The minister was responding to a question on India's trade negotiations with the UK and the European Union (EU) becoming more complicated

India on Friday expressed hope that other countries will come to the WTO meet in Abu Dhabi with a positive attitude and listen to the concerns of developing nations for providing free and fair solutions to their problems. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal also said that though the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has played an important role in setting robust rules for global trade, there are significant problems in the organisation. Trade ministers of 164 countries will gather in Abu Dhabi, UAE from February 26 to discuss a range of issues pertaining to areas such as agriculture, fisheries subsidies, and a moratorium on imposing customs duty on e-commerce trade. "I do hope that other countries will also come to the table with a positive attitude as does India...(I do hope that) other countries are also willing to listen to us and other less developed and developing countries' concerns and give free and fair solutions to the problems," Goyal said at the Raisina Dialogue ...

Successful conclusion of India's proposed trade agreements with the UK, Oman and four European nation bloc EFTA will reflect its commitment to trade liberalisation and economic integration at a time when the whole world is turning protectionist, according to a report. Economic think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said the free trade agreements (FTAs) have become pivotal instruments for India's economic expansion and integration into the world market. These nations and the bloc are eager to finalize these agreements before the upcoming general elections, GTRI said, adding the talks are on the verge of conclusion. Signing of these three agreements will take India's FTA tally from 13 to 16. Number of countries with comprehensive FTAs will go up from 22 to 28. In addition India has six small scope PTAs (preferential trade agreements). Last pact was signed with Australia in March 2022. "Everyone wants to do an FTA with India. The main reason for this is India's high impo

The US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Verma has met with senior Indian ministers and officials in New Delhi to advance the US-India global strategic partnership and ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region, according to his spokesperson. Verma, the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, is the highest-ranking Indian American in the State Department. The former US Ambassador to India was on an official visit to India from February 19 to 21. He met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra, Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane, and Deputy National Security Advisor Vikram Misri in New Delhi, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said here on Thursday. Verma's meetings explored opportunities to strengthen US-India cooperation and people-to-people ties to ensure a free, open, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region, Miller said. He also met with Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal to discuss further expanding t

Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections, the Odisha government on Thursday decided to extend its farmers' welfare scheme 'KALIA' for another three years, sanctioning a total outlay of Rs 6,029.70 crore for the purpose. The state cabinet headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik approved three proposals in this regard, Agriculture and Farmers' Empowerment Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain told reporters. He said the state has been implementing the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme since 2018-19 as a majority of the population of the state is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. Similarly, the state had implemented the KALIA scholarship to ensure the educational development of the children of KALIA beneficiaries so that they avail of professional and technical education in different educational institutions, Swain said. For hassle-free and smooth implementation of this welfare scheme and to bring the ..

Addressing at the 'Raisina Dialogue 2024', Kant said today's challenge is climate change and the World Bank needs to become a climate bank

The nation's market, currently the world's fifth largest at $4.5 trillion, briefly overtook Hong Kong last month. Still, its weight in global stock indexes is below 2%

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday expressed confidence that India will continue to have 6-8 per cent consistent growth rate over the next 10 years, as he invited global players to innovate in the country for the domestic and world markets. India is open to the world, and to new ideas, Vaishnaw, the Minister of Railways, Communications and IT, said while speaking at the Raisina Dialogue 2024. He nudged the global community to "come here, innovate here for India... for the world." "The Indian economy is growing at a consistent clip at a very good rate. In the next 10 years, India will continue to see a 6-8 per cent consistent growth rate... I can say that with a high level of confidence," Vaishnaw said. The building blocks for this are already in place and the results are visible, he said, outlining various initiatives taken by the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Improvement in physical and digital infrastructure, education and skilling, as well as innovation

The scheme, inaugurated on April 1, 2015, was originally slated for a five-year duration until March 31, 2020

On the consumption side, India Ratings expects private final consumption expenditure to grow by 6.1 per cent in FY25, up from 4.4 per cent in FY24

Hasani, who is in the national capital to attend the Raisina Dialogue, said the India Middle-East Economic Corridor (IMEC) has the potential to create more market opportunities

Data released by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) shows that 10.78 million new subscribers joined the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) between January and December 2023

India's mineral output increased by 5.1 per cent in December as compared to the year-ago period, the government said on Thursday. The index of mineral production of mining and quarrying sector for the month of December, 2023 at 139.4 is 5.1 per cent higher as compared to the level witnessed in the corresponding month of 2022, the mines ministry said in a statement. The cumulative growth rate in the mining and quarrying sector for the April-December period of the current fiscal over the corresponding period of previous financial year is 8.5 per cent, as per the provisional statistics of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM). In December, the production of coal stood at 929 lakh tonnes while that of lignite at 40 lakh tonnes, iron ore at 255 lakh tonnes and limestone at 372 lakh tonnes. Production of lignite, limestone, coal, bauxite and natural gas showed positive growth. However, a negative growth was registered in the production of petroleum (crude), gold, chromite, phosphorite and ...

