The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has broadened its research scope to include genetic enhancement of potato crops, unveiling two new varieties: Punjab Potato 101 and Punjab Potato 102. PAU's Vice-Chancellor, Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, anticipates these new varieties will greatly benefit the state's potato farmers through improved yields and increased income.

 

As the primary disease-free seed producer, supplying 90% of India's total disease-free seed potato demand, the institution underscores the potato's crucial role as a cash crop. This not only boosts farm income, but also creates employment and ensures food security within the state.

 

Dr Ajmer Singh Dhatt, Director of Research at PAU, provided insights into the university's innovative potato breeding program initiated in 2016. After years of dedicated research, Dr Sat Pal Sharma and his team achieved a significant breakthrough in 2023, introducing the high-yield potato varieties Punjab Potato 101 and Punjab Potato 102, characterized by their white and light yellow flesh, respectively. These varieties are ideal for main-season cultivation, according to Dr Dhatt.

 

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi approved the proposal for signing of a protocol for establishment of Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) between the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of India and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic.

 

Bilateral relations between India and the Dominican Republic have been friendly and continue to deepen in all spheres.  At present, there is no bilateral institutional mechanism between India and Dominican Republic on trade and commerce.  India primarily imports gold from Dominican Republic and exports pharmaceuticals, marine products, motor vehicles, two and three wheelers etc. to them.

 

The establishment of JETCO will strengthen economic tie between India and the Dominican Republic and shall play a pivotal role and provide a platform for discussions, exchange of information, knowledge and ideas which would in turn facilitate trade and industry.  The Protocol can be an effective gateway to the larger Latin American and Caribbean markets.

 

The Joint Committee will provide a platform for exchange of information between various authorities and their counterparts.  This would help in facilitating trade of goods and services and consequentially help in better employment opportunities for professionals in both the countries.

 

The establishment of JETCO will facilitate mitigating challenges in export of Indian products of mutual dialogue and pave the way for boosting exports of pharmaceuticals, automobiles and engineering goods manufactured in India leading to more  foreign exchange earnings for a Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu inaugurated the state-of-the-art fruit processing plant built at a cost of Rs 100.42 crore at Parala, Theog, of Shimla district recently and stated that this plant will prove to be a milestone in the development of the area and its fruit industry. The Chief Minister said that wine, vinegar and juice will be produced in this plant ensuring that the local growers get fair prices for their produce. He added that the plant would also speed up the production of the processed products.

 

Addressing the people on the occasion, Sukhu said that this year the disaster caused by heavy rains had wreaked havoc and the link roads, especially in the apple belts of the state, were damaged badly. He stated: 'Our government restored these roads on priority basis, making sure that the produce is delivered to the market on time, thereby protecting horticulturists from financial loss.' He added that the State Government had announced a historic increase of Rs 1.50 in the support price of apples, which now stood at rupees 12 per kg. This time the procurement of apples has been done on kilo basis and the universal carton system is being implemented so that the orchardists get fair prices for their produce, remarked the CM.

 

The government was continuously working for the upliftment and convenience of the horticulturists, said the Chief Minister, adding that 'eight grading/packing houses, Controlled Atmosphere (CA) and Cold Stores are being established in Bhawanagar, Sandasu, Anu, Chopal, Jabli, Sundernagar, Dattnagar and Khadapathar for the convenience of the farmers'.

 

Sukhu said that during his recent visit to Dubai, he appealed to the investors there to explore the possibilities of marketing the horticulture products of Himachal Pradesh in Dubai. He added that investors showed interest and expressed willingness to visit Himachal Pradesh in coming January to explore the options and areas of investments. He said: 'The State Government was taking many effective steps to protect the horticulturists from exploitation and provide them various benefits to strengthen their finances.'

 

He directed the officials to operate the properties of Himachal Pradesh Marketing Committee (HPMC) in a way that it benefits the horticulturists of the state. The Chief Minister said: 'Through HPMC, gardening tools, fertilisers, pesticides and fungicides are being made available at a very low cost. We are taking several steps to safeguard the interests of the horticulturists and will continue to do so in future as well.'

Strong domestic demand is tightening India's corn supplies, with the country's consumption of the animal feed ingredient seen growing by up to 2 million metric tons a year, a senior executive of global trading firm Louis Dreyfus said.

 

India has been a key corn exporter in Asia, supplying buyers in Southeast Asia, but shipments have dwindled in recent years amid rising local consumption.

 

'The corn balance sheet in India is very tight,' Garima Jain, deputy CEO and head of grains for India at Louis Dreyfus Company, told Reuters.

 

 

'To meet domestic demand of poultry, starch and now ethanol, Indian corn production needs to increase at least 6-8% per annum, which is around 1.5 to 2 million tons per year. Considering an average yield of around 3 tons per hectare, either we need to increase yields or acreage under production.'

