Assistant Undersecretary for Commerce Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Saleh bin Majed al-Khulaifi said that India is the second-largest trade partner, noting that the trade volume between the two countries increased by about 33% during the years 2021 and 2022, reaching $17.2bn.

This statement came during his chairmanship of the State of Qatar's delegation in the 6th India-Arab Partnership Conference on "New Horizons in Investment, Trade and Services", which concluded on Wednesday. The two-day event was held in the Indian capital, New Delhi.

Al-Khulaifi praised the strength and durability of the historical and strategic partnership between the Arab countries and India, especially the State of Qatar, pointing out that Qatar's participation in this year's edition comes from a deep belief in the importance of partnership as a main guarantee for strengthening bilateral relations between states. He expressed his aspiration to establish joint plans to consolidate future paths of co-operation between the Arab countries and India to stimulate mutual investments in the Arab and Asian markets for the benefit of all the economies of these countries.

Qatar's participation in the conference aims to shed light on the Qatari economy and its leading position regionally and internationally, introduce the attractive investment environment Qatar provides, review the most prominent incentives, advantages, and initiatives launched to support the private sector, enhance the competitiveness and diversification of the Qatari economy, in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030, and strengthen the distinguished bilateral relations between the State of Qatar and the Republic of India.

The conference witnessed the organisation of several dialogue sessions that focused on several key topics, including investment opportunities in India, the pharmaceutical industries after the Covid-19 pandemic, food security, and energy.

The conference also saw bilateral meetings between Arab and Indian businessmen to enhance communication between businessmen and investors and provide more commercial, investment, and economic opportunities between Arab countries and India.

At the end of the conference, the New Delhi Declaration was launched, which included several items to emphasise the importance of close co-operation between India and the Arab countries at various levels and promote the exchange of knowledge, experiences, and expertise in various sectors of common interest, as well as the importance of solidarity between the Arab countries and India to strengthen and direct relations towards sustainable development, exploring new opportunities for co-operation, in addition to emphasising the importance of the role of the private sector in pushing trade and investment relations to broader horizons.

The India-Arab Partnership Conference was organised for the first time in 2008 to increase trade exchange and enhance co-operation between Arab countries and India.

The eleventh round of trade negotiations between India and the U.K. kicked off in London, with Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal in the city for meetings with his U.K. counterpart, Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, and representatives of British industry on July 10 and 11. The visit is being seen by some in the U.K. government as a sign of political determination to work out a deal.

 

'Discussed how both sides can add further momentum to the India-UK Free Trade Agreement negotiations for a mutually beneficial deal,' Mr Goyal said on Twitter. The current round of talks between the two sides is set to conclude on July 14th.

 

Ms Badenoch, on Wednesday, described the potential agreement as 'a deal to benefit businesses across both nations and strengthen our deep and historic ties.'

 

Both sides had come to the table with 'an ambitious set of asks', a spokesperson in Ms Badenoch’s department said to The Hindu.

 

'We are continuing to negotiate but we are clear that we will only sign when we have a deal that is fair, balanced, and ultimately in the best interests of the British people and the economy,' they said.

 

U.K. trade minister Nigel Huddleston had told the Press Trust of India last week that half the chapters under discussion had been concluded.

 

Among the sticking points are India’s request for a greater ease of movement of skilled professionals from India to the U.K. to deliver specialized services. The U.K. is interested in greater access to the Indian market for services for its firms and also has asks around that — such as in the areas of investment protection and cross-border data flows. Tariffs on automobiles and alcohol are also part of the negotiations.

 

Mr Goyal was also scheduled, as per a statement released by the Ministry of Commerce before his visit, to hold talks with members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) — i.e., Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. India and EFTA are also holding talks to agree a deal — the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA).

 

The EFTA side was led by the Swiss State Secretary for Economic Affairs, Helene Budliger Artieda.

 

The two sides have ' significantly intensified ' their engagement on TEPA over the past few months, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement released on Wednesday. Both sides, as per the Ministry, agreed to expedite the conclusion of the TEPA.

Prices of Indian rice have increased by nearly 10 per cent over the past couple of weeks in the global market, but still they continue to be competitive as prices of the cereal from other origins have also gone up. However, the high prices have dried up export demand. 

 

'Indian rice prices have gone up by 5-10 per cent recently but this is the usual case with it during the lean season from July-September,' said BV Krishna Rao, President, The Rice Exporters Association of India (TREA).

 

Prices of parboiled rice, in demand from Vietnam and African countries, have increased from the levels of $380-390 a tonne to $430, he said.

 

Business dull

Traders said a major reason for the increase in rice prices is that paddy is being quoted higher or reports of its non-availability. 

