlic.

 

Sarma said that in the present scenario, wherein the entire globe is on the look for healthy food, that are at par with the international standards of food safety and quality, free from any chemical residues and other contaminants; the North Eastern NSE -0.39 % India can emerge as the major supplier of organic foods to the globe. He made this observation while speaking at the International Buyer Seller Meet and Spices Conclave organized by the Spices Board of India for the North Eastern Region at Guwahati.

 

The conclave was participated by leading foreign buyers, major exporters, farmers, and traders from across the North East. The event was organized in line with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote India’s rich heritage of traditional spices, herbs and medicinal plants across the globe as well as to facilitate growth and development of Spices, Condiments and similar products from the Region.

 

Stating that India has been known globally for its home grown spices, Sarma said that spices and herbs in the country play roles that go way beyond just cooking, and they are regularly used for their curative and therapeutic properties. He mentioned that India produces about 75 of the 109 varieties of spices listed by the International Organization for Standardization. The country has today emerged as the world’s largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices and overall production of different types of spices has been growing rapidly over the last few years, he remarked.

 

Sarma said that North Eastern Region has acquired special attention in the global map owing to the quality of spices that are considered organic and amongst the many unique products and features for which the region is famous for, spices are of special recognition having global demand.

 

The Chief Minister further informed that Assam produces nearly 3.1 lakh metric tonnes of spices annually. The state holds a major share in the production of spices such as Ginger, Turmeric, Coriander, Mustard, Chilli, Garlic, etc. He also said that being the gateway of the North East India, with better connectivity and fast developing infrastructural facilities; the state has the potential to be a major hub for post-harvest processing and value addition of spices from the region and can become one of the major exporting hubs.

 

Sarma said that steps have been taken to make best use of Prime Minister's Developmental Initiative for North East (PM-DevlNE), One District One Product (ODOP) scheme and to convert the ‘by-default organic’ tag of the spices produced in the region to ‘certified organic’ or ‘organic by design’ to realize maximum potential of spices sector. He informed that under ODOP scheme, several districts in Assam have identified spices as their focus crop, such as Turmeric from Bongaigaon; Mustard seeds and Mustard products from the districts of Darrang, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, and Majuli; Ginger from the districts of Karbi Anglong, West Karbi-Anglong, and Dima Hasao ; Chilli from Dhubri and Jorhat.

 

Lauding the Spices Board for its initiative to start a Quality Evaluation Laboratory for Spices at Guwahati, the Chief Minister said that the laboratory will be of immense help and benefit to the North Eastern Region as this will make available state-of-the-art testing facilities for spices that are at par with the international standards, in the region itself.

 

Saying that due to lack of adequate infrastructure & industry presence for processing and value addition of spices, presently most of the produce goes out on raw or semi-processed stage resulting in low income to the farmer and producer, Sarma stressed on proper coordination between Spices Board, Farmer Producer Organizations and Agriculture as well as Industry Department.

 

Tage Taki, the Minister for Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry & Veterinary, Dairy Development & Fisheries, Arunachal Pradesh while addressing the participants of the IBSM stressed on the need for adequate technology and institutional support to further develop the spice sector of the North Eastern region.

 

D. Sathiyan IFS, Secretary, Spices Board said, 'International Buyer Seller Meet and Spices Conclave’ is envisaged to promote the indigenous spices of the eight North Eastern states, especially the GI tagged varieties of Sikkim Large Cardamom, Assam Karbi Anglong Ginger, Naga Mircha, Bird’s Eye Chilli (Mizo Chilli), Hathei Chilly and Dalle Khursani'. He further said 'The programme aims to create direct trade links for the indigenous, high-quality spices of the region with both national and international buyers'.

Coffee shipments from India, Asia's third-largest producer and exporter, rose 19% to 2,24,293 tonne in the first half (H1) of the current calendar year, according to Coffee Board.

 

The country had exported 1,88,736 tonnes in the year-earlier period.

 

India ships both robusta and Arabica varieties, besides instant coffee.

