Daily News - Friday, 12 July 2024
India rejected 1,500 imported food products in last two years (mint)
India has rejected around 1,500 imported food products from multiple countries over the past two financial years due to failure to meet the quality and safety standards set by the Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI). This includes a diverse range of items such as cheese, almonds, milk products, whisky, dates, apples, coffee, seafood, and chocolates, with rejections stemming from both developed and developing countries. Simultaneously, Indian food items, including spices, have also faced rejections internationally, prompting the FSSAI to order comprehensive testing and investigations into domestic food safety practices.
Work contracts on GeM soon; portal set to be world’s largest (Financial Express)
India's public procurement portal, Government e-Marketplace (GeM), is considering expanding its scope to include work contracts, with a proposal set to be submitted to the commerce ministry after stakeholder consultations. Initially targeting 10% of the work contracts market, GeM aims to demonstrate the benefits before expanding further; work contracts encompass activities like construction, repair, and maintenance of properties. The GeM platform has already doubled its procurement value to 4 trillion INR in 2023-24 and is on track to become the world's largest public procurement portal by the end of the financial year, surpassing South Korea's KONEPS.
Affordable Fuel, Not Free Mkt Doctrine, is Priority: Oil Min (The Economic Times)
Oil Minister Hardeep Puri emphasized that the Indian government's priority is to ensure affordable fuel for consumers rather than strictly adhere to free market principles, justifying the control over pump prices despite global trends. Domestic petrol and diesel prices have remained stable, diverging from international rates, especially after the Ukraine war caused global fuel prices to spike. Puri highlighted the importance of the exploration and production sector for energy self-sufficiency, noting that only 10% of India's sedimentary basin is under exploration, with plans to increase this to 16% by the end of 2024, and announced a committee to support this initiative.
Adani, BHEL, Avaada Among 23 Cos to Set SIGHT on Electrolyser Sops (The Economic Times)
Adani Enterprises Ltd, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Avaada Electrolyser Pvt Ltd, Thermax Ltd, and Waree Energies Ltd are among the 23 companies bidding for incentives to manufacture electrolysers under the second tranche of the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition (SIGHT) Scheme, which has a maximum outlay of ₹2,220 crore. The total bids received amount to 2,847 MW against the offered capacity of 1,500 MW, with Adani Enterprises bidding for 101.5 MW in various categories and Avaada Electrolyser bidding for the maximum allowed 300 MW. This scheme is part of the National Green Hydrogen Mission, aiming to boost domestic manufacturing and production of green hydrogen with a total outlay of ₹17,490 crore, and financial bids are expected to be finalized within a month.
Economists Seek Lower Import Tariffs at Meeting with PM Modi (The Economic Times)
At a pre-budget meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leading economists advocated for reducing import tariffs on intermediate goods, lowering high interest rates, signing more free trade deals, and reducing logistics costs to enhance local manufacturing and exports. They also recommended increasing capital expenditure to support growth and fiscal consolidation, while cautioning against inflation's impact on rural sentiment. The discussion, which included Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and members of NITI Aayog, also addressed improving agricultural support, particularly for farmer producer organizations, and enhancing education and skills to boost employability, as part of a roadmap for making India a developed nation by 2047.
