&w=3840&q=100)
India should negotiate trade deal with US on its own terms: EAC-PM chief
Dev expressed hope that India will have an advantage over other countries on tariffs once the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are signed, and it would boost exports.
"The overall approach of India is negotiating trade agreements with countries on its own terms and keeping in view the national interests. The negotiations are going on and the ultimate decision depends on the mutual interests of both countries," he told PTI.
US President Donald Trump has said the proposed trade deal with India would be on the lines of what America has finalised with Indonesia on Tuesday.
Under the US-Indonesia trade pact, the Southeast Asian nation will provide complete access to its market to US products, while Indonesian goods would attract a 19 per cent duty in America.
In addition, Indonesia has committed to purchasing $15 billion in US energy, $4.5 billion in American Agricultural Products, and 50 Boeing jets.
The Indian team is in Washington for the fifth round of negotiations for the proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).
India has hardened its position on the US demand for duty concessions on agri and dairy products. New Delhi has, so far, not given any duty concessions to any of its trading partners in a free trade agreement in the dairy sector.
India is seeking the removal of this additional tariff (26 per cent). It is also seeking the easing of tariffs on steel and aluminium (50 per cent) and the auto (25 per cent) sectors. Against these, India has reserved its right under the WTO (World Trade Organisation) norms to impose retaliatory duties.
Asked should India has a slightly higher inflation target rate for a growth economy, Dev said, "There is no need to increase inflation target when the present framework is doing well on both inflation and growth objectives." He noted that there are some suggestions that RBI should use core inflation, excluding food for inflation targeting (IT).
"We will have better inflation data from CPI after the revision of base year to 2024," the EAC-PM Chairman said.
Dev said the experience of (IT) in the last 10 years shows that Inflation stayed within the band of 2 per cent-6 per cent with some exceptions and inflation declined significantly under IT framework.
"It may be noted that higher inflation hurts the poor and middle class mostly. Low inflation is also important for sustainable growth," he said.
Since 2016, India has adopted a flexible inflation targeting (IT) framework where the RBI aims to maintain a specific inflation rate, currently 4 per cent, with a tolerance band of +/- 2 per cent (i.e., between 2 per cent and 6 per cent).
Similarly, Dev said the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) targets should be continued for sound fiscal management.
"It may be noted that a higher fiscal deficit will increase inflation and hurt growth," he said, adding that Interest payments will be higher and lower funds will be left for development expenditure.
While noting that the government has done well to reduce fiscal deficit from 9.2 per cent in FY21 to 4.8 per cent in FY25 and budgeted 4.4 per cent in FY26, he said the government has been sticking to its fiscal consolidation roadmap despite competing demands for expenditures.
On Production Linked Incentive (PLI), he said one should not look at only the direct effect of PLI-linked sectors, as there is significant interlinkage between PLI and non-PLI sectors.
"PLI incentives, along with FTAs with other countries, should attract FDI and enhance exports," Dev said.
He pointed out that studies indicate that the share of Direct Value Addition (DVA) declined for electronics while the share of indirect DVA increased, suggesting linkages with upstream industries.
"Government is working on increasing gross value added, reducing import content and increasing employment for PLI sectors by encouraging local manufacturing capability," Dev said.
The government launched the PLI scheme for 14 sectors to incentivise domestic manufacturing, increase production, create new jobs and boost exports.
The thrust of PLI is to make domestic manufacturing globally competitive and reduce imports by increasing domestic value addition.
The PLI scheme adopts a sector-specific approach, avoiding a "one size fits all" methodology.
In the electronics sector, PLI aims to scale up assembly processes to encourage the existing domestic manufacturing ecosystem. India is one of the biggest assemblers and exporters of mobile handsets.
In FY15, mobile phone imports accounted for 78 per cent of the market in value terms, whereas by FY23 this figure had dropped to just 4 per cent.