 

'There seems to be a shortage of paddy, particularly in the south pushing up prices. There is still no parity in paddy rates compared with rice,' said S Chandrasekaran, a Delhi-based trade analyst.

 

'Last week, we bought rice, ex-mill, at Rs.29,000 a tonne, but now it is quoted at Rs.30,500,' said VR Vidya Sagar, Director, Bulk Logix. Prices of 5 per cent white rice have increased by at least $25 a tonne to levels of $490.

 

'No business is happening as buyers are of the view that prices are high. There are enquiries only for cheap rice from Singapore and East Timor,' said M Madan Prakash, President, Agricultural Commodities Exporters Association (ACEA). 

 

A trader from North India said paddy prices were shooting up every day, particularly in States such as Chhattisgarh — a phenomenon not seen in the past few years. 'The volume of paddy available is also less,' he said. Shortage of paddy is being reported from centres such as Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu.

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s India trip on July 21 could lead to new arrangements across several sectors including power and energy, agriculture and maritime issues. Wickremesinghe, on his maiden trip to India in his current capacity, will be accompanied by three of his top ministers.

 

Understandably, Chinese designs in the Southern Indian Ocean Region that affects India’s security interests will be among the talking points during the Lankan President’s visit. India had kept a close watch on a Chinese spy ship’s visit to Lanka last year.

 

India, with $4 billion support, has played a key role in helping to stabilise the Lankan economy that recorded its worst in 2022.

 

Foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra visited Colombo for two days earlier this week to work out the arrangements related to Wickremesinghe’s trip.

 

Wickremesinghe was appointed President of the cash-strapped country last year following the ouster of Gotabaya Rajapaksa following massive protests. The appointment fulfilled Wickremesinghe’s life-long dream to become Lanka’s President. He hopes to build his legacy over economic recovery.

 

Wickremesinghe has laid emphasis on good relations with India and made it a major plank of his foreign policy, according to persons familiar with the development. The formal invitation to Wickremesinghe was delivered to him by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in January this year. The visit comes as Sri Lanka’s weak economy shows signs of improvement.

 

Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves. India offered Sri Lanka an economic lifeline with dedicated credit lines for fuel and essential items.

 

The island nation, which declared its first-ever credit default in mid-April last year, secured a bailout of $2.9 billion from the IMF in March this year, spanning over four years subject to reforms being put in place.

India’s free trade agreement (FTA) talks with the European Union have sparked an interest from overseas investors and manufactures in the country.

 

The World Trade Center (Pune) is receiving 10-15 inquiries every week from European companies who are keen to manufacture or distribute from India.

 

'There is an influx of inquiries from Europe for India for manufacturing and distribution. Before the pandemic, the interest was more in China,' said Niraj Khinvasara, Chief Innovative officer, World Trade Center (Pune).

 

Technology, pharmaceuticals, food and services are the areas of interest for the European firms.

 

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the centre used to receive 1-2 inquires per week.

 

'Europe has realised India’s potential. They’re reviving the old Silk Route and connecting more with Asia,' Khinvasara said.

 

He said that Africa is showing interest in India for Artificial Intelligence, education and medical technology, and is also keen to have an auto industry.

 

Around 6,000 EU companies in India created 1.7 million jobs directly and 5 million jobs indirectly in 2020.

 

India’s bilateral trade with the EU was $116.36 billion in FY22, 43.5% higher than in 2021-22. At present, the EU is India’s second largest trading partner after the US, and the second largest destination for Indian exports.

India and the Gulf Cooperation Council have resumed talks for concluding a free trade agreement which is expected to bring new business opportunities for both sides, a top Indian official said on Wednesday as he expressed hope that the deal would soon become a reality.

 

Secretary (Consular, Passport & Visa and Overseas Indian Affairs) in the Ministry of External Affairs Ausaf Sayeed also shared that India is in discussion with its bilateral partners with regard to alternate payment mechanisms like rupee trading and barter trading 'especially under the new circumstances where most countries are facing challenges of foreign currency'.

 

GCC is a union of six countries in the Gulf region -- Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.

 

The Arab region is the largest trading partner bloc of India with a trade exceeding USD 240 billion during financial year 2022-23. Of this, trade with GCC countries alone amounted to over USD 184 billion. The UAE remained India's third largest trading partner and Saudi Arabia the fourth largest trading partner during the last financial year.

 

There are several focus areas which have been identified between India and the Arab world, which include food security, supply chains, healthcare and pharma, energy security, renewable energy including green hydrogen, chips and semiconductors and technology including fintech and edtech.