The Reserve Bank of India's job to bring down inflation is not over, and any premature move on the policy front could undermine the success achieved so far on the price situation, according to RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das. According to the minutes of the February Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting released by the central bank on Thursday, Das had said at this juncture, monetary policy must remain vigilant and "not assume that our job on the inflation front is over". He stressed that the MPC must remain committed to successfully navigate the "last mile" of disinflation that can be sticky. Das made the remarks while voting for status quo in the key interest rate earlier this month. "As markets are front-running central banks in anticipation of policy pivots, any premature move may undermine the success achieved so far," the governor said, as per the minutes.

UP's Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra said the state will organise a 'UP CSR Summit' to script a new chapter in the process of collaborative socioeconomic development

Strong reform measures initiated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government in the last ten years have laid the foundation of a solid economic growth in coming decades, Jefferies Equity Research outlook said. It also said that India would become the third largest economy by 2027 and expected to achieve a market capitalization of USD 10 trillion by 2030. "With a consistent history of 10-12 pe cent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) over the last 10 and 20 years, India is now the fifth largest equity market and market cap will likely to touch USD 10 trillion by 2030," the report said. It added that continued reforms should maintain India's status of being the fastest growing large economy. Over the last 10 years, India's GDP has grown by 7 per cent CAGR in USD terms to USD 3.6 trillion, jumping from the eighth largest to the fifth largest economy. "Over the next 4 years, India's GDP will likely touch USD 5 trillion making it the third largest economy by 2027, overtaking Japa

Leasing of industrial space for light manufacturing activities rose 23 per cent last year to 15.9 million square feet across eight major cities due to favourable government policies, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The leasing of industrial space stood at 12.91 million square feet in the calendar year 2022. Real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) on Thursday released its annual Logistics and Industrial report (L&I) report, which showed that Pune and Chennai accounted for 53 per cent and 24 per cent of the total leasing of industrial space in 2023 across eight major cities. "The growth in industrial leasing indicates that manufacturing is on an uptrend on the back of healthy capacity utilization, implementation of business plans by domestic firms and incentivization of investments by multinationals through favourable government policies such as the multi-sector PLI scheme," the consultant said. Industrial sheds available for lease primarily cater to light ...

Crude oil imports in January rose 9.5% month-on-month to 21.39 million metric tons, and were up 5.7% on year-on-year basis, Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) data showed on Thursday

India's nascent private space industry on Thursday welcomed the easing of FDI policy for the sector, terming it as a "pivotal move" to boost investments and help the country increase its share in the global space economy. "The easing of FDI norms will have a similar impact on the space sector as the 1991 liberalisation policy had on the overall economy," Tushar Jadhav, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Manastu Space told PTI. Industry leaders said the government decision to permit 100 per cent overseas investment in making components for satellites and up to 49 per cent FDI through the automatic route for launch vehicles and associated systems or subsystems, creation of spaceports for launching and receiving spacecraft has given the much needed clarity for the sector. Several industry leaders cited examples of how foreign investors were hesitant to invest in the space sector through the government route, which was the case earlier, due to a series of approvals that were require

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday expressed confidence that India will continue to demonstrate a 6-8 per cent consistent growth rate over the next 10 years as he invited global players to the country to tap domestic and global markets. India is open to the world, and to new ideas, Vaishnaw, the Minister of Railways, Communications and IT, said while speaking at Raisina Dialogue 2024. "The Indian economy is growing at a consistent clip at a very good rate. In the next 10 years, India will continue to grow at 6-8 per cent consistent growth rate...I can say that with a high level of confidence," Vaishnaw said. The building blocks for this are already in place and the results are visible, he said, outlining various growth initiatives taken by the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The next five years will further lay the foundation for India to become a developed country by 2047, he said. Vaishnaw said that the focus over the next five years will be on the full .