Manufacturers of packaged processed food, processed forms of millets, spices and fertilisers have fetched encouraging enquiries from traders of Nepal with some products likely to make its way to Kathmandu.

 

Industries of Madhya Pradesh are hoping to clock some deals with Nepal following a meeting with a delegation of industrialists and traders from Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

 

Rajkumar Sabu, director of a manufacturer and exporter of unprocessed food products in Indore said, 'There were a lot of enquiries for millets, spices, processed food and ready to eat items from Nepal. We hope to strike some deals as the business delegation took many samples of products manufactured in Indore. We already have trade relations with Nepal as we export sabudana and poha. Now we are hoping to strike some new deals.'

 

Exports from Madhya Pradesh to Nepal are meager with only a handful items like fertilisers and agricultural products, according to Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

 

Industry players from food, textile, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, fertilizer, ayurvedic medicines, automobiles and engineering showcased their products and food items to the delegation from Nepal.

 

Deepak Bhandari, president, Global forum for industrial development said, 'Industries from Nepal were in Indore to explore business opportunities and expand export ties. Indore is a hub for several products that are manufactured locally and have good demand in the international market.'

 

A delegation of around 30 traders and industrialists from Madhya Pradesh is likely to visit Nepal in last week of May.

 

Sagar Katwal, member of the Nepal delegation said, 'We see a lot of trade potential with Madhya Pradesh as the state lies in the centre of the country. We saw a good demand for Indian fertilisers, processed food and agricultural products in Nepal.'

 

The federation also urged for direct air connectivity between Indore and Kathmandu to give a fillip to trade from Madhya Pradesh.

Katwal said, 'We also hope to connect with Madhya Pradesh to create a spiritual circuit between Mahakal temple in Ujjain to Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu.'

India will propose a SWIFT-like system used in international banking at the G20 meet to facilitate similar paperless transactions for cross-border trade.

 

The system will be based on an electronic bill of lading in the form of an interoperable digital document that is expected to boost trade and investment.

 

'Such a system can greatly facilitate global trade and also provide end-to-end visibility to all stakeholders including the authorities,' a government official told ET.

 

An interoperable digital document allows data and information flow across systems, applications, or components accessible across countries.

 

The official said just like SWIFT in which cross-border financial systems talk to each other, there is a need for a similar mechanism for cross-border trade.

 

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) is a vast messaging network used by financial institutions to quickly, accurately, and securely send and receive information to facilitate global money transfers.

 

'The idea is to eliminate paper for cross-border transactions,' the official said, adding that seamless paperless trade can be a complete game-changer for global trade.

 

This would need shipping liners, insurance companies, and banking entities to have a single common interface, the official said, adding that the effort is to work on a template that can be easily adopted by any country.

 

A bill of lading is a document that provides proof of ownership of goods and forms the basis for the release of payment.

 

New Delhi is of the view that such a system will make global trade paperless, reduce transaction costs substantially, and boost trade.

 

The template also includes standardised certificates and mutually recognised standards to bring about meaningful simplification and ease in trade, another senior government official said.

 

The standardisation will allow one country's infrastructure to speak to another country's infrastructure, bringing down the time taken in a transaction and the release of payment.

 

Indian customs have already introduced paperless customs clearances for imports and the country is showcasing its impact on the ground to make its case at the G20 discussion. New Delhi assumed the G20 presidency in December.

 

India could also use the template provided by the United Kingdom, which introduced a draft electronic trade documents legislation, based on the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law or UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records. It allows the legal use of electronic transferable records both domestically and across borders.

 

'This could be a starting point,' the first official said, adding that even standardisation and adoption of common certification will help trade, especially in the developing world.

 

India, which sees itself as a voice of the global south, is of the view that mutual recognition of standards and common standards can ease trade for developing and least developed countries.

The All-India Edible Oil Traders Confederation has urged the national food authority FSSAI to streamline the process of issuing notification with respect to changes in labelling norms for packaged food items. 

 

Shankar Thakkar, president of the confederation, has stated that the frequent changes in the labelling norms of pre-packed food items are creating hurdles for the food businesses, as with new notification the old packaging material becomes obsolete, and the traders are required to replace the entire set of packaging material or request FSSAI by means of application fee to use the old material. 

