Latest news with #CommerceandIndustry
India Gazette
5 hours ago
- Business
- India Gazette
Swedish Chamber of Commerce gives thumbs up to favourable business environment in India
New Delhi [India], June 1 (ANI): The Swedish Chamber of Commerce India's Business Climate Survey 2025-26 has lauded the favourable business environment in India. Sharing highlights from the survey in a series of posts on X on Sunday, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, said, 'The Business Climate Survey 2025-26 by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce India, has given a thumbs up to the favourable business environment in our country over the years, under PM@NarendraModiji.' Goyal said that one of the main highlights of the survey is the resounding approval of the current business climate and rate of business satisfaction, reaffirming the positive impact of 'Make In India'. He noted that over the last decade, the Modi government has consistently worked to enhance the Ease of Doing Business in the country and the impact has been that global companies are increasingly choosing India as the trusted partner in their growth plans. 'A large number of the companies surveyed are expecting their turnover to increase over the next year, especially those involved in Construction & Building, Aerospace & Defence, IT & Electronics, and Business Services,' the Minister said. According to Goyal, the growing confidence in India's business climate also reflects in the majority of companies surveyed, especially those in manufacturing, looking to increase their investment in the coming year. 'And last but not the least, India has become more important in their sourcing strategy in the last couple of years, with cost efficiency being a big focus. The report reconfirms the confidence in India's growth story and also their focus on developing India as a hub in global value chains,' Goyal added. (ANI)
News18
2 days ago
- Politics
- News18
'India Reserves The Right To Act': In South Africa, Manish Tewari Warns Pakistan Against Terrorism
Last Updated: Congress MP Manish Tewari in Johannesburg warned that India reserves the right to act if Pakistan continues using terrorism as state policy. Congress leader Manish Tewari, who is part of the all-party delegation visiting key capitals, including South Africa, as part of the Modi government's big diplomatic outreach, has said India reserves the right to act against Pakistan if the neighbouring country continues to use terrorism as an instrument of state policy. Speaking in Johannesburg, the Congress MP also reiterated that the Indian delegations have leaders from different political parties, but stand united in India's message in dealing with cross-border terrorism. 'On this platform, you have people representing different political parties, from the government to the Opposition. This delegation is led by our honourable colleague, Mrs Supriya Sule, who is the floor leader of one Opposition party in the Parliament," Tewari said. 'I represent the principal Opposition party in the Parliament. My colleague here, Mr Vikramjeet Singh Sahni, is also from another Opposition party," he added. 'Both our colleagues, or three of our colleagues, are from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is the ruling party." 'So, the manner in which this delegation has been structured, and the way it has been constituted, is to convey a national resolve, that if terrorism keeps getting perpetrated against India from across the border, if Pakistan continues to use terrorism as an instrument of state policy, if you have a state on our western border where there is no distinction between the state and the semi-state actors and it spawns, then under those circumstances, it is our national resolve that under no circumstances would that be tolerable," Manish Tewari said. 'India then reserves the right to energise the full spectrum of options that are available to it, in order to protect and defend itself as its national interest," he added. On Thursday, Tewari had said that Pakistan has been behaving and acting like a 'rogue state". He also said that Pakistan-sponsored terrorism has been creating 'instability" in Afghanistan and Iran as well. The delegation, led by Supriya Sule, includes Members of Parliament Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Vikramjeet Singh Sahney, Manish Tewari, Anurag Singh Thakur, Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, Anand Sharma, former Minister of Commerce and Industry, V Muraleedharan, Former Minister of State for External Affairs, and Syed Akbaruddin, Former Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations. India launched 'Operation Sindoor' against Pakistan on the intervening night of May 6 and 7, days after Pakistan resorted to a terror attack in Kashmir's iconic Pahalgam, killing 26 innocent tourists. More than 100 terrorists and multiple terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) were destroyed in the strikes by India.
The Print
3 days ago
- Business
- The Print
Trade talks between India-US still ongoing, ‘tech, trade & talent' future of ties, says MEA
In this regard, Goyal met Lutnick twice in the six days between 17 and 23 May. At a regular press briefing, spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, 'The India-US trade agreement negotiations are going on. We just had a team visiting the United States. So we will have to wait for the negotiations to come to a conclusion. And as we have an update, we will share it with you. But this is an ongoing matter, so you will have to bear with us.' New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs Thursday said trade negotiations between India and the US were still ongoing even as an Indian team led by Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal recently met with his American counterpart, Howard Lutnick, twice in a week. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump first announced the India-US trade negotiations towards a deal during Modi's visit to Washington, DC, in February this year. Since then, multiple rounds of talks have been held. The deal has become increasingly crucial to India-US relations ahead of the 8 July 8 deadline for Trump's 'reciprocal trade tariffs' to kick in. Indian exporters are likely to face some of the highest tariffs, as India maintains a goods trade surplus of around $30 billion with the US. Trump has also increasingly pushed for American businesses to build in the US, calling on Apple a few weeks ago to stop producing goods in India for the domestic market. Separately, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has been in the US between 27 and 29 May. On Wednesday, he met with Jeffrey Kessler, the US undersecretary, to 'advance cooperation' in critical and emerging technologies. 'He [Misri] also led our delegation comprising the Deputy NSA for the inter-agency discussions on India-US COMPACT for the 21st century. This meeting happened in the White House, discussions at the White House, and it focused on implementing the trust initiatives, which again is about critical minerals and critical and emerging technology partnerships,' Jaiswal said. The inter-agency discussions also touched upon cooperation in areas of defence and energy, as well as strengthening various multilateral initiatives such as the Quad, IMEC and I2U2. Misri also met with US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. 