 

India's corn exports have almost ground to a halt since December due to a rally in local prices on strong demand from the poultry and ethanol industry, making shipments from the country more expensive than those from rivals, according to four exporters last week.

 

For India's wheat supplies, Jain said the country's stocks are above the government's buffer norms, even though inventories have dropped in recent years.

 

India has banned wheat exports since 2022 and there has been market talk about the country turning to imports to meet domestic demand.

 

However, India's trade minister said earlier this month the country is not planning to import wheat.

 

Wheat stocks at state warehouses stood at 16.47 million metric tons as of Jan. 1, the lowest since 2017.

 

'The food Minister is estimating and they have said that the wheat crop of India is going to be 114 million tonnes. So, keeping that in mind, we are at a very comfortable position,' she said on the sidelines of a commodities conference.

Horticulture Minister Chetan Singh Jauramajra today met a high-level delegation from Israel to explore opportunities for collaboration in modern agricultural technologies.

 

During the meeting with Hadas Bakst, Political Domestic Advisor, Embassy of Israel, Jauramajra said rapid depletion of underground water needed urgent attention. He asked the delegation to provide high-yielding varieties requiring less water.

Negotiations for a free trade agreement between India and the four-nation EFTA bloc are at an advanced stage as both sides have reached a shared understanding on key issues, a senior official has said. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

 

India and the EFTA have been negotiating the pact, officially dubbed as Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), since January 2008 to boost economic ties.

 

'Following extensive negotiations, a shared understanding has been achieved on key issues during the ministerial meeting. Ongoing efforts are now focused on shaping the convergence that has emerged,' the official said.

 

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held a meeting recently with Swiss Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin in Mumbai.

 

Parmelin, in a social media post on X, has said that officials are working around the clock to settle last details so that it can be signed as soon as possible.

 

'At the last-minute invitation of my Indian counterpart @PiyushGoyal, I travelled directly from the WEF in Davos to Mumbai/India. After 16 years of negotiations, we found balanced solutions to the main open issues of the EFTA-India trade agreement,' Parmelin has said.

 

The last round of talks between the countries concluded on January 13 here.

 

Negotiations are held on various chapters, including trade in gods, rules of origin, intellectual property rights (IPRs), trade in services, investment promotion and cooperation, trade and sustainable development, and trade facilitation.

 

EFTA has 29 free trade agreements (FTAs) with 40 partner countries, including Canada, Chile, China, Mexico, and Korea.

 

Under free trade pacts, two trading partners significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them, besides easing norms to promote trade in services and investments.

 

EFTA countries are not part of the European Union (EU). It is an inter-governmental organisation for the promotion and intensification of free trade. It was founded as an alternative for states that did not wish to join the European community.

 

India's exports to EFTA countries during 2022-23 stood at USD 1.92 billion against USD 1.74 billion in 2021-22. Imports aggregated at USD 16.74 billion during the last fiscal compared to USD 25.5 billion in 2021-22.

 

The trade gap is in favour of the EFTA group, according to the data of the commerce ministry.

Hailing the trade ties between India and Nigeria, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that the relationship between the two nations today is of about USD 13-15 billion worth of trade annually.

 

He added that in this trade partnership, India has committed USD 27-30 billion of investment, making Nigeria a premier economic partner in Africa.

 

Addressing the Nigeria-India Business Council (NIBC) in Abuja, Jaishankar said, 'There are different ways of describing this relationship. But to a business audience and to a policy audience, it is the relationship today of about 13 to 15 billion dollars worth of trade annually, where India has committed somewhere between 27 to 30 billion dollars of investment, where Nigeria is our premier economic partner in Africa.'

 

Speaking on the flourishing trade between the countries, the EAM underlined that India, today provides the basis for a more serious interaction.

 

'I was reminding some folks yesterday, that India’s exports in the year that has just been completed was 766 billion dollars. And I’d surely like, and I’m sure you would surely like, a larger part of that share to come to Nigeria. Because today we are a 4 trillion dollar economy, an economy with a range of capabilities and technologies and experiences and practices, which we perhaps did not have in earlier years, and which really today provide the basis for a more serious interaction,' the EAM went on to say.

 

He also underlined that Banking, insurance, credit guarantees, flight connections, trade settlements, are some of the challenges that should be put on the table, and approached honestly.

 

'I think our primary responsibility is to improve the enabling environment, to look at the kind of problems that I’ve been hearing about in the last two days. Banking, insurance, credit guarantees, flight connections, trade settlements. I think these are challenges today that we should put on the table, approach it very honestly, and look to find constructive, practical solutions,' Jaishankar said.

