Union Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyal has termed the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, signed Friday as a landmark pact, that will open up new markets for Indian goods and services. 

 

Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, the day after the signing of the agreement, Shri Piyush Goyal said 'India -UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) will be extremely beneficial for MSMEs, Start-ups, farmers, traders and all sections of businesses.'  

 

Speaking about the sectoral gains, he said the labour intensive industries like Textiles, Gems and Jewellery, Leather goods and footwear and food processing industry would be prominent among those to benefit the most.

 

Shri Goyal asserted that the CEPA is a balanced, fair, comprehensive & equitable partnership agreement, which will give enhanced market access for India in both goods and services.   'It will create jobs for our youth, open new markets for our startups, make our businesses more competitive & boost our economy' he added. 

 

The Minister informed that sector-wise consultations have shown that the pact will create a minimum of 10 lakh jobs for Indian citizens.

 

Shri Goyal further informed that the CEPA which was finalized and singed in a record time of just 88 days, would come into force in less than 90 days, by early May. He told the media that 'around 90% of products exported from India to UAE will attract zero duty with implementation of the Agreement. 80% lines of trade will attract zero duty, remaining 20% does not affect our exports much, so this is a win-win agreement.'

 

For the first time in a Trade agreement, the CEPA provides for automatic registration and marketing authorisation of Indian generic medicines in 90 days, once they are approved in any of the developed countries. This will give big market access to Indian medicines.

 

Indian jewellery exporters will get duty-free access to the UAE, which currently imposes a 5% customs duty on such products. This will substantially raise its jewellery exports, since Indian designed jewelleries enjoy a great market reputation. The Gems and Jewellery sector expects to increase its exports to US$ 10 billion by 2023. 

 

The CEPA will not only improve competitiveness of Indian products, but also provide strategic advantages to India. 'Since UAE functions as a trading hub, the Agreement will help provide us market entry points to Africa, Middle East and Europe' the Minister added.

 

Shri Piyush Goyal noted that with the conclusion of the CEPA, India and UAE aim to increase  bilateral goods trade over the next five years to $100 billion. 'However, I believe that the potential for trade between the two nations is even bigger, we will surpass the target we have set for ourselves', he said. UAE is India’s third largest bilateral trading partner.

 

Agreement with GCC in 2022 itself

 

Shri Piyush Goyal also informed that the Government looks forward to conclude a similar economic partnership agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries during this year itself.  

 

He said the Secretary-General of the GCC has expressed the desire to fast track the negotiations and added "we are also confident in our negotiating ability, we have conducted negotiations in a rapid manner with UAE, and we are believe that a similar agreement on trade would be concluded with the GCC in this year itself,"

 

GCC is a union of six countries in the Gulf region, namely, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman,  and Bahrain with a combined nominal GDP of US$ 1.6 trillion. 

The government said on Sunday that the commerce department is being revamped to achieve the $2 trillion export target by 2027. The commerce and industry ministry said in a statement that a strengthened negotiation ecosystem and a dedicated 'Trade Promotion Body' to drive overall promotion strategy, export targets and execution, besides an inter-ministerial Trade Remedies Review Committee for transparency in investigation outcomes, have been proposed to be set up.

 

The suggestions are part of a project that was undertaken to design a future-ready Department of Commerce. 'Separation between bilateral and World Trade Organization negotiations has been envisioned,' the ministry said, following a meeting chaired by commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on the issue. The 'Trade Remedies Review Committee' would include the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Finance and line ministries for transparency in investigation outcomes.

 

Goyal called for the consistent strengthening of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade and other organizations and bodies that promote investment and trade, according to the statement.

 

'The revamped department (is) to have a more coherent trade promotion strategy with clear targets and execution accountabilities,' the ministry said. 

 

There will be a strengthened negotiation ecosystem with right expertise and robust end-to-end processes with clearly defined focus areas and institutions and enhanced 'new-age' capabilities to move from inherent traditional roles to new roles, it added. Besides, a stronger active role for missions in trade promotion for market intelligence, leads generation and localized research has been envisaged.

 

There will also be synergized branding for India across all domains highlighting clear priority areas. 'A concerted push to strengthen Brand India and re-enforced trade priorities is in the works,' it said.

 

Rehauling data and analytics ecosystem via centralized data management and embedded analytics capabilities in the department could also be done.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday complimented the UAE for showing interest in investing in Jammu and Kashmir. 'Following the successful visit of the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir to the UAE last month, several Emirati companies have shown interest in investing in Jammu and Kashmir,' he said. 'We welcome investment by UAE in all sectors including logistics, healthcare, hospitality in J&K,' he added.

