The free trade agreement between India and the UAE is likely to come into effect from May 1 this year, under which domestic exporters of as many as 6,090 goods from sectors like textiles, agriculture, dry fruits, gem and jewellery would get duty-free access to the UAE market, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Sunday.

 

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed by India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in February which aims to boost bilateral trade to $100 billion in the next five years from current $60 billion.

 

The minister said that the detailed text of the pact has been released in public domain and now 'we are trying to complete all our paperwork, all the customs notifications expeditiously. We hope it can be operationalised by May 1, 2022'.

 

Overall, the UAE is offering duty elimination on over 97% of its products which account for 99% of Indian exports here in value terms.

 

Immediate duty-free access covers all labour-intensive sectors such as gems and jewellery, textiles and apparel, agricultural and fish products, leather, footwear, and sport goods, Pharmaceuticals and Medical devices, and many engineering products.

 

"Currently, we are exporting about $26 billion worth of goods to the UAE , almost 90% of them will get total tariff (or customs duty) elimination on Day 1 itself. Going forward in the next 5-7 or ten years, the rest of the 9.5% (about 1,270 goods) will also get zero duty," Mr. Goyal said at the Dubai Expo here.

 

Explaining the importance of the pact, he said the UAE also opened doors for the rest of the Middle East, some parts of Africa and Europe.

 

'This opens up huge opportunities for Indian businesses,' he said adding the pact also opens doors to several service sectors which will expand job opportunities for Indian young boys and girls.

 

Key areas of India's interest are computer related services, audio visual, education, health, tourism, travel, professionals services like nursing, engineering, and accountancy.

 

'We are also working for mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) of professionals and skilled services, so that if they approve our nursing colleges then the nursing degree from that college will get automatic recognition here and vice versa,' he said.

 

On the other hand, India has offered significant concessions on goods of export interest to the UAE and that include dates, petroleum products (crude, LPG, Naptha), petrochemicals (polyethylene, polypropylene and poly vinyl chloride), metals (aluminium, copper, nickel, iron and steel), minerals (limestone, cement).

 

India will be giving duty-free access to 7,694 goods on the day of implementation of the agreement. Around 2,400 goods would get zero duty in 5-10 years time period.

 

As part of protective measures in the pact, there are stringent rules of origin criteria that reflect the requirement for substantial processing of up to 40% for most of the products and wholly obtained criteria for agricultural products.

 

When asked about free trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Mr. Goyal said: 'we are at an advanced stage of discussion on the scope of the agreement. I believe that discussions will get over in the next 15-20 days'.

 

After that, he said, 'we hope to launch formal negotiations for a broad based FTA with all the GCC nations and that will open up the entire Middle East market for Indian goods and services'.

 

Mr. Goyal, who will participate in the India-UAE Business Forum meet on March 29, said the aim of the meeting is to expand business to business engagements between the countries.

 

The meeting is expected to be attended by businesses including Anish Shah from Mahindra and Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv CMD Sanjiv Bajaj, Vedanta Resources Chairman Anil Agarwal, ITC CMD Sanjiv Puri, Apollo Hospitals Joint MD Sangita Reddy, Bharti Airtel Joint MD Rajan Mittal, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd Chairman Satish Reddy, and Byju's cofounder Byju Raveendran.

 

There is also a Roundtable on Startups on March 28. About 20 startups are expected to participate in this meet and that include Ritesh Agarwal from OyoRooms, Deepinder Goyal from Zomato, Nishant Pitti from EaseMyTrip, Prashant Prakash from Accel Ventures, and Vineet Rai from Aavishkaar Group.

 

Talking about the India pavilion here at Dubai Expo 2020, Mr. Goyal said that it would be a permanent structure here.

 

'India has been given the honour along with the UAE and Saudi Arabia , and Morocco…We will continue to get the chance to use that (India Pavilion) area to act as a facilitator or little bit of India in UAE,' he added.

The country's onion production is estimated to increase by 16.81 per cent to 31.12 million tonne in the crop year beginning July 2022 on likely increase in acreage, as per the agriculture ministry data released on Monday.

 

The country had harvested 26.64 million tonne of onion in the 2021-22 crop year (July-June), the ministry said in a statement. As per the ministry's first advance estimate, area sown for onion cultivation is estimated to be higher at 1.91 million hectare in the 2022-23 crop year from 1.62 million hectare in 2021-22.

