“The agreement text will be publicly released only after this phase is completed,” one of the officials said. “Both sides will review each chapter, and the FTA will not take immediate effect due to procedural formalities.” Legal vetting or ‘scrubbing’ is the final review of a trade agreement’s text to ensure legal clarity, consistency, and…
Milan: India accords a high priority to the free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU), and a deal is achievable by the year-end given the shared urgency, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. Speaking at a conference on ‘cross border collaboration for future resilience’ on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank’s…
With a myriad headwinds such as global trade war, upcoming state elections and interest rate resets, market volatility could persist in the current year. But, as global funds reallocate from China to markets like India, where growth is likely to be upwards of 6.5%, chances of a deep correction are unlikely, believes Nirmal Jain, founder,…
New Delhi: The federal policy think tank Niti Aayog on Tuesday laid down a road map to increase India’s exports of hand and power tools to over $25 billion by 2035 from $1 billion in 2025. The plan proposed by Niti Aayog and the Foundation for Economic Development (FED) involves creating manufacturing clusters for such…
Data for 2024-25 released this week shows a notable shift in India’s trade trends with its big partners. With the US, India’s merchandise exports jumped 11.6% to $86.5 billion last fiscal year, while imports rose 7.4% to $45.3 billion. As a result, our bilateral trade surplus widened to $41.2 billion. In contrast, our exports to…
Discussions focused on bringing Indian duties on US products in line with the tariff levels imposed by the US on Indian goods. In return, India sought relief from US compliance burden on shrimp, processed food items, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals, among others, the people cited above said on the condition of anonymity. A US delegation led…
On the face of it, the chaotic action and frenetic pace of US President Donald Trump’s first 50 days in office lack cohesive thought and direction. Dig deeper and a picture emerges of a potential ‘framework’ or ‘grand design.’ Believers see two main reasons for a reset of the global trade order. The first is…
The Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, is driving blindfolded. That’s my single most important takeaway from its policy announcement last week. On the predictable side, the Fed kept policy rates in a range of 4.25-4.5%, and the rate-setting committee pledged to slow the pace at which it’s allowing securities to roll…
India exports a variety of agricultural products to the US, including frozen shrimp, prawns, basmati and non-basmati rice, vegetable saps and extracts, natural honey and processed food items. Meanwhile, key US agricultural exports to India include almonds, cotton, denatured ethyl alcohol, crude soybean oil and pistachios (ITC Trademap). Also Read: Ajit Ranade: India must formulate…
Is there a method to the madness that seems to guide US trade policy under President Donald Trump? An effort to revive American manufacturing behind import tariff walls, some aver, can be followed by a tax on capital inflows. Also Read: Trade war: How best to brace for the return of ‘beggar thy neighbour’ policies…