 

'The FSSAI is continuously changing the norms, which is creating problems for the food businesses. The process to get permission to use old packaging material is also cumbersome and every time we go to get permission to use old packaging material, we’re levied a fee. Sometimes this also leads to corruption,' said Thakkar. 

 

He suggested that the FSSAI should only change such norms once in five years and also the food authority shouldn’t charge any fee, (which varies from product to product), for use of old packaging material. 

 

According to Thakkar, the matter is related to changes in norms for expiry date of packaged food products. Thakkar informed that FSSAI has amended the labelling norms for expiry date and issued direction to use DD/MM/YY format in place of ‘Best Before’ format.

Trade ministers of India and Canada will review the progress in talks on the proposed free trade agreement between the two countries besides discussing ways to strengthen economic ties, an official statement said on Monday.

 

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, Government of Canada, will co-chair the discussions for the sixth India-Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment (MDTI) on Monday in Ottawa.

 

MDTI is a bilateral mechanism which provides institutional mechanisms to discuss a broad spectrum of trade and investment related issues and cooperation areas.

 

The discussions will focus on various themes including strengthening the bilateral trade relationship, investment promotion, green transition - including critical minerals, it said.

 

'The ministers will also review India-Canada CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) negotiations,' it added.

 

At the last MDTI meeting in March 2022, both ministers launched the CEPA negotiations with a possibility to have an interim agreement or EPTA (Early Progress Trade Agreement).

 

Since then, seven rounds of negotiations have been held. In such agreements, two countries significantly reduce or eliminate custom duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them. They also liberalise norms for promoting trade in services and attract investments.

 

Further, Goyal will also be visiting Toronto from May 9 - 10, where he will have various engagements to promote trade and investment.

 

'These engagements will include meetings with CEOs of key Canadian companies, Round Table of Indian and Canadian CEOs, interaction with Canadian and Indian companies based in Canada and Financial Sector Round table,' the commerce and industry ministry said.

 

The minister is accompanied by a delegation of Indian CEOs.

 

He would also inaugurate the Indian Pavilion at SIAL CANADA-2023, which is the largest food innovation trade show in North America with participation of more than 1,000 national and international exhibitors from 50 countries.

 

Indian companies that have presence in Canada include Tata, Aditya Birla, Reliance, Wipro, Infosys, and TCS. Similarly Canadian firms such as Bombardier, SNC Lavalin, and CAE have a presence in India.

 

India attracted USD 3.2 billion foreign direct investment during April 2000 and December 2022.

 

India's exports to Canada stood at USD 3.8 billion during April-February 2022-23 as against USD 3.76 billion in 2021-022. Imports from Canada stood at USD 3.77 billion during the 11-month period lat year as against USD 3.2 billion in 2021-22.

 

Major items of Indian exports include medicines, garments, diamonds, chemicals, gems and jewellery, petroleum oils, made-up, sea food, engineering goods, marble and granite, rice, electric equipment, and plastic products.

 

Imports included pulses, fertilizers, newsprint, aircraft and aviation equipment, diamonds, copper ores and concentrates, bituminous coal, wood pulp, nickel, unwrought aluminum, asbestos, and cameras.

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal along with Hon'ble Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, Government of Canada, will co-chair the discussions for the sixth India- Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment (MDTI) today in Ottawa. MDTI is a bilateral mechanism which provides institutional mechanism to discuss a broad spectrum of trade and investment related issues and cooperation areas. The Dialogue will focus on various themes including strengthening the Bilateral Trade Relationship between India and Canada, Investment Promotion and Cooperation, Green Transition – including Critical Minerals discussion and new Areas of Cooperation such as promoting B2B engagements.

 

The Ministers will also review India-Canada CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) negotiations. At the last MDTI meeting in March 2022, both Ministers launched the CEPA negotiations with a possibility to have an interim agreement or EPTA (Early Progress Trade Agreement). Since then, seven rounds of negotiations have been held.

