Gujarat-Chamber-of-Commerce-&-Industry

Gujarat-Chamber-of-Commerce-&-Industry

Weekly E-News Letter

Issue No. 07/2016-17                                                           4th August 2016, Thursday

Trade & Industry

Finally, GST gets unanimous backing in Rajya Sabha Marking an end to a long debate on GST, Rajya Sabha finally passed the bill as a law. The bill will now come in the Lok Sabha for amending the changes proposed in the Rajya Sabha. Congress, the main opposition, agreed after BJP assured them of keeping the tax rates as low as possible. Read More Gujarat lays out wind energy policy for 5 years Gujarat’s energy minister, Saurabh Patel, has announced wind power policy for 2016 for the next 5 years. The government has decided to exempt electricity duty from the electricity generated through wind power. The policy further exempts surcharge and cross subsidy surcharge if wind power is generated and used on their own. If the wind power is sold to the third party, additional surcharge and cross subsidy surcharge will attract 50% discount. Read More Centre approves 3 out of 4 lignite mining proposals for Gujarat Centre has approved 3 out of 4 mining proposals that involved mining of lignite reserves. With 2,722 million tonnes, Gujarat has the third largest lignite reserves in India after Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. The fourth proposal is subject to receiving NoC from the Petroleum Ministry. Read More India’s manufacturing jumps to 4-month high in July Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index for India jumped to a 4-month high level in July to 51.8. In june the index stood at 51.7. Although hiring across sectors remained muted, Indian manufacturers stepped up production, thanks to robust domestic and international demand. The encouraging data comes a week before RBI tables its decision on interest rates. Read More Service Index for July jumps to 3-month highs The Nikkei India Services Business Activity jumped to 3-month high after the index for July jumped to 51.9 against June’s reading of 50.3. Experts attributed the growth in services to higher manufacturing output and increase of new businesses. The data comes after manufacturing data jumped to 4-month high levels. Read More Excise hikes helps India fetch Rs 70,000 crore Nine excise hikes over a period of few months has helped government to treble its cash chest by nearly Rs 70,000 crore. While the collections from petrol stood at Rs 17,217 crore, diesel helped government clock Rs 52,592 crore. The hikes were imposed during a time when international crude prices crashed, thus, helping India to curb its fiscal deficit. Read More Gujarat CM exempts private vehicles from paying toll fee Gujarat’s CM Anandiben Patel has granted exemption to private vehicles from paying toll charge from August 15. However, commercial vehicles will have to pay the toll tax across Gujarat. The Gujarat government will reportedly bear the losses.  The decision comes days after Maharashtra shut down 12 toll booths and paid losses worth Rs 798 crore from its treasury. Read More

Economic & Financial

FDI has risen 53% in last 2 years: FM Jaitley Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that India has seen a jump of 53% in Foreign Direct Investments in last 2 years, depicting confidence in investment climate. The government attributed the increase in FDI to overall macro-economic stability. FM Jaitley further said the government is taking steps to ensure economic growth, price stability and fiscal prudence. Read More Foreign investment jumps 7% to $9.88 bn in 1st quarter The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) said that foreign investment inflows for the first quarter increased by 7% to $9.88 billion. The government noted that maximum investments were seen in sectors like hardware and software, telecommunication, power, pharmaceuticals and trading business. The investments came from companies like US, Singapore, Mauritius, Japan and Netherlands. Read More India’s fiscal deficit stands at 61.1% of India’s GDP India’s fiscal deficit at the end of 1st quarter stood at 61.1%, higher than yearly figure of 51.1% recorded last year. The government attributed the rise in deficit to non-realization of non-tax revenues while recording rise in revenue expenditure. However, increase in tax revenues by 14.9% helped government cover deficit to a greater extent. Read More India’s consumer confidence index falls in 2nd quarter India’s consumer confidence index fell for the second quarter this year as concerns over higher inflation amid higher fuel prices rose. The index, which was topped by India for 2 consecutive years, lost its slot to Phillipines. While India’s index scored 128, Phillipines emerged as the most optimistic country with 132 points. Read More 7th Pay Commission to be implemented from August 1: Gujarat CM Gujarat Chief Minister, Anandiben Patel said that 7th Pay Commission will be in force from 1st August 2016. The move is expected to benefit 4.65 lakh government employees and 4.12 lakh pensioners. In lieu of the implementing the commission, Gujarat state is expected to carry a burden of Rs 6,000 crore. Read More

International

India to organize BRICS Trade Fair in New Delhi India is set to organize ‘BRICS Trade Fair’ in association with FICCI between October 12- 14, 2016 at New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan. The event comes after India took over the Chairmanship of the BRICS from Russia on February 15th, 2016. The trade fair intends to provide a platform for bringing companies together, including startups, that work in the area of technology, healthcare, education, clean energy, sanitation and energy efficiency. Interested members can contact FICCI for participation details. Read More India cautions SME’s against getting fake products from China The Indian Embassy and Consulates have issued cautionary notes to Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) over receiving fake goods from their Chinese counterpart. The cautionary note came after Indian diplomatic mission said that traders might end  up getting sand, stones, salt and bricks instead of products. Read More India seeks greater access to pharma products in Japan India has sought greater access to Japan’s pharmaceutical market after Japan announced budgetary cuts due to spurt in ageing population. India has also asked for recognition of the Indian Organic Standards. The meeting was given important after India-japan bilateral trade shrunk 6.4% to $14.5 billion within which India’s exports shrunk 13.2% while Japan’s export contracted 2.8%. Read More India’s trade deficit with China jumps $4 bn to $52.68 bn in 2015-16 India’s trade deficit with China jumped by nearly $4 billion to $52.68 billion in 2015-16 while bi-lateral trade has fallen to $70.73 billion. Down $1.5 billion, in 2015-16. India’s import from China prominently includes computer hardware, telecom equipment, fertilisers, chemicals and drug intermediaries while India’s export to China include ore, ash, iron and steel, leather, plastics and cotton. Read More India to build SEZ in Myanmar to counter China After cracking the Chabahar deal in Iran, India has planned to set up SEZ in Myanmar’s Sittwe. The move has been coined strategic since it will help India counter China’s massive plan of expansion under ‘ One Belt, One Road’ initiative, experts said. Envisioned as an economic hub, India plans to build the SEZ 80km from China’s. Read More Crude oil crash lowers remittances, leaves 10,000 Indians stranded For the first time in 6 years, remittances from Saudi Arabia to India in 2015-16 fell 2.2% to $35.9 billion. Experts have attributed the slowdown in remittances to massive lay offs that took place due to crash in crude oil prices. India is preparing to evacuate 10,000 Indians who were stranded due to lay offs. Read More India set to impose anti-dumping duties on 6 nations including China and Russia India is all set to impose anti-dumping duty of upto $557 per tonne on 6 countries including China, Japan and Korea. The Department of Anti-Dumping Duty and Allied Duties have alleged that China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Brazil and Indonesia exported non-allow steel to India at below-normal value. Read More

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