 

Among other key vegetables, the production of potato and tomato is estimated to decline in 2022-23. Potato output is likely to fall to 53.60 million tonne in the ensuing 2022-23 crop year from 56.17 million tonne in 2021-22, while that of tomato is pegged to be lower at 20.30 million tonne as against 21.18 million tonne in the said period.

 

Total vegetable production is pegged slightly lower at 199.88 million tonne in the 2022-23 crop year as against 200.44 million tonne a year ago, despite likely marginal increase in the acreage.

 

'Increase in production of fruits, while decrease in vegetables, spices, flowers aromatic and medicinal plants and plantation crops over previous year is envisaged,' the statement said.

 

Among fruits, mango production is estimated to remain flat at 20.33 million tonne in 2022-23 compared to 20.38 million tonne in 2021-22. In case of plantation crops like coconut and cashew nut, total production is likely to decline to 15.85 million tonne in 2022-23 as against 16.62 million tonne in 2021-22.

Spice production is also expected to fall to 10.81 million tonne from 11.11 million tonne recorded during the same period a year ago.

 

Total horticulture production of the country is estimated to be 333.25 million tonne during 2022-23, marginally lower by 0.4 per cent from 334.60 million tonne in the 2021-22 crop year.

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The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has been implementing scheme of Operation Greens since November, 2018 for integrated value chain development of Tomato, Onion and Potato (TOP) crops in the selected clusters. The scheme has two components i.e. Long Term Strategy i.e. Value Chain Development Projects and Short Term Strategy i.e. Price Stabilisation Measures through grant of transportation/storage subsidy.

 

Being a demand driven scheme, projects are sanctioned on the basis of response received from the industry. Since its inception, six value chain development projects have been sanctioned and initiated with total project cost of Rs 363.30 crore; Grant-in-aid sanctioned of Rs 136.82 crore; Processing capacity 3.34 Lakh MT and Preservation Capacity of 46,380 MT.

 

The Ministry has conducted regular stakeholder’s consultations to discuss the challenges faced for setting up of projects under the scheme and accordingly, necessary corrective measures have been taken from time to time to resolve the issues.

 

Under the short term measures of the scheme, provision of transportation/storage subsidy is available for notified crops during glut situation for eligible entities including farmers. Total subsidy of Rs 84.73 crore has been disbursed under the scheme which has benefitted eligible entities including farmers across India.

 

The scope of short term measures originally applicable to Tomato, Onion and Potato crops were expanded to 41 notified fruits & vegetables with effect from June, 2020 as part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan Package.

 

Further, in pursuance to Budget Announcement 2021-22, the scope of long term strategy i.e. Value Chain Development Projects was expanded from TOP crops to 22 perishables which include 10 fruits, 11 vegetables (including TOP crops) and 1 marine product i.e. Shrimp.

 

As on date, six projects were sanctioned for TOP crops under the scheme with total project cost of Rs 363.30 crore; Grant-in-aid sanctioned of Rs 136.82 crore; Processing capacity 3.34 Lakh MT and Preservation Capacity of 46,380 MT.

 

Out of the six projects, three projects i.e. one each for TOP crops in the state of Gujarat; two projects for onion in Maharashtra and one project for tomato in Andhra Pradesh have been sanctioned and initiated.

 

This information was given by Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in Lok Sabha recently.

 

After hiatus of 3 years, it is a welcome news for the entire dairy industry that India International Dairy Expo (IIDE), is making a stronger comeback with encouraging response from the dairy fraternity. Lot of changes in the dairy technology are observed and more are anticipated post pandemic as the situation is coming to normalcy.

 

Indian Dairy Association (IDA), West Zone is associated with IIDE and would be hosting a technical seminar on theme ‘Ideate. Innovate. Succeed’. The agenda will include topics like - New Technologies and Innovations in Dairy, Blockchain Technology and Drones for Dairy Industry, and Offerings by Dairy Research Institutes and Industry Requirements.

 

Dairy industry is very much eager to witness this special edition and looking forward to solutions. IIDE offers an ideal business platform to dairy industry solution providers for networking and display services and solutions first-hand in a live environment alongside key decision makers from the dairy manufacturing and farming sectors.