 

He also expressed deep satisfaction at the continuous growth in bilateral relations in all sectors, the statement said. 'Two MoUs signed between Indian and the UAE entities were also announced during the summit. These are, MoU between APEDA and DP World and Al Dahra on Food Security Corridor Initiative and MoU between India's Gift City and Abu Dhabi Global Market on cooperation in financial projects and services,' it said. 'Two other MoUs -- one on cooperation in climate action and the other on education have also been agreed between the two sides,' it added.

The government looks to conclude a free trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) this year itself, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday.

 

The deal will be similar to the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

 

'We are confident in our negotiating ability, we have conducted negotiations in a rapid manner with UAE, and we are confident that a similar agreement on trade would be concluded with the GCC in this year itself,' Goyal said at a press conference here.

 

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

 

India is also looking to sign interim trade agreements with the UK and Australia as soon as possible, he said. An interim trade deal with Canada, dealing with 'low-hanging fruits' will also be signed soon, he said.

Algeria, one of the world’s biggest wheat importers, does not disclose details of its tenders and reported results are based on assessments by traders. OAIC was thought to have made an initial purchase on Wednesday when the tender officially closed, before continuing negotiations on Thursday when it booked additional volume, according to traders.

 

Negotiations on Thursday were made more difficult because Egypt’s state buyer GASC was also in negotiations about a snap purchase tender on Thursday. Estimates for purchase prices in Algeria’s tender were around $346.50 to $345.50 a tonne, cost and freight (c&f) included, traders said, with some citing a higher price of $347 for a part of the purchase.

 

The tender was believed to have finished but further assessments of prices and volume were still possible, traders added. Black Sea origins were expected to be among the sources, underscoring the growing presence of the region in Algeria’s tenders this season after the North African country modified its terms to encourage more competition.

 

Traders said they believed French wheat was permitted in the tender after Algeria turned away from French supplies recently after political tension between the two countries. However, chances for French wheat to fill part of the order were seen as limited due to competitive Black Sea prices and potential penalties for a mixed-quality French crop, traders said.

 

Algeria buys wheat on an optional-origin basis, which means the seller has until the subsequent shipment period to choose the source of the grain. The wheat is sought for shipment on April 1-15 and April 16-30 from the main supply regions including Europe. If sourced from South America or Australia, shipment is one month earlier.

The Tamil Nadu Cashew Processors and Exporters Association (TNCPEA) has applied for a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for Panruti cashews. The MSME Intellectual Property Facilitation Centre of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development’s Madurai Agri Business Incubation Forum acted as the facilitator for filing the tag.

 

According to the secretary of TNCPEA, M. Ramakrishnan, 'We have been pushing for the GI tag for Panruti cashews and the Tamil Nadu government was also keen to get the same for traditional unique produces from the district including Panruti jackfruit and cashews.'

 

'Panruti cashews are unique in nature because of the taste and quality. GI tagging of Panruti cashews would not only provide a fillip to the industry but would also enhance the secondary economic activities in the region and safeguard the interests of farmers and cashew exporters from the region,' he said.

 

According to the application, though Panruti cashews are slightly small, they have a unique value in the market. Colloquially known as the ‘goldmine’ of Cuddalore, it has a huge demand across India and the world.

 

Out of the total 1,42,000 hectares under cashew cultivation in the State, Panruti accounts for about 35,000 hectares. The region has around 32 export-oriented units besides 250 processing units and 500 cottage industries. The cashew cultivation and processing units are located in 376 villages in the taluks of Cuddalore, Panruti, Vriddachalam, and Kurunjipadi in the district. Panruti cashew is mainly cultivated in laterite, red and coastal sands.

 

The cashew apples from Panruti are also uniquely distinctive. The apple is round-shaped and bright red in colour. The average fruit weight is 42.80 gm while the nuts are of medium size with an average weight of 6.63 gm and kernel weight of 1.7 g. The shelling percentage was 28.5 with a grade W 320 kernel count.

 

According to an international study, out of six cashew varieties selected from different parts of India, the Panruti variety showed significant results in high raw protein content of 23.0g/100g. The moisture content of the Panruti cashew is also low when compared to other varieties according to a study published in the Food Science and Nutrition Journal, Mr. Ramakrishnan added.

As part of the ongoing ‘Food, Agriculture and Livelihood’ fortnight, the India Pavilion at EXPO2020 hosted a seminar – ‘India: Millets production and upscaling value chain’ on Friday. Senior government officials and sector experts deliberated on opportunities for Indian industry players producing and processing millets, to enhance the export potential of the country during the session.

 

Speaking at the session, Dr. Abhilaksh Likhi, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare said, 'We urge the startups and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) to not only help in upscaling millets’ value chain, connecting to domestic and international markets but also to creating an inclusive framework where we take producing communities along.'

 

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution sponsored by India and supported by over 70 nations declaring 2023 as the ‘International Year of Millets’, aimed at raising awareness about the health benefits of the grain and its suitability for cultivation under changing climatic conditions.