 

Sayeed highlighted that there exists a huge potential in the industries of tourism, entertainment and culture, where most of the governments are very keen to forge greater partnerships in these areas with India.

 

India has a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the UAE, which came into effect on May 1, 2022. The agreement provides preferential market access to over 97 per cent of tariff lines.

 

'Separately, India and GCC have resumed discussions on concluding the Free Trade Agreement. We have exchanged preliminary documents and the delegations have been meeting so we do hope that this would also become a reality very soon bringing in newer opportunities to business persons on both sides,' the secretary said.

 

He also touched upon the subject of looking at alternate forms of trading and moving away from one particular currency, as mentioned by another speaker at the India-Arab Partnership Conference organised by Ficci, where he was addressing.

 

'We are in discussions with our bilateral partners. Talks about rupee trading, barter trading and many other things especially under the new circumstances where most countries are facing challenges of foreign currency,' Sayeed said.

 

India and the GCC agreed to resume negotiations for a free trade agreement in November last year.

 

Two rounds of FTA negotiations were held earlier in 2006 and 2008 between India and GCC. The third round did not happen as GCC deferred its negotiations with all countries and economic groups.

 

India imports predominately crude oil and natural gas from the Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and exports pearls, precious and semi-precious stones; metals; imitation jewellery; electrical machinery; iron and steel; and chemicals to these countries.

Bangladesh is all set to settle trade with India in Rupee from Tuesday, a move to cut their reliance on the American currency, which was involved in nearly 90 per cent of global forex transactions in 2022, The Daily Star reported.

 

Bangladesh Bank and the Indian High Commission are expected to announce the news regarding the Indian currency at an event at Le Meridien Hotel in Dhaka tomorrow.

 

The central bank governor and the Indian high commissioner will also join, a Bangladesh Bank (BB) official said.

 

The BB has already given permission to three banks - Sonali Bank, Eastern Bank and State Bank of India (SBI) in Bangladesh - to open nostro accounts with their counterparts in the neighbouring country.

 

The nostro account is an account that a bank holds with a foreign bank in the currency of the country where the funds are held. It is used to facilitate foreign exchange and international trade transactions involving foreign currencies.

 

This new move will open the letters of credit in the rupee to source a portion of the products from the neighbouring country and thus cutting the use of the US dollar to some extent, according to The Daily Star.

 

The government has toughened import rules due to the shortage of American greenback, driven by higher import bills, with a view to stopping further depletion of the foreign currency reserve, which has fallen by nearly 30 per cent from a year ago.

 

The private commercial bank, Eastern Bank and the country office of SBI have already opened nostro accounts with Indian ICICI Bank and SBI, the BB official said, adding that state-run Sonali Bank will open the account in the quickest possible time.

 

Both the BB and the Reserve Bank of India (the central bank of India) have given permission to the two Indian banks to start settling the bilateral trade in the Indian rupee (INR), he added.

 

The new arrangement will allow Bangladesh to perform foreign trade with India to the tune of USD 2 billion, equivalent to its current annual export receipts from the country. Last month, BB Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder said that if the trades through the unofficial channel are added then the imports can go up to USD 27 billion, as per The Daily Star.

 

As per plans, ICICI Bank and SBI will settle imports with Bangladesh in the rupee. And the amount will be deposited with the Bangladeshi banks' nostro accounts with the two.

 

In the second phase, the Bangladeshi banks will settle the import payments on behalf of the local importers by using the rupee deposited with the counterparts.

 

The dominance of the US Dollar is declining in the last few decades. At the ASEAN finance ministers and central banks meeting in Indonesia in March, policymakers also discussed the idea of cutting their reliance on the USD, the Japanese yen and the euro and "moving to settlements in local currencies" instead.

 

The dollar accounted for more than 70 per cent of global reserves at the turn of the century. The share declined to 59 per cent in 2011 and 58 per cent last year, International Monetary Fund data showed, reported The Daily Star.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal holds talks with Secretary of State for Trade of the United Kingdom, discusses Free Trade Agreement and trade relations.

 

Commerce and Industry Minister (CIM) of India, Piyush Goyal, concluded a productive visit to London from July 10 to July 12, during which he engaged with several highly placed politicians, govt. officials and industry leaders and had crucial discussions to strengthen the India-UK trade relationship. The visit was strategically timed, coinciding with the critical stage of ongoing negotiations, and proved to be instrumental in moving the discussions forward.

 

During his visit, Minister Goyal met with the Secretary of State for Trade of the United Kingdom, Kemi Badenoch, to discuss the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and explore opportunities for enhanced collaboration between the two nations.

