British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is keen to clinch a free trade agreement (FTA) with India in time for Easter, which falls at the end of March 2024, according to a UK media report. The India-UK FTA talks began in January last year, aimed at significantly enhancing the GBP 36-billion bilateral trading partnership. A new round of negotiations, expected to be the last, is set to start early in the new year after the thirteenth round concluded on December 15. Prime Minister Mr Sunak and India's premier Narendra Modi are said to be keen to get the deal wrapped up by April, reads a report in the Daily Express' newspaper updated on Saturday. It is hoped a deal can be signed and sealed before India's general elections begin on April 1, it claims. The newspaper quoted a source close to the trade talks on the UK side to say that a lot of progress has been made, but some of the hardest aspects remain pending. We have made a lot of progress, but the last stuff to do is the hardest. We have

One year after the India-Australia Economic and Trade Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) came into effect, engineering exports to Australia reached USD 944 million in April-November 2023-24, a 3 per cent increase. However, imports from Australia also saw a significant 30 per cent upswing during the same period. India's engineering imports from Australia reached USD 355.02 million during April to October 2023-24. Despite the sharp surge in imports, EEPC India chairman Arun K Garodia remains optimistic, pointing to a positive engineering trade balance of USD 471 million between April and October 2023-24. This, he says, underscores the resilience and competitiveness of India's engineering sector. "While imports have increased more than exports in the short term of the new trade deal, we remain optimistic about the long-term benefits for the engineering sector. We expect a surge in exports to Australia, especially with their recent efforts to curb domestic industries and increased reliance on

India's electronics manufacturing sector is set to grow 15 per cent to be worth USD 115 billion in 2024, with players continuing to focus more on higher levels of value addition in terms of components and development of products. The production of mobile phones, the poster boy of the country's electronics manufacturing, is expected to surpass USD 50 billion by March 2024 from around USD 42 billion in the previous financial year. Google's Pixel smartphone production in India from the first quarter of 2024 will complete the manufacturing presence of all global majors in the country. India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) Chairman Pankaj Mohindroo said the total production of electronic goods in the financial year 2023-24 is estimated to reach USD 115 billion, buoyed by an exceptional contribution of mobile phones, which is estimated to exceed USD 50 billion in the current fiscal. According to data shared by the government, domestic electronics manufacturing increased over

The Committee has recommended that the Ministry should conduct an audit to see whether the purchases in spot tenders have actually resulted in cheaper costs

The finance ministry has sought expenditure proposals for the second and final batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants from various ministries and departments ahead of the Budget session likely to commence in the last week of January. This would be the last session of the 17th Lok Sabha before the general elections and the government would seek expenditure approvals of Parliament for four months till July 2024 through a vote on account. The second batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2023-24 is proposed to be placed before Parliament in the ensuing Budget session, the finance ministry said in an office memorandum. The cases that would be eligible to be incorporated under such demands include those where advances from the Contingency Fund have been granted. Besides, payments against court decree would be included as well as cases where the finance ministry has specifically advised moving the supplementary demand in the winter session, it said. "While processing proposals

The finance ministry has sought expenditure proposals for the second and final batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants from various ministries and departments ahead of the Budget session likely to commence in the last week of January. This would be the last session of the 17th Lok Sabha before the general elections and the government would seek expenditure approvals of Parliament for four months till July 2024 through a vote on account. The second batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2023-24 is proposed to be placed before Parliament in the ensuing Budget session, the finance ministry said in an office memorandum. The cases that would be eligible to be incorporated under such demands include those where advances from the Contingency Fund have been granted. Besides, payments against court decree would be included as well as cases where the finance ministry has specifically advised moving the supplementary demand in the winter session, it said. "While processing proposals

India currently imports about 50 grades of crude oil in a year

The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists also calls for a 3.9% increase in average hourly earnings from a year earlier, the smallest annual gain since mid-2021

India decisively withstood global headwinds in 2023 and is likely to remain as the world's fastest-growing major economy on the back of growing demand, moderate inflation, stable interest rate regime and robust foreign exchange reserves. Despite widespread pessimism witnessed among the developed nations and the worsening geopolitical situation, India recorded a gross domestic product (GDP) expansion of 6.1 per cent in the March quarter. The growth moved up to 7.8 per cent in the June quarter and was 7.6 per cent in the September quarter. For the first six months of this fiscal, the growth was 7.7 per cent. The growth momentum is expected to sustain in the December quarter, making India the fastest-growing major economy in the world much ahead of China. According to the latest growth projections of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which appear conservative, India will record a growth of 6.3 per cent in 2023, ahead of China and Brazil at 5.2 per cent

Easing inflation in developed countries, softening interest rates, a gradual pick up in global demand and other factors will provide a silver lining for the country's exports and the overall outbound shipments are expected to be more than USD 900 billion in 2024. International trade experts have expressed hope that the services sector would perform better than merchandise and the country's overall outbound shipments may touch over USD 900 billion in 2024 against an estimated USD 764 billion in 2023. A stable rupee against the US dollar, focus on new markets like Latin America and Africa, new items like mobiles and fresh fruits, focus on promoting e-commerce exports, free trade agreements with the UAE and Australia would also help the country register healthy growth in outbound shipments next year. Despite various challenges, including geopolitical tensions and China's subdued post-pandemic recovery, impacting exports this year, India's goods and services exporters have managed to ta

The Indian health sector has a good image globally and the government is working to increase the workforce in view of growing demand, Union minister Bharati Pawar said here on Saturday. The Minister of State (MOS) for Health reiterated that there is no need to fear the JN.1 subvariant of coronavirus but states have been asked to be alert about its spread. Dr Pawar was speaking to reporters after reviewing OPD and IPD services, and government schemes like AB-PMJAY, and Jan Aushadhi Kendra at the AIIMS Nagpur. "India is progressing in all sectors globally. There is a lot of demand for Indian healthcare professionals across the globe. The Indian health sector has a good image. It is trusted and the demand for healthcare personnel is growing in many countries," the Union minister said. She said Indian nurses are in good demand in many countries including Japan. "Considering the demand for nurses, the Central government has started Japanese language courses in some Northeastern states,

The Arunachal Pradesh government on Saturday signed an agreement with the Tehri Hydropower Development Corporation India Ltd (THDCIL) for developing the 1,200-mw Kalai-II hydroelectric project in the Lohit river basin at a cost of Rs 13,000 crore. State Hydropower Commissioner Ankur Garg and THDCIL's director (technical) Bhupender Gupta signed the agreement on behalf of the two sides. Chief Secretary Dharmendra presided over programme. In August, the state government signed agreements with three central PSUs -- NHPC, SJVN and NEEPCO -- for developing 12 hydropower projects, having a combined capacity of 11,517 mw, in Subansiri, Dibang and Siang basins. With the allotment of Kalai-II project to THDCIL, the government concluded agreements for 13 projects with a total capacity of 12,717 mw in this calendar year. The Kalai-II project was initially allotted to an independent power developer in 2009 but it did not take off due to various reasons. This is the first project to be taken up b

As many as 28 countries and 14 organisations have so far confirmed to be partners for the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS) 2024, the state government said on Saturday. The 10th edition of VGGS, based on the 'Gateway to the Future' theme, will be organised in Gandhinagar from January 10 to 12. The countries that agreed to join as partners are Australia, Bangladesh, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea, Rwanda, Singapore, Tanzania, Thailand, the UAE, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Ghana, and Vietnam, stated an official release. The partner organisations include the American Chamber of Commerce in India (AMCHAM India) EPIC India-University of Chicago, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC), Indo-African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, International Solar Alliance, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Korea Trade and Investment Agency, among