 

At IIDE 2022, network with senior professionals and generate unlimited business opportunities in a safe business environment. Connect with the right buyers and learn key industry trends while staying ahead of your competition.

 

Consumers are increasingly concerned about the quality, safety, and hygiene of food products, including dairy. This is expected to boost the growth of the value-added dairy segment within India’s organised dairy market. There is growing change in preference from loose products to packaged products. Categories like liquid milk, curd, paneer, and sweets have experienced this trend, which mainly benefits the organised sector. Companies with a strong retail penetration have realised immediate benefits.

 

However, companies with a commodity and business-to-business focus will desperately push toward consumer-focused in the coming years.

In a move aimed at realizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Vocal for Local' with a focus on 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) on Thursday organized a two-day International Buyer Seller Meet (IBSM) at Dibrugarh. The objective of the IBSM is to promote the exports of the potential agricultural and processed food products from Assam and other north-eastern states and provide market linkage to the producers.

 

The IBSM at Dibrugarh was attended by more than 180 numbers of participants and dignitaries from the State Government, Central Government representatives, FPO, FPC, buyers and other relevant stakeholders. At the IBSM, exhibitors from across the State displayed a wide range of agricultural and horticultural products. The products on display included fresh fruits, vegetables, processed food products, black rice, red rice, maize, honey, tea spices, including organic products.

 

International buyers from countries such as Bangladesh and Nepal interacted with exporters and expressed their willingness to source agri-horti commodities from Assam. FPOs and FPCs also actively had business discussions with the exporters participated. In his welcome speech, Prabhat Kumar Bezbarua, co-chairman-NER of Indian Chamber of Commerce said that this programme would have a meaningful outcome with the international and national buyers directly interacting with the Northeast exporters and grassroots level FPCs and FPOs.

 

He said, 'To export to the international market, our farmers need to produce international quality agriculture products with a market-driven strategy.' He also appreciated the strong leadership of APEDA chairman Dr. M. Angamuthu, for his visionary leadership and special focus on the Northeast in promoting agri exports. Sunita Rai, Assistant General Manager, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) enlightened on the scope of agriculture exports from the north-eastern States. She also informed that APEDA had been providing support to the FPOs, FPCs, exporters in areas of infrastructure development, capacity building, skill development and market linkage to bring the north-eastern states in the export map. She also highlighted the fact that the Northeast was strategically located, having an international border with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar and China and had scope for promoting unique products of NER.

 

Rai also gave an example of Assam Lemon which is a geographically indicated product and has huge demand in the international market along with other products such as pineapple, king chilly, ginger, high cumin, turmeric etc.

 

To boost exports of value-added meat products, the Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, Shri Parshottam Rupala has called on stakeholders to work towards creation of region specific animal disease free zones in the country.

 

Shri Rupala, while inaugurating the National Business Meet on promoting exports of value-added meat products organized by APEDA in New Delhi on March 25, 2022, said that even in case of single outbreak of disease amongst poultry bird, the entire country is referred as ‘disease affected’.

 

'All the stakeholders must take small steps and work to declare small regions- a few districts at a time, as disease free,' said Shri Rupala, while referring to the model of Sikkim being declared as an organic state and its produce command a premium in the market.

 

He said that there is a need to initiate a survey with all stakeholders to prepare a road map with actionable points to make India disease free in terms of animal health. 'At the same time, we must have an action plan for identifying contaminated areas and quarantine just like we have done for prevention of COVID19,' Shri Rupala noted.

 

He said animals are the life support system for our rural economy, they provide sustenance in difficult times and a great source of nutrition particularly proteins for the rural folk. There is a need to work to increase animal productivity.

 

Shri Rupala also released two manuals on export of value-added meat products and pork & pork products.

 

While stating that the Ministry of Animal Husbandry is working for development of infrastructure for improving animal wellness, health and nutrition to ensure increase in productivity and quality, he also stated that while the world acknowledges India’s administering record number of COVID19 vaccinations, the government is currently running a massive vaccination drive for animals for eradicating Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis amongst the livestock.