 

'I’m also very pleased today to see my ministerial colleagues from the Nigerian government, because yesterday I had the honour to meet the Minister for the Blue Economy. And I mention this because, in many ways, if we are to give this relationship more weight, substance and practicality, we should get beyond the world of protocol and diplomacy. Not to look at it in a very narrow sense, but really to get down to business and look at different parts of our economy and of our government and of our policy making and see, where is it that we can build the connect,' he said.

 

'So, even though I’m a Foreign Minister, I urge all of you to really look beyond the foreign policy establishment to build the linkages that will really take our relationship to a new level,' the EAM added.

 

EAM Jaishankar, who was on a visit to Nigeria from January 21-23, concluded his diplomatic trip today.

 

'Concluded my Nigeria visit with an address to the Nigeria-India Business Council (NIBC) today. Investment and trade are at the heart of our partnership,' he wrote on X, as he addressed the NIBC Council in Abuja.

 

'Recognise contribution of those driving it and seeking to take our ties to a higher level. Appreciate the presence of the Ministers of Trade, Budget & Economic Planning, Blue Economy and Steel Development of Nigeria and the Governor of Nasarawa,' he said.

 

Notably, India and Nigeria have traditionally enjoyed close and friendly relations.

 

This was EAM’s first visit to Nigeria, which will further consolidate bilateral relations between the two countries.

 

He also visited the Indian High Commission in Abuja on Monday. There, he unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi and planted a sapling on the premises of the High Commission.

 

Prior to this, he also led the Indian delegation at the 19th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), to be held in Kampala, Uganda. He also met several foreign leaders and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the summit. 

The Indian economy is poised to touch USD 5 trillion next financial year - 2024-25 - and capitalise to double to USD 10 trillion by the end of this decade, said Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri.

 

At present, the Indian economy is estimated to be about USD 3.7 trillion.

 

'Lord Ram is blessing us. We are the fifth-largest economy and the fourth-largest stock market... I think that in the next 1-2 years, we will not only be the fourth-largest economy but we will go further ahead,' Puri told on Tuesday.

 

'I was somewhere told that we would be a USD 5 trillion economy by 2028. I told him that there is no need to wait until 2028; it will happen by 2024-25. We will then be a 10 trillion dollar economy by 2030,' Puri, who is also Urban and Housing Affairs Minister, said.

 

Global interest in India, he added, is increasing by the day, be it in digital infrastructure, the automobile market, energy or biofuels.

 

'So, it (the Indian economy) is looking very good,' the minister said.

 

The Indian economy is expected to grow 7.3 per cent in the current financial year 2023-24, remaining the fastest-growing major economy, the National Statistics Office said on January 5. India's economy grew 7.2 per cent in 2022-23 and 8.7 per cent in 2021-22.

 

Lately, India pipped Hong Kong to become the fourth-highest equity market globally, Bloomberg reported. The combined value of shares listed on Indian exchanges reached USD 4.33 trillion as of Monday's close, versus USD 4.29 trillion for Hong Kong, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

 

Firm GDP growth forecasts, inflation at manageable levels, political stability at the central government level and signs that the central bank is done tightening its monetary policy have all contributed to painting a bright picture for the Indian stock market.

 

India's stock market capitalization crossed USD 4 trillion for the first time on December 5, 2023, with about half of that reportedly coming in the past four years. The top three stock markets are those of US, China, and Japan.

 

Cumulatively, the past 12 months have been stellar for investors who parked their money in Indian stocks. Though there has been some turbulence, the calendar year 2023 gave handsome monetary dividends to stock market investors. In 2023 itself, Sensex and Nifty gained 17-18 per cent, on a cumulative basis. They gained a mere three to four per cent each in 2022.

 

Notably, foreign portfolio investors have again trained their sight towards India, becoming net buyers in the country's stock market. In the process, it helped Indian benchmark stock indices taste their all-time highs recently. 

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s two-day visit to Iran, last week, was a crucially timed diplomatic engagement. The visit besides discussing the regional security situation was also aimed at further strengthening the political, economic and cultural aspects of the bilateral relations.

 

As the crisis in the Red Sea spurred by the Israel-Hamas war escalates, India has begun a diplomatic outreach to crucial regional players to secure the country's trade and strategic interests.

 

The outreach treads a line of neutrality in the conflict between the Western powers and the Islamic world wherein India has not joined the US-led multinational naval coalition in the Red Sea while it remains critical of the Houthis' violence.

 

In this backdrop, Jaishankar's recent visit to Tehran was aimed to express India's concerns on the increasing attacks by the allegedly

 

Iran-backed Houthis in the Red Sea, which he shared with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.

 

MEA spokesperson said the issue of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the violence and destabilisation there, were among the things that were discussed, as India is 'deeply concerned about the whole situation'.

