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Red Sea crisis not much affected container availability: Government to Parliament.
Feb 05, 2024

The government on Friday informed Parliament that the crisis in Red Sea, at present, has not much affected the availability of containers in most of the ports.

'Some increase in freight cost has been reported by industry. Exports from India are continuing as the sailings of containers carrying ships from India have been diverted via the Cape of Good Hope route,'minister of state for commerce and industry Anupriya Patel said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

Patel said that the Indian Navy has 'substantially enhanced' maritime surveillance efforts in central/north Arabian Sea and augmented force levels and aerial surveillance by long-range maritime patrol aircraft and RPAs has been enhanced to have a complete maritime domain awareness.

'Towards effective surveillance of EEZ, Indian Navy is operating in close coordination with Coast Guard.

The overall situation is being closely monitored by the government,' she said.

TOY IMPORTS

The manufacturing ecosystem Indian Toy industry has witnessed remarkable growth, leading to substantial decrease of 52% in overall import of toys to $158.7 million in FY23 from $332.55 million in FY15.

Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash told Rajya Sabha that there has been a 239% in the exports of toys to $325.72 million in FY23 from

$96.17 million in FY15.

Some of the measures to promote the sector include promoting Made in India toys; designing of toys based on Indian values, culture, and history; using toys as a learning resource; organizing hackathons and grand challenges for toy designing and manufacturing; monitoring quality of toys; restricting imports of sub-standard and unsafe toys and promoting indigenous toy clusters.

COPPER INDUSTRY

Minister of state for commerce and industry Anupriya Patel told Rajya Sabha that the closure of the Tuticorin smelter plant of Vedanta in Tamil Nadu has affected the domestic production of refined copper.

'The spurt in imports in last two years is due to increased demand in copper refining reflecting a post pandemic recovery, especially the growth in user sectors such as infrastructure, construction, telecom, electrical, renewable energy and electric vehicles,' she said in a written reply to the Upper House.

In April-November 2023-24, the imports of copper and its products were $6.4 billion as against $4.9 billion a year ago.

'Due to environmental concerns and public safety risks, the Tamil Nadu Government ordered the plant’s closure in May 2018. The matter is presently sub-judice in Hon'ble Supreme Court,' she said.

In a separate reply, the minister said that the extent to which Indian industry and the ease of doing business have been impacted by copper imports in the recent past is multifaceted and influenced by various factors including industry dynamics, regulatory environment, government policies, supply chain resilience, etc.

'The surge in imports of copper into India in the last two years is attributed to increased demand in copper due to rapid economic growth, infrastructure development, and the ongoing transition to green energy e.g. renewable energy and electric vehicles,' she said, adding that the increased demand also reflects post pandemic recovery in economy.

STARTUP ECOSYSTEM

There were 1.17 lakh startups recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) as on December 31, 2023. These recognised startups are reported to have created over 12.42 lakh direct jobs creating significant economic impact, commerce and industry ministry told Parliament.

'There is at least one recognised startup in every state and Union Territory spread across over 80% of the districts across the nation,'Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash said in a written reply.

Since the launch of the Startup India initiative in 2016 by the government, 55,816 DPIIT recognised startups have at least one-woman director as on December 31, 2023.

economictimes.indiatimes.com

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