1.   

An alarmed Board of Trade to meet on March 22

To give a boost to the country's ailing export sector, the government is set to convene a Board of Trade (BoT) meet on March 22, to prepare the way for the annual supplement to the Foreign Trade Policy (2009-2014), expected to be unveiled in April. Commerce secretary S R Rao told Business Standard: "The meeting (is) to seek inputs from all stakeholders such as industry chambers, exporters and various export promotion councils, to identify the problems and how those can be solved.

2.   

USIBC targets $ 500 billion two-way trade with India

Seeking to accelerate and advance US-India trade beyond the $ 100 billion mark, a team of top American businesses led by Ajay Banga, MasterCard CEO and USIBC Chairman, arrived in New Delhi today. This annual visit of Board of Directors of US-India Business Council led by Banga assumes significance this year, as it will venture beyond the traditional stops in Delhi and Mumbai, and would also travel to Lucknow at the invitation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

3.   

CAD challenge: Govt works upon fresh incentives to promote exports

With the current account deficit (CAD) turning out to be a bigger worry than the fiscal deficit, the government is banking on the 20-per cent hike in the Budgetary allocation for providing loans to exporters at subsidised rates of interest and a fresh package of incentives being drawn up to rev up exports. CAD is the amount by which export earnings fall short of the import bill and the gap in foreign exchange has to be financed through other means. This leads to a depreciation of the rupee and weakens the economy.

4.   

Special Cabinet meetings likely on agriculture from next fiscal

The State Budget for 2013-14 may not roll out any new schemes in view of the election year, but all the key sectors will get enhanced allocations.New schemes need not be part of the State budget proposals. They can be announced during the course of the financial year as per the government’s decision. However, a final call will be taken by the Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy once he goes through the draft budget speech, said Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayan Reddy.