 

In the last weeks, both the US and the UK have launched air strikes targeting the Houthi positions in Yemen. On its part, India has been closely monitoring the unfolding situation in the Red Sea.

 

The issue also figured in a phone conversation between Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on 11 January.

 

Countries like India are concerned that the conflict may impact most of Asian trade with Europe. This may lead to a supply chain restructuring, with neighbouring countries at higher costs.

 

Iran supposedly has close links with the Houthi militia in Yemen which have launched a series of attacks on shipping vessels plying the Red Sea route since mid-November.

 

A key motivation for Jaishankar's visit was the recent attacks on

 

several India-linked shipping vessels.

 

Terming the attacks on ships in the vicinity of India as a matter of 'grave concern' to the international community, Jaishankar said in Tehran that such threats have a direct bearing on India's energy and economic interest as he underlined that this 'fraught situation' is not to the benefit of any party.

 

'There has also recently been a perceptible increase in threats to the safety of maritime commercial traffic in this important part of the Indian Ocean,' he said in a joint press statement after wide-ranging talks with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian.

 

He stressed that it's important that this issue be 'speedily addressed', in an apparent reference to the targeting of merchant vessels in the Red Sea - one of the busiest trade routes - by Iranian-backed Yemen's Houthi rebels amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

 

Economic Aspects

 

Jaishankar also met Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash and held a detailed and productive discussion on establishing a long-term cooperation framework on the strategically vital Chabahar Port.

 

During the visit, on 15 January, India and Iran signed an agreement on the further development of the Chabahar Port.

 

Located in Sistan-Balochistan province on Iran's southern coast, the Chabahar Port is being developed jointly by India and Iran to boost connectivity and trade ties.

 

India has been pushing for the port project to boost regional trade,

 

especially for its connectivity to Afghanistan.

 

Earlier, Jaishankar had projected the Chabahar Port as a 'key regional transit hub' at a connectivity conference in Tashkent in 2021.

 

The port is also seen as a key hub for the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) project.

 

The INSTC project is a 7,200-km-long multimode transport project for moving freight between India, Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe.

 

Cultural Links

 

In a significant move to deepen cultural ties, Jaishankar announced that the government of India has decided to include Farsi (Persian) as one of the nine classical languages in India under the New Education Policy.

 

'The government of India has decided to include Farsi as one of the nine classical languages of India in our New Education Policy,' said Jaishankar, highlighting the cultural, literary, and linguistic connections between Iran and India.

 

Jaishankar, made the above remarks during a joint press joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, H Amirabdollahian on January 15.

 

Indian Outreach

 

Indian foreign minister's recent visit to Iran was part of the diplomatic efforts that have been stepped up to secure India's interests regionally.

 

Though, the Shiite population in India is quite small compared to the Sunni Muslims, yet the Indian government has always been able to build and balance its relationship with Iran and Saudi Arabia, both seen as the leaders of the Shia and Sunni communities globally.

 

This diplomatic balancing has always worked to India's advantage, besides giving it a regional clout.

 

At a regional level India has always accorded a significant priority to its ties with Iran.

 

As the country apart from offering it a gateway to the central Asian

 

republics and also Afghanistan, has also been a reliable oil supplier to India, and that too on a favourable rupee payment basis.

 

Therefore, the issues discussed during the foreign minister's visit also encompassed all aspects of the sustained relationship between India and Iran, as they covered regional security, trade and development and cultural ties.

 

The announcement related to Farsi, was also timed right and was aimed at targeting the Muslim minority in the country.

 

Over the years, Indo-Iran ties have moved ahead, in spite of meddling by other countries and the current diplomatic policy led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, in this regard has not only carried on the old relationship, but the manner in which trade, economic and cultural tries between the two countries have progressed, shows their commitment to build a long-lasting relationship.

African nations are among those countries that import Indian products in large quantities, especially from Punjab. In order to strengthen these ties and to streamline all processes, Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU) plans to establish an Africa desk here.

 

CICU president Upkar Singh said a meeting to discuss this was held with an African delegation that consisted Monyadiwa Masilo (Botswana), Rabiatou Arzika Mamadou (Niger), Dr Fetchima Daddy Goah (Niger), Boureima Amadou Wankoye, vice president, Chamber De Commerce ET D’Industrie DU (Niger), Deborah Asabe Ashigye, deputy director, Raw Materials Research and Development Council (Nigeria), Chinenye Anthonia Eneh (Nigeria) and Dr Kemji Benaiah Ajoku (Nigeria).

 

It was agreed that efforts must be made to double India’s exports to Africa over the next three years. African markets are now also looking to import fruit from Punjab, he said. 'Up to 800 20-foot containers of various products are sent to Africa from Punjab,' added Ahuja.