 

Ms. Shubha Thakur, Joint Secretary (Crops & Oil Seeds), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare shared, 'Keeping in view the International Year of Millets, we are trying to build momentum for the millets campaign by highlighting its nutritional benefits and value chain.'

 

Underlining the nutritional security aspect of millets, Dr. B Dayakar Rao, CEO, Nutrihub, said, 'Millets have health benefits and can reduce obesity and malnutrition. It is well marked on vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals and it also helps beat hypertension, colon cancer and cardiovascular diseases as it reduces triglycerides present in the body.' He added, 'Now with the onset of the International Year of millets, India is ready to lead the world by sharing best practices, technologies, the goodness of millets and established values and experience with other countries.'

 

Mr. Kuntal Sensarma, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), talked about the policy incentives in this sector and said, 'Two of our suggestions to the Union Ministry of Finance for this year's budget have been accepted to strengthen the sector and create necessary policy environment. One was in the context of the International Year of Millets for 2023 based on major programmatic interventions and the other one on the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme and formalization of micro-enterprises.'

 

Deliberating on upscaling the value chain of millets, Dr. C Anandharamkrishnan, Director, NIFTEM shared, 'There is a need to formalize the unorganized food processing system by providing the FPOs, SHGs and co-operatives with technical support, credit linkages and ensuring adequate storage capacity to avoid food wastage.'

 

Multiple startups and FPOs are participating in the ‘Food, Agriculture and Livelihood’ fortnight and displaying their innovative agri tech solutions and, sustainable and healthy millets-based products.

 

The ‘Food, Agriculture and Livelihood’ fortnight will conclude on March 2nd.

The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal chaired a meeting focused on the revamping and fortification of the Department of Commerce to make it future ready. Strengthening the Department is expected to enable the creation of the ecosystem to achieve robust and sustained high export growth.

 

Speaking at the meeting, Shri Piyush Goyal called for the consistent strengthening of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and other organizations and bodies that promote investment and trade. He opined that constant monitoring of exports was crucial in ensuring the achievement of targets on time. 

 

It may be noted that there are several emerging opportunities in global trade owing to shifts in global trade dynamics like rapid growth of services and disruptive potential of climate change. There is thus an imminent need to proactively develop exports and build India’s brand in global trade.

 

The revamping of the Commerce Department is aimed at further building on its strategic direction and aspirations for the next decade. There is also a need for scaling up and re-engineering the operation model with enhanced 'new-age' capabilities and to move from inherent traditional roles to new roles.

 

The revamped Department to have a more coherent trade promotion strategy with clear targets and execution accountabilities. There will be a Strengthened negotiation ecosystem with right expertise and robust end-to-end processes with clearly defined focus areas and institutions. It aspires to achieve an optimal mix of talent with specialists and generalists sourced from across private and government sectors. The Department will have an agile setup responsive to market opportunities and exporter needs via interlinkages across bodies. There will also be synergized branding for India across all domains highlighting clear priority areas. 

 

To this end, a project was undertaken to design a future ready Department of Commerce. Certain key recommendations were made by the project.  A dedicated 'Trade Promotion Body' to drive overall promotion strategy, export targets and execution is proposed to be set up. A stronger active role for missions in Trade Promotion for market intel, leads generation & localized research has been envisaged. Strengthening Negotiations via multi-skilled negotiation teams and separation between bilateral and WTO negotiations has been envisioned.

 

It has also been proposed to set up a 'Trade Remedies Review Committee' Including Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Finance and line ministries for transparency in investigations outcomes. Centralization and digitization of trade facilitation processes has been recommended to drive ease of compliance and scheme administration. Rehauling data and analytics ecosystem via centralized data management and embedded analytics capabilities in Department of Commerce has been proposed. A concerted push to strengthen Brand India and re-enforces trade priorities is in the works.

 

The meeting was attended by Shri BVR Subrahmanyam, Secretary, Department of Commerce, Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Ms. Rachna Shah, Additional Secretary, Shri Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Director General, DGFT, Shri Prashant Kumar Singh, CEO, GeM, Shri Anant Swarup, Joint Secretary, Shri Darpan Jain, Joint Secretary, Shri Manish Chadha, Joint Secretary and other officials. 

The total foodgrains production in the country is pegged to reach an all-time record high of 316.06 million tonnes as per the Second Advance Estimates of production of major crops for the agricultural year 2021-22, released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on Wednesday.

 

The estimated foodgrains production for agricultural year 2021-22 (July-June) is 1.71 per cent higher than 310.74 million tonnes recorded in 2020-21 and the target set for the current year, show the estimates. It shows that wheat production is also expected to reach at the highest ever level of 111.32 million tonnes during 2021-22, which is 1.58 per cent higher than 109.59 million tonnes during the last year. The total production of rice (kharif and rabi both) is also expected to reach an all-time record high of 127.93 million tonnes, which is 2.86 per cent higher than the last year’s rice output of 124.37 million tonnes.