 

According to the Board's latest data, the shipment of Robusta coffee jumped 39.43% to 1,32,852 tonne during January-June 2022 from 95,280 tonne in the same period last year.

 

Whereas Arabica coffee exports declined 16.75% to 29,058 tonne from 34,905 tonne in the said period.

 

In the case of instant coffee, its shipments increased by 24% to 15,858 tonne from 12,794 tonne in the year-earlier period.

 

The volume of coffee re-exported remained marginally higher at 46,324 tonne against 45,621 tonne.

 

Italy, Germany and Belgium were the major export destinations for Indian coffee during the period.

Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Telangana are the Top Achievers based on implementation of Business Reforms Action Plan. Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh figure under the Achievers category. While Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Jharkhand, Kerala, Rajasthan and West Bengal have been placed in the Aspirers category, Andaman & Nicobar, Bihar, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli,

 

Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Puducherry and Tripura have been clubbed under the Emerging Business Ecosystems category.

 

Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Hon’ble Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, announced the assessment of States/UTs under Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) 2020, the 5th edition of the BRAP exercise in New Delhi today.The announcements were made in the august presence of Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Anurag Jain, Secretary, DPIIT and Senior Government officials of State and UT administration.

 

Speaking after release of assessment report, Smt. Sitharaman said that the nature of reforms had undergone change since 1991. 'The reforms now taking place are responsive reforms. Unlike the reforms of 1991, which were given to us for implementation, there is no compulsion now. The objective is to see what will bring out improvement in systems and ensure better lives for us. An element of nudge has been brought into every layer of the government. Nudging can not be by the government only and the industry has a big role to play there,’, the Finance Minister said. The Finance Minister appreciated the changes brought in the assessment framework of implementation under the Business Reforms Action Plan over years.

 

Speaking at the event, Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister for Commerce & Industry said that the assessment has evolved from evidence-based to 100% feedback in multilingual format. He said that the purpose of this BRAP exercise is to infuse a culture of learning from each other’s best practices and improve upon the business climate in each State/UT with a unified objective for India to emerge as a most favoured Investment Destination across the globe

 

'When Hon’ble Prime Minister gave the thrust in 2014 to improving the ease of doing business, one of his major thrust areas was that while we are working at the international level for improving our ranking, we must involve all the stakeholders including the States and UTs in our effort to get them on board so that people really feel the difference and change in their ecosystem, which will lead to ease of living,' Shri Goyal said.

 

'The process started in 2014 has started bearing fruit as we go along. Rather than ease of doing business being limited to a few areas, few cities and few businesses, we are seeing it being reflected across the country through the spirit of competitive federalism and also of collaboration', the Commerce & Industry minister added.

 

Secretary, DPIIT Shri Anurag Jain said that the difference between various states/UTs was so small that it did not make sense to rank them but rather put them in various categories.

 

The BRAP 2020 includes 301 reform points covering 15 business regulatory areas such as Access to Information, Single Window System, Labour, Environment, Land Administration & Transfer of Land and Property, Utility Permits and others. 118 new reforms were included to further augment the reform process. Sectoral reforms with 72 action points spread across 9 sectors namely Trade License, Healthcare, Legal Metrology, Cinema Halls, Hospitality, Fire NOC, Telecom, Movie Shooting and Tourism were introduced for the first time to expand the scope of reform agenda.

 

The broader aim is to boost investor confidence, foster business friendly climate and augment Ease of Doing Business across the country by introducing an element of healthy competition through a system of assessing states based on their performance in the implementation of Business Reforms Action Plan. In a departure from the previous years, where States/UTs were ranked, this year they have been placed under the four categories viz. Top Achievers, Achievers, Aspirers and Emerging Business Ecosystems. The objective of assessing the States/UTs is not to create a hierarchy amongst States/UTs but to rather create an enabling framework wherein learnings can be shared amongst States/UTs which in turn will lead to a nationwide spill over of good practices.The assessment gives full weightage to the feedback obtained from actual users/respondents at the ground level, who provided their feedback about the effective implementation of reforms.

