Pakistan Will Face Difficulty In Exporting Products If India Scraps Mfn Status: P R Chakravarty

P R Chakravarty, former consul general of India in Karachi on Tuesday said if New Delhi scraps the 'Most Favoured Nation' status to Islamabad, it won't affect India whereas Pakistan would have problems in exporting their products.

"This meeting on the MFN status is context with what happened in Uri and what the options are available for India in terms of taking action against Pakistan. So, MFN is one of them because we gave MFN status to Pakistan in 1996 and they have not yet given it to us," Chakravarty told ANI

"If we scrap the MFN, which is part of our obligation under the WTO, it will affect Pakistani exports to India because then India would be able to apply higher tariffs than what we do for other countries. For India even if India-Pakistan trade goes down a bit it makes no difference. Pakistan will have problems in exporting their products," he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a meeting with top officials on Thursday to decide whether to withdraw "Most Favoured Nation" status for Pakistan. It is expected that officials from the Ministry of External Affairs and Commerce Ministry would attend the meeting.

Reports are rife that India is considering withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan in the wake of the Uri terror attack.

The decision comes a day after India reviewed the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan.

It is expected that officials from the Ministry of External Affairs and Commerce Ministry would attend the meeting.

Reports are rife that India is considering withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan in the wake of the Uri terror attack.

 

Sources:business-standard.com

Rupee Closes Up 0.19% Against Us Dollar

The rupee on Tuesday closed stronger for the fourth consecutive session to hit a near three-week high against the US dollar, on continued buying from foreign institutional investors in local and debt markets. Gains in Asian currencies market also helped the rupee.

The home currency closed at 66.49 per dollar, up 0.19% from its previous close of 66.61. The rupee opened at 66.50 and touched a high of 66.44 per dollar, a level last seen on 8 September. So far this year it fell 0.5%.

The benchmark 10-year government bond yield closed at 6.793%, compared with Monday’s close of 6.789%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

India’s benchmark Sensex fell 70.58 points, or 0.25%, to close at 28,223.70. So far this year, it has gained 8.06%.

Most Asian currencies closed higher as Democrat Hillary Clinton was seen as outperforming Republican Donald Trump in the first US presidential debate, improving risk sentiments.

The South Korean won was up 1%, Indonesian rupiah 0.66%, Taiwan dollar 0.65%, Malaysian ringgit 0.18%, Singapore dollar 0.1% and Thai baht 0.05%. However, the Philippines peso fell 0.15% and Japanese yen was down 0.06%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 95.33, up 0.04% from its previous close of 95.297.

 

Sources :.livemint.com

Indian Steel Association Requests Government To Consider Extending The Minimum Import Price

 Indian Steel Association (ISA), a lobby group of leading domestic steel majors, has requested the government to consider extending the minimum import price (MIP) regime for some steel items notified in August this year for another six months.

“The situation with respect to import prices of the 66 HS codes covered under the August 4, 2016 remains low and as per ISA understanding these prices operate on a predatory level. Demand for these products have not picked up domestically. The situation would be affected adversely if these are now imported at dismally low prices leading to an unwarranted glut in the domestic market,” Sanak Mishra, secretary general of ISA said.

The India steel industry is not asking for protection but for fair competition for these products in the domestic market, he added.


While petitions for anti-dumping and other steel products would be taken up concomitantly and take its due course of process it is imperative that the August 4, 2016 MIP notification is extended for a period of six additional months, ISA said. Unless this is done issues pertaining to global overcapacity emanating mainly by China would recreate pressure on Indian steel markets, it added. The situation is reaching crisis proportions which is why it said there is global consensus building up to hold China accountable for its commitment to take swift steps to reduce excess capacity, ISA statement said.

 

Sources :economictimes.indiatimes.com

India Likely To Import 2 Mt Wheat To Boost Supplies

: India is likely to import up to 2 million tonne (MT) wheat in the current fiscal after the customs duty cut on the grain to boost domestic supply and check prices, according to flour millers.

"Imports will increase in the coming months and reduce pressure on the domestic availability," Food Ministry Joint Secretary Prashant Dwivedi told PTI on the sidelines of an AGM of Roller Flour Millers Federation of India (RFMFI) here.

He said the government will not discontinue the sale of FCI wheat to bulk consumers like flour millers.

Asked about likely quantity to be imported this fiscal, Dwivedi declined to give any figure.

However, the industry players estimated that overseas purchase of the grain would touch 2 MT in the 2016-17 fiscal helped by duty cut.

Already, about 6,00,000 tonnes of wheat has been imported from Australia, Ukrain, France and Russia, while another 4,00,000 to 5,00,000 tonnes is in the pipeline, RFMFI Ex-President M K Datta Raj said.

    
"Total wheat imports are expected to be 2 million tonnes this year," he said.

Much of the imports are being undertaken by flour millers in south India. Now with the duty cut, imports have become viable for flour millers in Maharashtra and West Bengal, he added.

Four millers are importing Australian white wheat in big quantities, which is costing about Rs 19.50 per kg for delivery at Bangalore after the duty cut, while earlier it was costing Rs 23 per kg, he explained.

Last week, the government had slashed import duty on wheat to 10 per cent from 25 per cent till February 2017.

The country's wheat production is estimated to be 93.50 million tonnes in the 2015-16 marketing year (April-March), while the industry players peg 5 million tonnes less output.

Despite projection of higher production, the state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) has procured only 22.9 MT as against the target of 30.5 MT set for the 2016-17 marketing year (April-March). The bulk of the procurement was done during April-June.

 

sources :economictimes.indiatimes.com

In Lean Season, Seafood Exports Increase By 7 Per Cent

 In a sign of strong recovery, seafood exports in first five months of the current fiscal rose 7 per cent from a year ago to touch 333,832 tonnes, according to data from Marine Products Export Development Authority (Mpeda). In value terms, the year-on-year increase was 17 per cent to Rs 13,426 crore, Mpeda's provisional data for the five months to August showed.

"The good performance has come in the lean season, which augurs well for the coming months," Mpeda chairman A Jayathilak said.

In 2015-16, marine exports dipped 9 per cent from the previous year to Rs 30,421 crore as the unit value realisation of frozen shrimp, which constitutes over 70 per cent of total exports, fell by $2 to $8.28 per kg. Jayathilak said the loss of the previous year has been made good in the first few months of the current year. He said seafood exports are expected to touch the targeted $5.6 billion in the current year.

 As per Mpeda data, production of aquaculture shrimp, which is driving exports, touched an alltime high of 550,000 tonnes in 2015-16.

 

Sources :economictimes.indiatimes.com