Issue No. 2/2015-16 of E-News Letter

Gujarat  Chamber of Commerce & Industry

Weekly E-News Letter

Issue No. 2/2015-16                                                                    9th July 2015,Thursday

Trade & Industry

Government aims high, wants to be among top 30 countries in ease of doing business index India has set itself the ambitious task of climbing into the top 30 of the World Bank's ease of doing business rankings in three years and is confident of breaking into the top 100 in this year's list, which is to be released soon. The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion has sought help from the World Bank to achieve this target. Read More Cabinet gives nod to new skill and entrepreneurship policy The Union Cabinet has approved a proposal to integrate skill development guidelines among 21 ministries and departments in order to streamline the Skill India mission and reap a better demographic dividend. The Cabinet has also approved a new skill development and entrepreneurship policy to improve the efficiency of human resources, besides clearing the institutional framework for the National Skill Development Mission in keeping with the commitment made in the Union Budget. Read More Government increases daily minimum wage to Rs 160 per day The government has increased minimum wage across the country to Rs 160 a day from Rs 137 with effect from this month. It has raised the threshold after two years on the basis of average increase in the consumer price index for industrial workers during this period. Read More Government plans social audit of factories to check working condition of laborers The government is mulling social audit of all factories to check whether workers are getting conducive working conditions, continuing with its strategy of extracting benefits for employees as part of strategy to build support for labour reforms. This move is to meet India's commitment to the International Labour Organization to focus on safety and health aspects of workers as over 93% of the country's workforce is still in the unorganized sector, where most workers are deprived of protection measures and are often exposed to hazardous air and water. Read More Government allows foreign retail investors to have more than one joint venture "A non-resident entity or entities, whether owner of the brand or otherwise, shall be permitted to undertake single brand product retail trading in the country for the specific brand, directly or through a legally tenable agreement with the brand owner for undertaking single brand product retail trading. Such non-resident entity or entities can undertake single brand retail trading business through one or more wholly owned subsidiaries or joint ventures," the DIPP clarified. Read More Competition Commission amends filing norms for M&A deals In a significant move, Competition Commission has eased the filing requirements for entities seeking approval for M&A deals besides deciding to invite public comments for all transactions under its review. Now, any person duly authorized by the board of directors can sign the notice seeking Competition Commission of India's (CCI) approval. Read More

Economic & Financial

RBI to offer one-stop portal for customers to move funds across different accounts The RBI has worked out modalities to put into action a Government proposal to offer a one-stop portal for financial service customers to view and operate an array of accounts, be it pension, insurance, current and savings accounts with banks or mutual funds, and fixed deposits. Read More Fitch lowers India's economic growth projections to 7.8% Global rating agency Fitch has lowered India's economic growth projections to 7.8% for the current fiscal from 8% earlier. Fitch, however, said it expects that India's GDP growth rate this year to surpass China's for the first time since 1999, forecasting acceleration to 8.1% in 2016-17 before settling back to 8.0% in 2017-18. Read More Services sector contracts for second month as new orders dry up The Nikkei India Services Business Activity Index, which tracks changes in activity at service companies on a monthly basis, fell to 47.7 in June, down from 49.6 in May -- its lowest level since March 2014. A reading below 50 means contraction in the sector. Read More Manufacturing PMI weakens in June on slow business orders The Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, eased to 51.3 points in June from 52.6 in the previous month, marking the 20th straight month of expansion.  A reading of over 50 signals growth. Read More June quarter may see a mere 3% revenue growth: CRISIL Rating agency CRISILhas painted a gloomy picture on the earnings front, saying India Inc. would be reporting poor numbers yet again for the first quarter on soft commodity prices, weak growth and subdued rural demand.Analysis of 600 companies (which account for 70% of market capitalization) showan uptick of 3% in revenues. However, compared on a sequential basis, this is 2.3% point increase over the March quarter's 0.7% revenue growth. Read More