"A similar story can be heard for exports. The electronics and renewable energy sectors have attracted higher FDI inflows," Dev said.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
29 minutes ago
- Time of India
Decentralised solar plants of 1,190 MW capacity installed in Rajasthan in last one year
Rajasthan has significantly expanded its decentralized solar power capacity under the PM-KUSUM scheme, adding 1,190 MW in the last year. Farmers are becoming power producers, benefiting from low-cost electricity and improved rural livelihoods. The state aims to provide daytime electricity for agriculture to all farmers by 2027, potentially reducing discom losses. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads About 1,190 MW capacity decentralised solar plants were installed in the last one year in Rajasthan under the PM-KUSUM scheme , an official statement said.A total of 684 decentralised solar plants with a combined capacity of 1,305 MW have been set up in Rajasthan so far, of which 592 plants (1,190 MW) were installed in the past 12 conventional large-scale solar parks, KUSUM scheme promotes small-capacity, grid-connected plants installed by farmers themselves or in partnership with developers on barren land. The plants are set up within 5 km of a grid substation and offer electricity at a significantly lower rate , Rs 2.09-3 per unit compared to thermal power As a result, the scheme is now being seen as a dual solution for clean energy and rural livelihood, with farmers turning into power producers while discoms benefit from low-cost, low-loss distribution, the statement scheme's implementation, previously handled by the Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation, has now been handed over to power discoms as per central said that procedural bottlenecks were addressed by setting up dedicated officers, issuing SOPs, and facilitating land and loan-related issues to speed up the state's three discoms, Jodhpur leads with 997.5 MW, followed by Jaipur (169.22 MW) and Ajmer (137.33 MW). Nationally, Rajasthan ranks first in the KUSUM scheme's Component-A and third in Component-C, after Gujarat and state government has said it aims to provide daytime electricity for agriculture to all farmers by 2027, with around 1 lakh already benefiting from the claim this could help reduce the state's discom losses, which are reportedly over Rs 90,000 crore, mainly due to high-cost thermal power purchases.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Syria's armed Bedouins say they have withdrawn from Druze-majority city after weeklong fighting Mazraa
Syria's armed Bedouin clans on Sunday announced that they had withdrawn from Sweida following over a week of clashes and a US-brokered ceasefire, as humanitarian aid convoys started to enter the battered southern clashes between militias of the Druze religious minority and the Sunni Muslim clans killed hundreds and threatened to unravel Syria's already fragile postwar transition. Israel also launched dozens of airstrikes in the Druze-majority Sweida province, targeting government forces who had effectively sided with the Bedouins. A series of tit-for-tat kidnappings sparked the clashes in various towns and villages in the province, which later spread to the city. Government forces were redeployed to halt renewed fighting that erupted Thursday, before withdrawing again. Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was more sympathetic to the Bedouins, had tried to appeal to the Druze community while remaining critical of the militias. He later urged the Bedouins to leave the city, saying that they 'cannot replace the role of the state in handling the country's affairs and restoring security.' 'We thank the Bedouins for their heroic stances but demand they fully commit to the ceasefire and comply with the state's orders,' he said in an address broadcast convoys enter Sweida but tensions persist. The Bedouins' withdrawal brought a cautious calm to the area, with humanitarian convoys on their way. The Syrian Red Crescent said Sunday it sent 32 trucks loaded with food, medicine, water, fuel and other aid, after the fighting left the province with power cuts and shortages. Syria's state news agency SANA reported that the convoy entered Sweida on Sunday, but accused Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri and his armed supporters of turning back a government delegation that accompanied another convoy. Al-Hijri in a statement did not directly respond to the accusations but said that he welcomes any assistance for Sweida and slammed what he claims was distorted medic campaigns against him. 'We reaffirm that we have no dispute with anyone on any religious or ethnic basis,' the statement read. 'Shame and disgrace be upon all those who seek to sow discord and hatred in the minds of young people.' The UN International Organization for Migration said 128,571 people were displaced during the clashes, of those 43,000 on Saturday alone. US envoy appeals for an end to fighting Washington's special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, said the clashes and atrocities 'overshadowed' an initial cautious optimism about the country's post-war transition and the international community's lifting of sanctions. 