 

DPIIT since 2014 has been assessing States/UTs based on their performance in implementation of prescribed reforms in Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) exercise. Till date, assessment of States/UTs have been released for the years 2015, 2016, 2017-18 and 2019.

 

It is commendable to note the endeavour of the States/UTs in implementing the reforms and with that spirit, DPIIT has assessed and grouped States/UTs into broad category-wise segmentation to recognize and identify the exemplary reform measures undertaken by the States/UTs to improve business environment.

 

Egypt's state grains buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), bought 815,000 tonnes of mainly French wheat in a tender, marking its biggest single purchase in years as prices slightly ease.

 

The purchase comprised 350,000 tonnes of French wheat, 240,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat, 175,000 tonnes of Russian wheat and 50,000 tonnes of Bulgarian wheat, GASC said.

 

The amount will be shipped in August, September and October 2022.

 

The lowest cost and freight offer was for Romanian wheat at $429.90 a tonne, traders said, a 10% drop from the lowest offer purchased in GASC's last tender in June but still a 58% rise from a Romanian purchase made around the same period last year.

 

The purchase comes days after Egypt's supply minister said that the government is looking for ways to trim its imports by raising the extraction percentage for flour used for subsidised bread to 87.5% from 82% and even using potatoes in bread making.

 

Egypt aims to save around 500,000 tonnes of imported wheat, targeting 5-5.5 million tonnes of imported wheat for the 2022/23 fiscal year, he added.

 

Earlier on Wednesday, the World Bank said it agreed to provide Egypt with $500 million to help finance its wheat purchases.

 

Egypt relies mainly on imported wheat to make heavily subsidised bread available to more than 70 million of its 103 million population.

 

Wednesday's tender also included Russian shipments from the port Kavkaz after the state buyer made amendments to its tenderbook to allow all Russian ports to participate.

 

Traders previously said that approving Kavkaz could mean more competitive shipping offers.

 

The buyer also allowed 50,000 tonne cargoes instead of the usual 55,000 and 60,000.

India is considering allowing mills to ship out stocks of raw sugar that have piled up in ports and warehouses, trade and government sources said on Tuesday, weeks after it imposed curbs on overseas sale of the sweetener.

 

Additional shipments from India, the world's biggest exporter of sugar after Brazil, could weigh on raw sugar futures , which are trading near their lowest in four months.

 

Last month, India capped this season's exports at 10 million tonnes, a figure they had almost reached, in a bid to prevent a surge in domestic prices as the world's second most populous nation battles high food inflation.

 

'We are looking into it,' said a senior government official, who sought anonymity in line with official rules. 'The proposal regarding raw sugar is under consideration.'

 

He was referring to a request from sugar mills for the government to let them ship out unrefined stocks as they grapple with mounting stockpiles of the sweetener following the ceiling on exports.

 

A government spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

The stockpiles are estimated to run into about half a million tonnes of raw sugar, including about 200,000 tonnes stuck at ports across the country.

 

Trade, industry and government officials say that of India's record 10 million tonnes of sugar exports this year, raw sugar accounted for about 4.5 million, while the rest was white, or the refined variety.

 

Indian mills produce raw sugar only for the overseas refineries that turn 'raws' into whites.

 

Over the past few years, India has been exporting reasonably large quantities of raw sugar, positioning it as a consistent supplier beside key players Brazil and Thailand.

 

'Since raw sugar cannot be sold in the domestic market, it makes sense to export it,' said Aditya Jhunjhunwala, president of the Indian Sugar Mills Association, a body of producers.

 

'Otherwise, the quality of our stocks might deteriorate with time.'

 

A Mumbai-based trader said the government had already collected data from mills and exporters regarding raw sugar exports.

 

The sudden curb on sugar exports, and difficulties of logistics, such as a shortage of trucks and railway wagons, prevented mills from shipping out raws, a New Delhi-based trader with a global trading firm said.

 

'If the government allows mills to export their inventories, there will be a lot of buyers as Indian sugar is very competitive in the world market,' he said.