 

In 2021-22, the production of 9 oilseeds–groundnut, castorseed, sesamum, nigerseed, soyabean, sunflower, rapeseed & mustard, linseed and safflower– is estimated to at 371.47 million tonnes, which is 3.34 per cent higher than 359.46 million tonnes recorded during the last year.

 

The rabi oilseed production is expected to reach 133.32 million tonnes in the current year, which is 9.06 per cent higher than the last year’s figure of 122.24 million tonnes. The production of rapeseed & mustard, which is the main rabi oilseed crop, is expected to reach at a record level of 114.59 million tonnes–12.24 per cent higher than last year’s figure of 102.10 million tonnes.

 

The increase in rapeseed and mustard production is significant because the edible oil prices, particularly mustard oil prices, have soared to a record high in recent months. According to the data available on the Ministry’ website, on 16th February, 2022, the all-India average retail price of groundnut oil was reported at Rs 179.42 per kg, mustard oil at Rs 190.11 per kg, vanaspati Rs 141.10 per kg, soya oil Rs 147.39 per kg, sunflower oil 160.83 per kg and palm oil Rs 131.06 per kg. The average retail prices of these six edible oils are higher in the range 10.34% to 30.49% when compared to the prices a year ago.

 

The pulses production is estimated to increase by 5.87 percent to 26.96 million tonnes in 2021-22 from 25.46 million tonnes in the last year. Among pulses, gram production is estimated to reach at 13.12 million tonnes during the current year from 11.91 million tonnes during the last year.

 

In a statement, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the 'new record' of foodgrains production in the country is the 'result of hard work of farmers, efficient research of scientists and farmer friendly policies of the Government.'

 

'Total production of Sugarcane in the country during 2021-22is estimated at 414.04 million tonnes which is higher by 40.59million tonnes than the average sugarcane production of 373.46 million tonnes,' the statement said.

 

The statement further said, 'Production of Cotton is estimated at 34.06 million bales (each of 170 kg) is higherby 1.12 million bales than the average cotton production of 32.95 million bales.'

To boost domestic supplies of lentils (masoor) and ensure that its retail prices do not spiral out of control, India will enter into agreements with Russia and Kazakhstan for imports of the key pulses variety under long-term contracts. The memorandums of understanding (MoUs) would facilitate imports of lentils by private traders.

 

These agreements will follow similar arrangements with Mozambique, Myanmar and Malawi for import of other varieties of pulses, namely tur and arhar.

 

Sourced told FE that after the deliberations with Russia’s and Kazakhstan’s officials, the agriculture ministry is working out plant quarantine modalities before these MoUs are entered into.

 

Officials said that since the domestic consumption of pulses, especially lentils, in Russia and Kazakhstan are negligible, they want to import annual commitments so that farmers there would be encouraged to grow the variety of pulses, which has one of the largest shares in India’s pulses imports basket.

 

According to commerce ministry data, India imported 1.11 million tonne (mt) of lentils out of total pulses imports of 2.26 mt in 2020-21. In the current fiscal, around 6.5 lakh tonne of lentils have been imported so far.

 

Trade sources said that domestic production of lentils has not kept pace with rising demand and the government has been resorting to imports, mostly from Canada and Australia, to augment domestic supplies.

 

As per the second advance estimates of foodgrains production released by the ministry of agriculture on Wednesday, India’s lentil production is estimated at a record 1.58 mt in the 2021-22 crop year (July-June).

 

Because of dry weather conditions last year in Canada, production in 2021 has declined by 35% to 40%. Also, the global container crisis is adversely pushing up the time duration for shipment from Canada and Australia.

 

At the same time, transit time from Russia’s and Kazakhstan’s consignments for Indian ports is 25-30 days, much quicker than consignments from Canada.

 

'The MoUs with Russia and Kazakhstan will open doors for India to work with two more origins and reduce dependence on Canada or Australia for the lentils imports,' Harsha Rai, director, Mayur Global Corporation, a global brokerage firm said. In 2021, the government had approved a one-time import of lentils from Russia for a six-month term, provided they meet India’s phytosanitary norms.

 

India signed an MoU with Mozambique for import of 2 lakh tonne of tur or arhar annually for five years, when the retail prices of tur skyrocketed to `200 a kg in 2016. This MoU was extended for another five years in September 2021.

 

In 2021, India entered into MoUs with Malawi and Myanmar for the import of 50,000 tonne and 1,00,000 tonne of tur per annum, respectively, till 2025.

 

India met 10-12% of its domestic consumption through imports. In anticipation of domestic shortfall in the output in May 2021, India had put import of tur, urad and moong varieties of pulses under ‘open’ from ‘restricted’ category earlier till March 2022.