 

The Minister will also be visiting Toronto from 9th to 10th May 2023, where he will have various engagements to promote trade & investment. These engagements will include meetings with CEOs of key Canadian companies, Round Table of Indian and Canadian CEOs, interaction with Canadian and Indian companies based in Canada and Financial Sector Round table etc. The Minister would be accompanied by a delegation of Indian CEOs led by FICCI.

 

The Minister will inaugurate the Indian Pavilion at SIAL CANADA-2023, which is the largest food innovation trade show in North America with participation of more than 1000 national & international exhibitors from 50 countries. The event will address the needs of the retail, food service & food processing industries. At SIAL Canada, Indian business participation consists of delegation from Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI), Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) and Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). There will also be a Trade and Investment Promotion Event for the Agricultural and Food Processing sector with Indian companies and Canadian importers on the sidelines of SIAL-2023. This event is likely to be attended by 200 companies.

 

The visit is expected to impart further momentum to bilateral trade and investment relations.

The directorate of industries has proposed to set up district level laboratories for certification of agriculture produce to promote exports from those districts.

 

A senior official from the directorate of industries said that the laboratories would certify agriculture produce with respect to standards required from the countries where the exports are intended.

 

'The laboratories are proposed to help farmers get certification of mostly major agriculture produce of the districts based on the parameters of presence of chemicals specified by destination countries. There is no common test for the produce as each country has a different set of parameters set by their governments,' said the officer.

 

The exercise is part of the measures taken to boost the locals towards exporting their produce. The department has decided to increase the exports to at least twice the current volume. Currently, farmers have to look for laboratories to get certified, which is a tedious process involving money and time. 'The laboratories to be set up on public private participation mode will certify the products and thus simplify the testing procedure. This will effect in faster turnaround time,' the officer said.

Apex exporters body FIEO has urged the government to support domestic exporters in undertaking overseas marketing initiatives with a view to boost outbound shipments. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President A Sakthivel said that Indian exporters lack in marketing and small exporters 'hardly' have resources to market aggressively overseas.

 

'Government support and encouragement for aggressive marketing will push exports and will yield the desired results. We need to set up state-of-the-art exposition centers in important business centers abroad. Many countries have done it successfully,' he said.

 

Sakthivel also said that the country's exports are growing at a healthy pace and USD 2 trillion target by 2030 would be achieved before time.

 

The country's goods and services exports have reached an all-time high of USD 773 billion in 2022-23.

 

'The export sector added USD 218 billion in the last two financial years,' he added.

 

Sakthivel was addressing an award function of FIEO here on Wednesday.

 

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal gave Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu awards to the outstanding exporters and service providers based on their export performance.

 

FIEO Director General Ajay Sahai said the share of exports in the country's GDP is around 22 per cent.

 

'In 2021-22, out of overall incremental GDP in the financial year, over 50 per cent was contributed by exports alone. In 2022-23, despite global headwinds, exports accounted for over 40 per cent of the incremental GDP,' Sahai said.

India warned developed nations that there was no escape from either a permanent solution on food security or text-based negotiations on public stock holding and MSP ceilings at the WTO, as some members, such as the US, the UK, the EU and Japan, attempted to junk the Bali interim decision that gave developing nations immunity against penal action for breach of food subsidy caps.

 

New Delhi’s intervention was at a meeting of the WTO Committee on Agriculture in Geneva this week where discussions began on the possible outcomes on food and agriculture at the upcoming 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in February 2024 in Abu Dhabi.

 

'India emphasised on three nos– no escape from a permanent solution (on food security), no escape from text-based negotiations, and no excuse for (a tight) timeline. It criticised non-proponents (of its proposal on food security) for their lack of will to show flexibility,' a Geneva-based official privy to the CoA meeting told businessline.

 

It is crucial for India, and many other developing countries who support their poor farmers through MSP or other similar programmes, to get a permanent solution on public stockholding as under the WTO rules a country can be penalised by another if the subsidy for procurement of any crop exceeds 10 per cent of the production value. 

 

The Bali interim agreement, reached in 2013, provides a peace clause that insulates developing countries against action if their subsidy breaches the given limit but it is subject to onerous conditions including submission of copious data and subjective clauses such as the subsidies  not harming the food security of another country.

