1.   

Commerce ministry takes steps to help exporters

The commerce ministry seems eager to help exporters in many small ways, while the Reserve Bank of India seems to be doing the opposite. Last week, the commerce ministry enhanced the threshold limit for eligibility under the Market Development Assistance Scheme from Rs 15 crore to Rs 30 crore from June 1, 2013, thus enabling more exporters to take advantage of the scheme.

2.   

'Changes in MDA scheme will benefit MSME exporters'

The government's decision to double the upper eligibility limit from Rs.15 crore to Rs.30 crore under the Market Development Assistance(MDA) scheme would benefit the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) exporters, said the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) on Friday. Doubling in the threshold limit from Rs.15 crore to Rs.30 crore would benefit large number of MSME exporters who were earlier denied the benefit due to lower threshold limit, said FIEO president M Rafeeque Ahmed in a press statement.

3.   

Beijing wants better trade ties with Delhi

In a follow-up to the recent talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, a high-level Indian official team will be in Beijing tomorrow to discuss with Chinese authorities ways and means to reduce the huge trade imbalance between the two countries. The team, headed by Commerce Secretary SR Rao, is expected to seek easy market access for Indian products, particularly pharmaceuticals and IT-enabled services, to the vast Chinese market.

4.   

Bangladesh allows transit for foodgrains for northeast India

In a major policy change, Bangladesh will allow India ferry foodgrains for the mountainous northeastern states via its territory, a Tripura minister said in Agartala. "Initially, the Bangladesh government has agreed to transport 10,000 tonnes of foodgrains for Tripura through its territory," Tripura Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bhanulal Saha told IANS. "The Bangladesh government issued necessary orders earlier this week following a series of diplomatic and other parleys.