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Trade agreement between India, four-nation EFTA to kick in from Oct
The deal may be instrumental in India attracting $100 billion in foreign direct investment in 15 years and the creation of one million jobs in the country. EFTA countries will get duty-free market access in India for Swiss watches, chocolates and other products.
EFTA comprises Iceland, Switzerland, Norway, and Liechtenstein. The Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) was signed in March last year, but procedural formalities in the four nations have delayed the implementation of the deal.
'The next step will see the contracting parties deposit their instruments of ratification in Oslo, with Norway serving as the depositary state, as is customary in such agreements. Once the three-month waiting period provided for in the agreement has elapsed, TEPA will come into force in October 2025,' said Tissafi.
India exported goods worth $1.96 billion to EFTA nations in FY25 and imported goods worth $22.45 billion.
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Business Standard
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- Business Standard
Govt policy must reward sustainability for India's small farmers: Syngenta
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Canada with overall score of 73 percent Canada, fifth in the ranking, excels with welcoming immigration policies, high livability, and strong employment prospects. Cities like Toronto and Vancouver are known to provide great employment opportunities. If you are an entrepreneur, check out Canada's Start-Up Visa program. Canada's natural beauty, from Banff to Niagara Falls, and friendly communities make it easier to consider the country. United Kingdom with overall score of 70 percent On the sixth spot is the United Kingdom (UK). World-class universities like Oxford and Cambridge attract thousands of students every year. The UK's earning potential, career advancement, and employment prospects are robust in finance, tech, and creative industries, particularly in cities like London, Manchester, and Edinburgh. The Innovator Founder Visa is worth checking out if you are an entrepreneur with innovative business ideas and are looking to do business in the United Kingdom. United Arab Emirates with overall score of 67 percent The UAE offers strong earning potential and employment prospects. UAE's tax-free income and business hubs like Dubai and Abu Dhabi attract thousands every year. Its Golden Visa or the Golden Residence permit attracts investors, and is something worth checking out. The UAE's modern infrastructure and rapid career growth in finance, real estate, and tourism make it a dynamic destination. New Zealand with overall score of 65 percent New Zealand ranks eighth, excelling in economic mobility and livability. This remote yet spectacular country is known for its stunning landscapes, from fjords to mountains, and peaceful lifestyle, it offers a strong work-life balance. The Active Investor Plus Visa streamlines residency for investors. Cities like Auckland and Wellington are vibrant hubs worth checking out. Austria with overall score of 65 percent Austria, tied with New Zealand, also scores high in economic mobility and livability. 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Mint
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A Startup Is Tapping Underground Parking Garages for Clean Energy
(Bloomberg) -- The heat held in New York's underground labyrinth of infrastructure, from hundreds of miles of subway tunnels to parking garages and malls, is a clean energy gold mine. Now, a Swiss startup wants to tap it to heat and cool buildings, all without drilling a single borehole. Globally, heating accounts for nearly half of all energy consumption. That could make decarbonizing it a half-trillion-dollar market, according to a BloombergNEF analysis. Using the Earth's heat offers one route to cut emissions, but traditional geothermal projects can be costly and require space to operate drilling equipment, making them a poor fit for cities. Startup Enerdrape's system uses energy-harvesting panels in manmade underground spaces, though, which could allow it to gain a toehold in cities. The Swiss company focuses on older multifamily buildings, which are harder to decarbonize than newer builds. In New York, residential structures built before 1960 make up more than 64% of the housing stock, though not all of it is well-suited for the panels. 'There really aren't many companies doing this,' said BNEF analyst Stephanie Diaz. 'They are truly a novel approach in how to decarbonize buildings,' though the company will have to figure out how to scale its technology to work with a wide variety of buildings. Enerdrape's technology is the product of decades of research spearheaded by Lyesse Laloui, a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne. A five-time startup founder, he's spent the last 15 years tackling the question of how to turn underground structures into energy sources. Initially, he created a solution for new construction, but realized that it only addressed a small part of the decarbonization puzzle compared to existing buildings. He and his team developed a prototype heat-exchanging panel in 2015. Enerdrape's panels affix to concrete infrastructure, which can hold large stores of heat. (Think of how hot a subway station gets in the summer, for example.) Enerdrape taps that heat using a system of prefabricated panels that absorb geothermal energy from the ground or the air. Even when underground spaces aren't sweltering, the ground temperature, at several feet of depth, stays relatively constant throughout the year. During the summer, Enerdrape's system uses the underground as a heat sink to absorb a building's heat and cool it. In the winter, it does the opposite, using the ground like a battery to warm things up. The system requires installing one panel for roughly every 110 square feet (10 square meters) of a building's floor area. The panels are connected to heat-transferring fluid, working in tandem with one or more heat pumps. 'Enerdrape moves heat from where it's not needed to where it is,' co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Alessandro Rotta Loria said. Rotta Loria, who was Laloui's former PhD student, likened it to an underground solar panel that feeds on heat rather than the sun's rays. Enerdrape says its panels can meet 100% of the space heating, cooling and hot water needs for buildings up to 10 stories in height. The company, which launched in 2019, has projects across Europe, including with Switzerland's largest retailer, Coop Immobilier, small businesses like a dental office in Spain, utilities and multiple Swiss cities. It also teamed up with Engie, one of Europe's largest gas and renewable energy suppliers, to provide energy to 72 homes with Paris Habitat, France's largest affordable housing provider. Enerdrape said its 145 panels provide 70 megawatt-hours of heat per year and cover 25% of homes' domestic hot water needs while avoiding 15 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. 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In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul calls for building 800,000 electrified or electrification-ready homes by 2030. New York City, meanwhile, passed a law to tackle building emissions, which account for approximately 70% of the city's carbon footprint. Similar measures in cities like Boston and Seattle have followed. The majority of New York City residential buildings covered by the law are pre-war construction of six stories or less, according to the Urban Green Council. That provides plenty of opportunities for technology like Enerdrape's. However, the startup faces some challenges. Heat pump adoption is higher in parts of Europe, and Enerdrape will have to contend with slower adoption in the US due to cost. Upfront cost, which includes panel installation and heat pump connection, is typically between $100,000 and $500,000, depending on a building's available surface area that can be activated as a heat source. Political headwinds in the US are another issue, with President Donald Trump curtailing federal support for heat pumps. The system can cut electricity costs, though. According to the company, it can deliver energy at 3 to 4 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to the average US gas price of 17 cents per kWh. Enerdrape says its solution is cheaper in Europe, where fuel costs are 3 to 5 times higher than in the US. The system also won't help with larger buildings, which are some of New York's biggest energy users. 'We're not going to be able to do much' with a 60-floor high-rise, Rotta Loria said. More stories like this are available on
