INR lingers around one-month low
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India.com
26 minutes ago
- India.com
After American FTA Setback, Indian To Sign FTA With This Middle Eastern Country
New Delhi: India and Oman are likely to sign their proposed free trade agreement (FTA) — officially called the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) — in less than three months, a government official told Moneycontrol on August 9. 'Negotiations are complete. The delay is only because the agreement's text had to be translated into Arabic. Right now, the translated version is going through legal checks. Once that is done, the cabinets of both countries will approve it,' the official said. In a change from the India-UK trade talks, where negotiations and signing were announced separately, India and Oman plan to announce the completion of talks and the signing of the deal together. The official added that it will likely take much less than two to three months. Talks for the pact began in November 2023. Under the deal, the two sides will reduce or remove customs duties on most goods and make it easier to trade in services and encourage investments. Oman is India's third-largest export market in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. India already has a similar pact with another GCC country, the UAE, which started in May 2022. In 2024–25, India-Oman trade was worth around USD 10 billion — with Indian exports at USD 4.06 billion and imports at USD 6.55 billion. Most of India's imports from Oman are petroleum products and urea (over 70 percent of imports), along with polymers, pet coke, gypsum, chemicals, and metals. The official also said that India is looking for more markets in West Asia and Europe for its labour-intensive products, to offset the impact of steep US tariff hikes announced by then-President Donald Trump. These tariffs — coming into force on August 7 and August 27 — are expected to affect USD 50–55 billion worth of Indian exports, especially textiles, shrimps, chemicals, carpets, and gems & jewellery. India is also open to signing separate FTAs with other GCC members, and talks with the European Union are progressing well, with the next discussion round scheduled for September.
Time of India
43 minutes ago
- Time of India
'As the only Indian-America megadonor to Republican Party': Venture capitalist says she can help New Delhi with what's going on in Trump's mind
Indian-American megadonor to Republican Party comments on tariff war. Indian-origin American venture capitalist Asha Jadeja Motwani said as the only Indian-American megadonor to the Republican Party, she has somewhat of an idea of what's going on in President Donald Trump 's mind -- on the tariff front. Motwani said she may not be accurate but she would be close. "The only Indian American megadonor to the Republican Party is me. I strongly recommend that the Indian side reach out to me for my opinion on what's going on in Trump's mind. I may not be accurate, but I will be close," the Indian-American entrepreneur, investor posted on X. In an appeal to President Trump, the investor said all other Asian countries that the US struck a deal with have also got deals with China and the EU, except India. India's massive market is available to the US solely, and India is also a peace-builder between Russia and Ukraine. "We must pull all stops and support its actions as a peacemaker. Everything else is noise right need to connect with prime Minister Modi and make sure that he has no domestic pressure to make any move towards China. He has been a steadfast friend of the United States… the time to act is now," Motwani wrote. Motwani added that maybe she will thank Trump on behalf of India for the US's role in the India-Pakistan tension. "After President Trump brokered a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan today and the way he sat between both the leaders and held their hands tells me that peace is close to his heart. This is one thing that he means genuinely. If he gets a Nobel prize for this, more power to him. He's working tirelessly even on the Russia and Ukraine peace," Motwani added, noting that Trump authorized both JD Vance and Marco Rubio to call both India and Pakistan.
Economic Times
an hour ago
- Economic Times
Niti Aayog withdraws paper on GM crop imports, signals govt's hard line on biosafety
The Niti Aayog has withdrawn a working paper that proposed allowing imports of genetically modified (GM) soybean and corn from the United States, signalling the government's firm position against opening India's market to transgenic food products over biosafety concerns, as per move comes despite US pressure in trade talks to ease what it sees as a non-tariff barrier, and despite Niti Aayog's own assessment that such imports could be allowed without harming domestic paper, Promoting India-US agricultural trade under the new US trade regime, was released in May and co-authored by Ramesh Chand, a Niti Aayog member, and senior adviser Raka Saxena. It suggested that GM corn could be imported for ethanol blending and for by-products such as Distiller's Dried Grains with Solubles. 'US corn is cheaper and can be used to meet India's biofuel targets without disrupting local food and feed markets,' the authors the paper carried a disclaimer that the views were personal, its removal from the think tank's website reflects the government's reluctance to shift policy on GM food crops. At present, India permits commercial cultivation of only one GM crop — transgenic cotton, which is a non-food commodity. The government's position aligns with the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM), an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which has consistently opposed both the cultivation and import of GM food products. The SJM has, in the past, found common cause with several left-leaning farm groups on this issue. The withdrawn paper had also suggested a 'dual-track' approach to agricultural trade negotiations with the US, pushing for selective imports of non-sensitive items that do not compete with local production, such as almonds, pistachios, and enjoys a surplus in agricultural trade with the US, a gap that has widened over the years. Between 2004 and 2024, India's farm exports to the US grew nearly fivefold, from $1.18 billion to $5.75 billion. Imports from the US rose faster, from $291 million to $2.22 billion over the same period.
