Global Indian News
India and the US have temporarily resolved their disagreement regarding the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) at the WTO. The US has consented to give India an indefinite ‘peace clause’ pending …
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The sun is set to shine brighter on the already robust India-UK relations, with British investors bullish about investing in India’s renewable energy sector that is expected to burgeon under …
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India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the “Make in India” initiative, which is aimed at increasing the manufacturing output within India. This is a welcome step towards harnessing India’s large labour force and resource base. However, the manufacturing sector in India has lagged in recent years, and to succeed several reforms are necessary to unlock the potential of India’s manufacturing sector.
Rebooting India’s manufacturing sector is a challenging but essential task. India has a huge potential for manufacturing a wide range of products ranging from traditional and cultural-related products to the most modern sophisticated products. Many of these products have good export potential that can be exploited. The example of the auto sector is a lesson to follow. India has become a major producer and exporter of automotive products including a wide range of 2, 3 and 4 wheelers and components. This has happened as a result of liberalization and integration into the global economy.
The “Make in India” campaign needs the widest possible support to succeed. The central and state governments, business and industry, and labour organizations must work together to achieve this goal.
The recently concluded G-20 Summit in Australia saw India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly pitch for a new global standard on tax disclosure information to tackle the issue of unaccounted …
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It’s Business with capital B as India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi began the bilateral leg of his visit to Australia with a strong sales pitch for garnering more investments. Interacting …
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With the world’s gaze turned on the India growth story and the trajectory of the country’s economic reforms in Asia’s third largest economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured the international community about his commitment to “people-centric” reforms and the need to insulate it from “the political process.”
“There is bound to be resistance to change or reform. But it cannot be done in stealth,” Mr Modi told the leaders of the world’s leading economies during a special intervention on the first day of the G20 plenary session in Brisbane November 15. His remarks came in response to an invitation by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who is hosting the Leaders’ Summit.
In a veiled allusion to the pulls and pressures of democratic politics and India’s argumentative society, Mr Modi underscored that there was a need to “insulate reforms from the political process,” indicating his government’s willingness to go ahead with difficult second-generation economic reforms despite opposition from critics and sections of his own party to FDI in in multi-brand retail.
Ever since his election as the leader of the world’s largest democracy in May 2014, the world has been curious to know about Mr Modi’s vision of the prospects of the economic reforms in Asia’s third largest economy, which were bogged down in policy paralysis under his predecessor.
With China breaking away from the fold of the developing world India will have the hard task of defending the principle of CBDR, and urge for greater emission cuts in industrialised world. The China-US deal on climate talks and the India-US pact on food security can only facilitate talks on climate change and keep multilateral talks going, but a permanent solution to the problems is not in sight.
The extension of Peace Clause is just like a lolly pop. The real issue is ensuring free and fair trade and acknowledging the right of food security in developing countries as enshrined in the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Call it the Power of 20. It’s the world’s most powerful economic club, bringing together 20 most developed and emerging economies in the world, spread across five continents. The G20 comprises around 90 per cent of the global GDP, 80 per cent of the world trade and more than two-third of the world’s population. Six years and eight summits later, it’s a high moment for G20 as the leaders of the world’s premier economic forum gather for their 9th summit in Brisbane, the picturesque gateway to Australia, November 15-16.
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Signalling a triumph of the negotiating prowess of the Narendra Modi government, India and the US have managed to strike a compromise formula on food subsidies, which paves the way for salvaging the stalled World Trade Organization (WTO) deal on easing of customs rules.
The mid-way formula that ended months of impasse in global trade negotiations envisaged an indefinite “peace clause” on food security until a permanent solution is found, a key demand of India for which Indian negotiators played hardball, resisting concerted pressure from developed countries. A “peace clause” provided legal security to member countries and protects them from being challenged under WTO’s subsidy caps. In India’s case, it effectively means that the country can continue with its food security programmes without attracting WTO penalties pending a permanent solution to the contentious issue of subsidies.
With the business of diplomacy being increasingly business, India’s reform-minded prime minister has robustly pitched for increased investment and deployment of expertise from ASEAN countries in his project of urbanisation and economic renewal in Asia’s third largest economy.
Attending his first India-ASEAN summit in Myanmar’s capital November 12, Narendra Modi alluded to “a new economic journey in India” and sought greater investments from ASEAN countries in the priority sectors identified by his government: infrastructure, manufacturing, trade, agriculture, skill development, urban renewal, smart cities.
“Make in India is a new mission. We are placing as much emphasis on ease of doing business in India as we are on making policies attractive. I invite you to this new environment in India. Indian companies are also keep to invest in and trade with ASEAN,” he told the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Underlining speedy decision-making and speedy action as his driving mantra, Mr Modi assured the ASEAN leaders that “there will be major improvement our trade policy and environment.” “We will also move ahead with connectivity projects with ASEAN with speed,” he said at the swanky Myanmar International Convention Centre.
Significantly, Mr Modi exhorted the two sides to conduct a review of India-ASEAN free trade agreement in goods “to improve it further and make it beneficial to all.” “I also urge that the FTA on Service and Investment be brought into force at the earliest,” he said.
India and ASEAN are looking to scale up bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2015 and double that volume by 2022. The two-way investments are on an upswing: ASEAN investments in India over the last eight years amounted USD 27.9 billion, and Indian investments in ASEAN reached $32.4 billion.