International News

Government sets up CCFCs at ports to expedite customs clearance The government has set up Customs Clearance and Facilitation Committees (CCFCs) at ports to ensure expeditious customs clearance of goods to improve ease of doing business for traders. Read More Government to import 5,000 tonnes of urad to contain prices The government today said it is considering importing 5,000 tonnes of urad dal to improve domestic availability and check price rise. Read More Exim Bank, FICCI mark Africa-India Partnership Day in Ivory Coast With preparations on for the upcoming Third India-Africa Forum Summit in October in New Delhi, an Africa-India Partnership Day was recently organised here jointly by the Export-Import Bank of India and industry chamber FICCI for sharing India's developmental experiences with Africa, particularly on the public-private partnership model of financing infrastructure development. Read More Globetrotting Modi, e-visas boost touris Modi's overseas visits to strengthen international relations and trade have received extensive media exposure, resulting in heightened visibility for foreign destinations, and hence a potential inspiration to Indian tourists. The travel services firm saw 35% increase to destinations in Europe and the Australia-New Zealand belt. Read More

New Projects

Ghari detergent all set to enter Nirma's home turf Ghari detergent, a brand that is inspired by none other than Nirma, is all set to enter the latter's home turf. The Kanpurbased RSPL Ltd (Rohit Surfactants Private Limited), the maker of Ghari detergent, has chosen Gujarat for establishing a plant for soda ash, this is used in manufacturing detergents. RSPL is putting up a 1500 tonnes per day (TPD) soda ash unit at Kuranga in Devbhoomi Dwarka district. The company is investing around Rs 2,000 crore and the plant is for captive consumption. Read More City Taxi service launched in Ahmedabad The City Taxi service was finally flagged off by transport minister Vijay Rupani. The first batch of 30 such taxis, including AC and non-AC, were rolled out in the city. These taxis will operate only in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar district, and will be available for travel between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar also. These will be indirect competition with the radio cabs, which are operational in the city. Read More Mahindra, Airbus tie up for copters Anand Mahindra led $17 billion Mahindra Group gained a first-mover advantage by forging a tie-up with Airbus to manufacture defence choppers as the government readies to place $10 billion worth of helicopter orders for reconnaissance, surveillance and naval utility. Read More

Science & Technology

Digital India Vision: eMudhra launches eSign services As part of the Digital India Vision, Prime Minister launched eSign services in the country. eSign is an online electronic signature service which can facilitate an Aadhar holder to digitally sign a document within seconds. The signatures generated by eSign are legally valid and secure under the Information Technology Act, 2000. Read More ITLS webinars to upgrade skills at India's data centers India is starting to become very clearly a global outsourcing centre for data centers.Singapore-based IT Learning Solution (ITLS) will launch a series of webinars to help upgrade skills of manpower at Data Centers in India as part of its contribution to the Digital India initiative. They will be running multiple webinars from July 13, with one webinar every week for four weeks in a row. Read More

Environment

Javadekar Launches Web Portal for Online Application for Environment Clearance for Category 'B' Projects in States A web portal was launched for online submission of applications for Environment Clearance by State Environment Impact Assessment Authorities for Category B projects. The web portal has been launched across the country and nineteen states have joined it instantly. Shri Javadekar said that online submission of applications will ensure that monitoring is carried out more effectively and on a real time basis and thus, status on the pendency is available clearly. The online submission of applications will also speed up clearance processes, while maintaining the rigorous of Environment Clearance process. Read More Centre to start 'urban forest' program in cities The Union Government has decided to start 'urban forest' program under which trees would be planted in those parts of urban areas which have been marked as forest lands but do not have any tree cover. “There are about 200 cities in the country which have municipal corporations and have areas marked as forest land. But there is no forest cover there. We have decided to create forests on such lands with the help of state governments and municipal corporations," the minister said. Read More Vadodara's wetlands in troubled waters The city has lost over five lakh square meter of wetland area in the last decade, a recent study indicates. Moreover, the wetlands in the city are fast losing their ability to serve their main purpose - to provide drinking water. According to data collected by Gujarat Ecological Society (GES) between 2005 and 2014, all the 49 ponds in the city shrunk by a total area of 32.95%. The loss in the area resulted to an approximate loss of 521.2 million liter of water. Read More

Energy

3bn units of power wasted in one year It is the height of paradox for a country where blackouts are more a norm than exception. Over 3 billion units of electricity, or a day's national consumption, were wasted in 2014-15 as congestion in the transmission highways blocked trading between surplus and deficit regions.Data from various power exchanges show a higher wastage in 2013-14 at 5.3 billion units. Read More

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