1.   

Industry-PM meet today to discuss trade barriers

Captains of Indian industry are to discuss some major issues hampering business growth and of the economy at large with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday. Those scheduled to be present are N R Narayana Murthy, Adi Godrej, Chanda Kochhar, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Deepak Parekh, Rahul Bajaj, S Gopalakrishnan and Naina Lal Kidwai, among others. “Depreciation of the rupee has affected all sectors across the board.

2.   

India still second fastest growing economy: Chidambaram

Noting that India continued to be the second fastest growing economy in the world after China, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Saturday said people should not be worried about the current slow down and expressed hope of achieving six per cent growth this fiscal. “People should remember India continues to be the second fastest growing economy after China. Even China’s growth which was at 10 per cent has come down to seven per cent now, while our growth has slid to five per cent from nine per cent,” he said at a bank function in Manamadurai.

3.   

Anand Sharma to meet PM on early sops for exporters

The government has begun work on a package for exporters that could include steps to increase availability of credit and lower their cost, measures that commerce minister Anand Sharma is expected to press for expediting when he meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday. "Our exporters are unable to take advantage of the rupee fall due to credit availability issues. Therefore, we are pushing for quick implementation of the RBI's Padmanabhan committee's recommendations," said Commerce Secretary SR Rao.

4.   

Exporters look to US to renew duty sop

Domestic exporters are betting big on an early renewal of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) by the US to strengthen bilateral trade. The GSP programme, which was renewed by the US in October 2011, will expire on July 31. Under GSP, which is a preferential trade programme, the US allows duty-free entry to around 3,000 products, which include engineering goods, industrial machinery, chemicals, agricultural foods and electrical equipment, from about 130 developing countries, including India.