'All factions must immediately lay down their arms, cease hostilities and abandon cycles of tribal vengeance,' Barrack said on X. 'Syria stands at a critical juncture — peace and dialogue must prevail — and prevail now.'Dozens of Druze civilians were killed in a series of targeted attacks in the city at the hands of Bedouin fighters and government forces. Videos also surfaced online of fighters destroying portraits of Druze religious officials and notables in homes, and shaving the mustaches of elderly Druze, seen as an insult to culture and tradition. Druze militias in return attacked Bedouin-majority areas in the outskirts of the province, forcing families to flee to the neighboring Daraa than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. Syria's Druze largely celebrated the downfall of the Assad family that ended decades of tyrannical rule. While they had concerns about Al-Sharaa's de facto Islamist rule, a large number wanted to approach matters diplomatically. However, the the recent clashes have made a growing number of Druze in the area more skeptical about Damascus' new leadership and more doubtful of peaceful coexistence.——Chehayeb reported from Beirut.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
Vedanta rejects baseless allegations, calls Viceroy's claims unfounded
Continuing its triad against mining Moghul Anil Agarwal's Vedanta group, US-based Viceroy Research has alleged that the group's semiconductor unit was a "sham commodities trading operation", designed to avoid classification as an NBFC, a charge the mining conglomerate dismissed as baseless. US short seller Viceroy Research, which last week published a scathing report about Vedanta Group and followed it with similar reports on group companies, in fresh allegations said Vedanta Ltd's subsidiary, Vedanta Semiconductors Pvt Ltd, was part of a scheme to allow the Mumbai-listed firm to remit brand fees to parent Vedanta Resources in April this year, when it faced a severe liquidity crisis. In a statement, Vedanta spokesperson said the group "strongly rejects the baseless allegations made in the report regarding Vedanta Semiconductors Pvt Ltd (VSPL)". "All business activities of VSPL have been transparently disclosed and are in line with statutory norms," it said. Viceroy said, "VSPL is a sham commodities trading operation designed to improperly avoid classification as a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC)". "This scheme was devised to facilitate Vedanta Ltd's remittance of brand fees to Vedanta Resources' (VRL) in April 2025, when it faced a severe liquidity crisis," Viceroy said. "VSPL's operational illusion needs 24 months of regulatory silence to fulfil its purpose, repaying its offshore lenders and hiding the near-catastrophe of April 2024. While credit analysts are snoozing through the alarm bells, India's regulators are famously light sleepers." In April 2024, Vedanta Limited (VEDL) faced a severe liquidity crisis. "In response, VEDL reactivated VSPL, not as a semiconductor venture, but as a zero-margin trading entity, whose operations appear to consist entirely of paper-based commodity trading." "VSPL tapped offshore lenders for a short-term, INR-denominated, 10 per cent NCDs secured by VEDL's stake in HZL (equivalent to 1 per cent of outstanding shares). VSPL then began trading commodities (copper, silver, gold) on a zero-margin basis reminiscent of wash trading," Viceroy alleged. VSPL, it said, remitted the loan to VEDL as a 24-month 12 per cent loan, with the spread intended to cover the sham operation's costs. The semiconductor unit, superficially an operating entity, would face reduced scrutiny for loan repayments under FEMA, Companies Act, PMLA and AML frameworks. "VSPL will likely have to continue these sham operations until FY27, when the loans fall due and repayment will have to be routed back through it. If, at any point, the regulators intervene at VSPL, the lender group is likely facing a total wipeout," the US short-seller alleged. Vedanta spokesperson in the statement said, "Loans between VSPL and Vedanta Ltd were executed in full compliance with applicable laws, corporate governance standards, and both Vedanta Ltd and VSPL have consistently reported accurate loan terms, interest rates, and collateral in line with statutory norms," it said, adding that it would encourage stakeholders to only reply on verified disclosures and audited financials. Viceroy, on July 9, said it has taken a short position against the debt of Vedanta Resources, the UK-based parent of Indian miner Vedanta Ltd, and alleged in the report that the British firm is "systematically draining" its Indian unit. Vedanta had dismissed the report as "a malicious combination of selective misinformation and baseless allegations", and that Research issued it without contacting the group. Viceroy, in its latest report, said despite Vedanta's claim that it failed to engage, it is yet to receive a response to the issues flagged since July 9. "For a company so quick to dismiss our findings, one might expect answers to be equally swift. It's been over a week since we formally requested clarification," the short seller added.
