สรุปข่าวเศรษฐกิจอินเดียประจำวันที่ 23 กันยายน 2556

Indian seafood exporters to benefit as US lifts CVD on shrimp

The US International Trade Commission (USITC)’s decision not to impose countervailing duty (CVD) on shrimp imports from India and six nations — Indonesia, Thailand, China, Ecuador, Malaysia and Vietnam — has come as a great relief to the seafood export sector, under pressure from economic slowdown in the European Union (EU) market. The US is the largest importer of Indian seafood in value terms because a major chunk of imports by the US is high-value items such as shrimp. However, India’s seafood export there was hit badly after the US imposed a 11.17 per cent antidumping duty in 2005. The number of Indian exporters to the US declined drastically from 280 in 2005 to 68 in 2009. Indonesia and Thailand were expected to benefit because there was zero duty for them in the final duty determination of the US department of commerce (DOC). However, there was large-scale loss in production due to early mortality syndrome (EMS) in Thailand and Indonesia. Therefore, these countries had to import from India to meet their commitments in the US market, said Anwar Hashim, former president of Seafood Exporters Association of India.

(Source: Business Standard)

New drawback rates disappoint business

The Union finance ministry has notified the revised All Industry Rates (AIR) for duty drawback though notification 98/2013-Customs (NT) dated September 14. Reduction of these rates on most items has drawn adverse reactions from sections of exporters. Exporters apprehend fiscal constraints have contributed to the cut in their drawback rates. The finance ministry used its emergency powers to raise the tariff rate of duty on import of jewellery, precious metal and articles of goldsmiths' or silversmiths' wares from 10 per cent to 15 per cent. It also withdrew the exemption from anti-dumping duty and safeguard duty on imports under transferred Duty Free Import Authorisations (DFIA) and on goods already imported under DFIA, when transferred. Tough guidelines for arrest for violation of tax laws and stringent conditions for bail have also been issued.

(Source: Business Standard)

Finance Ministry to define FDI in line with global benchmarks

As it tries to simplify investment norms for foreign capital, the finance ministry is set to follow a global benchmarks for foreign direct investments (FDI) and has also backed a new investor class of foreign portfolio investors to define cross-border investments of less than 10 per cent. Accordingly, investments with less than 10 per cent stake would be considered as foreign institutional investment (FII).This is the key recommendation of a panel led by department of economic affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram, which is set to meet over the next few days to finalise the modalities of the investor class. Aimed at differentiating from foreign direct investors, this new class of investors would include all other foreign capital classes including foreign institutional investors, portfolio investors, qualified foreign investors and non-resident Foreign investment flows into India through the FDI route rose by just six per cent year on year to $10.87 billion in the first six months of 2013.

(Source: Financial Express)

Non-oil trade deficit to be much lower in current fiscal: Assocham

The non-oil trade deficit in the current financial year is likely to be much lower at $65-72 billion as against the $81.8 billion in 2012-13 on account of curbs on gold imports, according to an Assocham study. Thanks to some tight leash on the gold imports by way of restrictions and 10 per cent customs duty coupled with demand slowdown for industrial imports, it is the non-oil deficit which is projected to be much lower in the current financial year than 2012-13. However, the oil trade deficit difference between imports of crude oil and export of petro-products is likely to be higher in the current fiscal. India needs is an urgent holistic energy policy so that a lot of investment can be attracted in the exploration of both crude and natural gas. Policies governing pricing to be paid to the contractors should be fixed in a transparent manner, the study suggested. Besides, over-dependence on the oil sector for raising taxation revenue both by the Centre and the state governments should be reduced

(Source: Economic Times)

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