'They discussed all aspects of the India-U.S. relationship. In particular, they agreed that technology, tech, trade and talent will shape the India-US partnership in the 21st century, and they both reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening the India-U.S. comprehensive global strategic partnership,' said Jaiswal. On student visas & India-Pak cessation of hostilities On the issue of student visas, Jaiswal said, 'While we note that issuance of visas is a sovereign function, we hope that the application of Indian students will be considered on merit and they will be able to join their academic programmes on time.' Media reports this week have said that the US State Department has halted the visa interview process for students as it institutes a procedure to vet applicants' social media presence. Indians make up one of the largest student communities in the US with roughly 330,000 students in the US for the year 2023-2024, according to MEA data. The MEA spokesperson also reiterated that no talks on trade had been held between officials of India and the US during Operation Sindoor. This came hours after the US government told a court Wednesday that it had used the offer of expanding trade and the threat of tariffs to bring a 'ceasefire' in the flare-up between India and Pakistan earlier this month. 'From the time Operation Sindoor commenced on 7th May till the understanding on cessation of firing and military action on 10th May, there were conversations between Indian and US leaders on the evolving military situation. The issue of trade or tariff did not come up in any of those discussions,' said Jaiswal. India has previously denied that the US played a role in the cessation of hostilities, maintaining that it was a bilateral understanding, arrived at by the militaries of India and Pakistan. (Edited by Sanya Mathur) Also Read: India incapacitating Pakistan airbases, air defences forced a halt to hostilities—Jaishankar
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Business Standard
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Possibility of interim trade deal between India, US by June 25: Report
With a team of US officials expecting to visit India next month for trade talks, there is a possibility that the two countries may agree on an interim trade pact by June 25, sources said. "Talks are moving. Things are on track," they said. India's chief negotiator, Special Secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal, concluded his four-day visit to Washington last week. He held talks with his US counterpart on the proposed agreement. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was also in Washington last week to give an impetus to trade talks. He met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick twice during his visit. Both sides are looking at an interim trade deal before the first tranche of the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) as the USA's 26 per cent reciprocal tariff on India is suspended till July 9 this year. It was imposed by the US on April 2. However, Indian goods still attract the 10 per cent baseline tariff imposed by America. In the interim trade deal, New Delhi is pushing for full exemption from the 26 per cent reciprocal tariff on domestic goods. Both countries have fixed a deadline to conclude the first phase of the proposed BTA by the fall (September-October) of this year. The US remained India's largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25, with bilateral trade valued at $131.84 billion. The US accounts for about 18 per cent of India's total goods exports, 6.22 per cent in imports, and 10.73 per cent in the country's total merchandise trade. With America, India had a trade surplus (the difference between imports and exports) of $41.18 billion in goods in 2024-25. It was $35.32 billion in 2023-24, $27.7 billion in 2022-23, $32.85 billion in 2021-22 and $22.73 billion in 2020-21. The US has raised concerns over this widening trade deficit. The two trading partners look to more than double bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. According to a report by the finance ministry, a successful US-India bilateral trade agreement could flip current headwinds into tailwinds, opening up new market access and energising exports. To boost bilateral trade, India is seeking duty concessions for labour-intensive sectors like textiles, gems and jewellery, leather goods, garments, plastics, chemicals, shrimp, oil seeds, chemicals, grapes, and bananas in the proposed pact with America. On the other hand, the US wants duty concessions in sectors like certain industrial goods, automobiles (electric vehicles in particular), wines, petrochemical products, dairy, and agriculture items such as apples, tree nuts and GM (genetically modified) crops. While the import of GM crops from the US continues to remain a non-starter due to regulatory norms in India, New Delhi is open to import non-GM products like Alpha alpha hay (a kind of cattle feed).
Mint
4 days ago
- Business
- Mint
‘Talks are moving, things on track': Possibility of interim trade deal between India, US by June 25
With a team of US officials expecting to visit India next month for trade talks, there is a possibility that the two countries may agree on an interim trade pact by June 25, sources said. "Talks are moving. Things are on track," they said. India's chief negotiator, Special Secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal, concluded his four-day visit to Washington last week. He held talks with his US counterpart on the proposed agreement. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was also in Washington last week to give an impetus to trade talks. He met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick twice during his visit. Both sides are looking at an interim trade deal before the first tranche of the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) as the USA's 26 per cent reciprocal tariff on India is suspended till July 9 this year. It was imposed by the US on April 2. However, Indian goods still attract the 10 per cent baseline tariff imposed by America. In the interim trade deal, New Delhi is pushing for full exemption from the 26 per cent reciprocal tariff on domestic goods. Both countries have fixed a deadline to conclude the first phase of the proposed BTA by the fall (September-October) of this year. The US remained India's largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25, with bilateral trade valued at USD 131.84 billion. The US accounts for about 18 per cent of India's total goods exports, 6.22 per cent in imports, and 10.73 per cent in the country's total merchandise trade. With America, India had a trade surplus (the difference between imports and exports) of USD 41.18 billion in goods in 2024-25. It was USD 35.32 billion in 2023-24, USD 27.7 billion in 2022-23, USD 32.85 billion in 2021-22 and USD 22.73 billion in 2020-21. The US has raised concerns over this widening trade deficit. The two trading partners look to more than double bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030. According to a report by the finance ministry, a successful US-India bilateral trade agreement could flip current headwinds into tailwinds, opening up new market access and energising exports. To boost bilateral trade, India is seeking duty concessions for labour-intensive sectors like textiles, gems and jewellery, leather goods, garments, plastics, chemicals, shrimp, oil seeds, chemicals, grapes, and bananas in the proposed pact with the US.