 

 Recognizing India's vast population of 1.4 billion and its remarkable economic growth, both ministers acknowledged the immense potential of the Indian market for the United Kingdom. Encouragingly, considerable progress was achieved during their frank and open discussions on various difficult issues.

 

The meeting between Minister Goyal and Secretary Badenoch was marked by a shared understanding and a commitment to advancing mutual interests. The ministers identified and focused on low-hanging fruits, which included the closure of several chapters in the negotiations. This pragmatic approach aimed at resolving issues where negotiators had encountered challenges. The visit proved to be critical in overcoming crucial obstacles and charting a path forward towards an ambitious and mutually beneficial trade deal.

 

Furthermore, Minister Goyal had a productive discussion with Douglas McNeill, the Chief Economic Advisor to the UK Prime Minister. The meeting highlighted the joint efforts of India and the UK in giving a new dimension to their relationship and promoting trade between the two nations. Both parties acknowledged the positive outcomes achieved through collaborative initiatives and expressed optimism for the future. It is noteworthy that Mr. McNeil had visited New Delhi during the last Round and had meeting with senior officers and ministers.

 

During the visit he also interacted with businesses and industry and had a Business Roundtable involving stakeholders of various sectors of mutual interest for India and the UK. He urged the businesses in India and the UK to take advantages of various initiatives of Government of India. He also interacted with the members of UK chapter of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

 

The discussions held during this visit reflected a strong commitment from both sides to forge a closer partnership and explore avenues for trade promotion. The progress made during the visit sets a solid foundation for further strengthening bilateral relations and achieving mutually beneficial outcomes.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will pay an Official Visit to France and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 13-15 July 2023.

 

Prime Minister will visit Paris from 13-14 July 2023 at the invitation of H.E. Mr. Emmanuel Macron, President of France. Prime Minister will be the Guest of Honour at the Bastille Day Parade on 14 July 2023, where a tri-services Indian armed forces contingent would be participating.

 

Prime Minister will hold formal talks with President Macron. President Macron will host a State Banquet as well as a private dinner in honour of the Prime Minister.

 

Prime Minister is also scheduled to meet the Prime Minister of France as well as the Presidents of the Senate and the National Assembly of France. He will separately interact with the Indian diaspora in France, CEOs of Indian and French companies, and prominent French personalities.

 

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the India – France Strategic Partnership, and Prime Minister’s visit will provide an opportunity to chart the course of the partnership for the future across diverse sectors such as strategic, cultural, scientific, academic and economic cooperation.

 

Prime Minister will, thereafter, visit Abu Dhabi on July 15. Prime Minister will hold talks with H.H. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi. The India-UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has been steadily strengthening and Prime Minister’s visit will be an opportunity to identify ways to take this forward in various domains such as energy, education, healthcare, food security, fintech, defence and culture. It will also be an opportunity to discuss cooperation on global issues, particularly in the context of UAE’s Presidency of COP-28 of the UNFCCC and India’s G-20 Presidency in which UAE is a Special Invitee.

India has proposed a global legal framework for ease of doing business at the G20 with emphasis on greater opening up of trade and investment to lift growth, people familiar with the development told ET.

 

The first draft revised declaration, to be discussed by the G20 sherpas at their third meeting under the Indian presidency beginning Thursday, has also received overwhelming backing from all members on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposal to include the African Union as a member.

 

Modi had written a letter to all G20 heads of states proposing its inclusion in the membership and it is part of the draft declaration circulated to sherpas. The European Union is a member of the grouping that controls 80% of the world's economy.

 

A global framework for crypto assets and measures to reform the multilateral development banks will be part of the discussions at the three-day meeting of the G20 sherpas beginning here Thursday.

 

'There is a need to lower barriers to trade and investment to promote cross-border flow of capital,' said one of the persons quoted above. The draft circulated as a detailed preamble emphasising on the theme of India's presidency of 'One World-One Family'.

 

Free flow of trade and investment is important to lift global growth and the G20 countries need to bring down barriers, the person said. India has proposed risk mitigation to foster global value chains that can lift medium and small enterprises in the G20 countries.

 

India's focus is not just growth but accelerated, inclusive, sustainable and resilient growth, the person said, adding that focus would also be on calibrated monetary and fiscal policies to bring stability in the global economy while protecting the poor.

 

New Delhi is keen to bring economic measures, for which the grouping was formed, at the centre of the deliberations though the upcoming meeting will also look at charting the way forward on the sensitive issue of Ukraine-Russia conflict.

 

The sherpa meeting will witness participation of over 120 delegates led by their sherpas and heads of delegations from G20 members, invitee countries and international organisations, who will engage in co-authoring of Leaders Declaration to be eventually adopted by G20 leaders in New Delhi Summit.