1.   

Finmin in talks with RBI to explore possibility of including export credit in sector lending

In a push to make credit easily available to exporters, the finance ministry has asked the RBI to consider if export credit could be included in priority sector lending of banks. AT present, banks have to set aside 40% of their net credit for lending to priority sectors, including agriculture, micro and small enterprises and advances to other weaker sections.

2.   

Increasing exports to lower trade deficit this fiscal: Rao

Increasing exports from the country would help managing trade deficit at a much lower level this fiscal as compared to the the last financial year, said Commerce Secretary S R Rao on Saturday. Increasing exports would help in managing the trade deficit which is likely to be much less in the current year as compared to 2012-13, said Rao speaking at an event in Mumbai. He added that initial indications point that August export figure is likely to be as impressive as in July when we recorded 12% growth.

3.   

India increasing engagement with West Africa: Burkina Faso minister (Interview)

Most of the 15 member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have established their embassies here, reflecting India's growing engagement with a predominantly Francophone part of Africa. Burkinabe Health Minister Lene Sebgo, here on a visit, pointed out how trade relations with his country also meant access to the wider ECOWAS market of over 300 million. Burkina Faso, a landlocked country of 17 million, is among the latest of ECOWAS members to have posted an ambassador here.

4.   

Rising exports to US, EU clouded by order dip from other regions

There is an upside to the falling rupee. Exports are up thanks to that and more orders from the US and the EU. But the party poopers could be the rising input costs and a fall in demand from Latin America, Asia and Africa. The Commerce Ministry’s disaggregated export data for the first quarter of this fiscal reveal a small increase in dispatches to the US and the EU that account for a third of exports. However, exports to Latin America, and parts of Asia and Africa, that together also account for a third of the total orders, fell.