Daily Economic News - 16 September 2014

Export growth at 5-month low, but lower oil imports limit trade deficit to $10.7 billion
August exports rose 2.35 per cent while imports were up 2.08 per cent despite 14.97 per cent decline in oil imports, data released by the ministry of commerce & industry showed on Monday. Trade deficit amounted to $10.7 billion, lower than $12.2 billion in the previous month. Non-oil, non-gold imports registered 8 per cent growth in August. The economy expanded by a nine-quarter high of 5.7 per cent in the first three months of the fiscal. Engineering and readymade garments continued double-digit growth run, expanding by 22 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively. Oil imports fell because of softer crude prices, which also dented India's petroleum exports that dropped 13 per cent in value terms.
(Source: The Economic Times)

India will oust China as top cotton producer this year: USDA
India is all set to beat China and become the top cotton producer this year, ousting the communist nation from the number 1 position for the first time in over 30 years, the US has said in a report. The reduction is largely due to the fewer incentives farmers are getting for planting cotton in China's eastern provinces, the report said. While for India, the late monsoon will likely benefit cotton; some area originally expected to be devoted to alternative crops--with an earlier planting window--is now projected to move to cotton.
(Source: The Economic Times)

PM Narendra Modi fixes April 2016 deadline for GST launch
Modi met finance minister Arun Jaitley to judge how far the GST preparations have moved. According to Jaitley, the Constitutional Amendment Bill to give states and the Centre co-equal power to tax services and production can be introduced in Parliament in the Winter Session. This is the first structured meeting on the tax measure that has been held by Modi.
The big challenge in the run up to GST is setting up of a national IT framework that can act as a clearing house for the taxation of inter-state movement of goods. Finance ministry officials have told Modi that the IT framework would be up and running by 2016.
The ministry has already set up a GST cell headed by a joint secretary-level officer. This cell, which also has officers from the Central Board of Excise and Customs, will be the secretariat for the empowered committee of state finance ministers and pilot the key bills through Parliament and monitor their subsequent progress through state legislatures.
(Source: The Financial Express)

Thaiindianet. Team

16 September 2014