 

A large number of developing countries, which includes the African Group, the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group, and G33 Group, which has India as a member, sought immediate commencement of text-based negotiations on public stockholding, with their joint submission serving as the basis for discussion, to help address severe food security issues.

 

Indirectly referring to India invoking the Bali peace clause to allow its MSP bill for rice to breach the ceiling limit, the US said that the Bali interim decision had enabled one member to take advantage of unlimited levels of trade-distorting domestic support. The US alleged that ``this member’’ had been able to significantly increase its exports of that one commodity to now account for more than 40 per cent of global exports in that commodity. 

 

'Such allegations are baseless as India’s MSP programme has nothing to do with its rice exports. The variety India exports is premium and is not procured by the government,' a source tracking the matter said.

 

Japan, the UK and the EU stressed that it was important to maintain transparency in public stock holding programmes and insisted that the Bali interim decision could not serve as a model for formulating a permanent solution on the matter.

 

India called for a permanent solution based on proposal submitted by developing nations and dismissed arguments for alternative food security solutions beyond public stock holding and special safeguard measures.

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said he wants to see a greater presence of American aircraft and aerospace major Boeing in India as it has recently received a large order of planes from the Tata group-owned Air India.

 

At the 31st annual general meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in India (AMCHAM), he also said the India-US bilateral trade is increasing at a healthy rate and both sides are looking to expand the trade four-fold to 'touch $500 billion target by 2030'.

 

In February, Air India announced its plan to buy 470 planes from Airbus and Boeing, in one of the largest aircraft orders by an airline, valued at $80 billion.

 

'Boeing has received a very large order from the Tatas and I am given to understand that similar sized orders are in the pipeline... I want to see greater presence of Boeing in India, we would love to see you expand your local supply chains... and have more MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) activity here, which will serve the entire region,' Goyal said.

 

On Ajay Banga's appointment as the World Bank president, Goyal said: 'I am sure he will be able to bring the developing world perspective and a much more sensitive approach to the way World Bank operates and works'.

 

Banga is the first-ever Indian-American to head the global financial institution.

 

Goyal said there are huge opportunities to enhance cooperation in sectors such as defence, pharma, textiles, engineering, auto components, agri products, electricals, and that Alphonso mangoes are going to the US 'in a big way'.

 

He encouraged American companies to establish their base in India.

The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI), in collaboration with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), conducted its latest Food Safety Supervisor Training in Advance Catering (FoSTaC) programme on April 27 at The Dukes Retreat, Chalet Group Hotel, in Khandala.

 

The inaugural for the training was done by Stephen Dsouza - the cluster general manager, Rakeshwar Guleria - the general manager, Rushikesh Sanap - HR manager, and Ashutosh Balodhi – executive chef of The Dukes Retreat. Attended by 38 participants, the training conducted by Divya Bhaskaran was a resounding success. Through the initiative, FSSAI and HRAWI aim to promote safe and healthy food practices in the hospitality industry.

 

FoSTaC is a crucial initiative aimed at improving the quality and safety of food practices in the F&B industry. The programme equips hospitality professionals with the necessary skills and knowledge to identify and mitigate potential food safety risks, ensuring that customers are served safe and healthy food.

 

'The importance of this training programme cannot be overstated. As consumers become more health-conscious and aware of food safety issues, it is crucial for the hospitality industry to stay ahead of the curve and provide safe and healthy food options. By investing in the training and certification of employees, hospitality establishments not only improve their reputation but also provide a better customer experience, leading to increased customer loyalty and business growth. This collaboration between FSSAI and HRAWI is a valuable initiative that highlights the commitment of both organisations towards promoting safe and healthy food practices in the hospitality industry. We are thrilled with the success of this initiative and are proud to have trained and certified over 2,500 hospitality professionals across the Western region. We look forward to continuing our efforts in this direction,' says Pradeep Shetty, president, HRAWI.

 

The training programme covers a range of topics including food handling and preparation, hygiene and sanitation and waste management. By learning about these key areas, hospitality professionals are trained to develop a deep understanding of food safety practices and implement them in their daily operations. HRAWI has successfully trained and certified 2,575 hospitality professionals across India’s western region in FoSTaC and FSSAI's Management Training Program.