 

In September, 2019, the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had launched the National Animal Disease Control Programme to control and eradicate the FMD and Brucellosis amongst the livestock in the country. The Centre has allocated Rs 12,652 crore under the Central Government sponsored programme which aimed at vaccinating more than 600 million cattle in the country in an effort to mitigate the two diseases.

 

Shri Rupala also recommended to the livestock industry to leverage the schemes of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Anima; Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund and the National Livestock Mission for setting up animal farms for their rearing in order to produce good quality meat and thereby quality value-added products.

 

Dr. M Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA, in his welcome address at the national meet, informed the delegates that Animal Husbandry has a critical role to play in enhancing farmer income. He stated that India pioneered the export of meat and maintained the growth of momentum even during the COVID19 pandemic. 'India is the largest exporter of frozen and bovine meat while achieving significant growth in export of organic honey and fish produce,' Dr Angamuthu said.

 

Besides the senior officials from the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and APEDA, officials from leading players in livestock industry represented by Allana sons Limited, Venkateshwara Hatcheries, Lulu Group, Hind Agro Industries Ltd, Mayur Piggery Farm, Darshan Foods, ITC group, AOV pvt ltd, Hind Agro Industries, NRC on Pig, NIFTEM-Kundli and others participated in the day long meet.

 

APEDA promotes exports of agriculture and animal fresh and processed products by setting standards and specifications, suggesting and supporting improvement in packaging, marketing strategies, facilitating development of products for export, setting export zones, and organising Buyer-Seller meets to connect our exporters with relevant importers in destination markets.

 

APEDA along with exporters has successfully written many success stories in several sectors like Mango, Grapes, Bananas, Bakery products, including Meat and meat products.

 

As the date to modify licences under the new provisions of FoSCoS is approaching, the FSSAI has issued a public notice to ask food business operators to get their licences modified before March 31.

 

The notice says that with effect from April 1, 2022, the manufacturers including repackers and relabellers, will not be allowed to file renewal applications of their existing licences and file application for modification of licence through FoSCoS (Food Safety Compliance System) portal.

 

Manufacturers including repackers and relabellers, having licences issued through old methodology (granted from FLRS-Food Licensing and Registration System) have to shift to product selection methodology under FoSCoS.

 

Also, manufacturers holding state licence for products under nutraceuticals, health supplements, special dietary and medical use food, functional food and novel food regulation, have to shift to Central licence, the notice added.

 

In December last year, the FSSAI issued an order asking the FBOs to comply with its order dated June 16, 2021, regarding mandatory modification of licence by existing FSSAI licensed manufacturers as per new methodology for standardised product selection in FoSCoS by March 31, 2022.

 

“Beyond which FBOs who do not get their licence modified/migrated, shall not be able to apply for renewal of licence,” read the December notice.

Gujarat has retained the top position at the NITI Aayog’s second edition of the Export Preparedness Index 2021 followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as the top 10 performers.

 

Among union territories, Delhi has topped the index followed by Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh and Puducheery while Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Sikkim and Manipur were at the top five paces among Himalayan states.

 

The index, prepared by NITI Aayog in partnership with the Institute of Competitiveness, is a comprehensive analysis of India’s export achievements. The index is used to benchmark the performance of states and UTs against their peers and analyse potential challenges to develop better policy mechanisms to foster export-led growth at the subnational level.

 

The EPI ranks states and UTs on four main pillars, policy; business ecosystem; export ecosystem and export performance along with and 11 sub-pillars that includes export promotion policy; institutional framework; business environment; infrastructure; transport connectivity; access to finance; export infrastructure; trade support; R&D infrastructure; export diversification and growth orientation.

 

'India should look at expanding its footprint to the developed world, that is where the future growth story is', remarked Union Minister Shri Piyush Goyal in Mumbai today.

 

The crossing of 650 billion dollars in terms of India’s outward export goods & services, coupled with an overall international trade volume of around 1.350 trillion dollars will take the country into the big league, said the Union Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Public Distribution and Food and Textiles Minister. He was addressing the FE CFO of the Year Awards 2022, of Financial Express, in Mumbai today.

 

'We will probably top $ 250 billion in service exports'

 

Thanking industry members and media for acknowledging the $400 billion export achievement, the Minister said that he hoped to close the year with $ 410 billion or thereabouts.

 

On agricultural exports, he said, 'We have had over $ 40 billion agricultural exports in the last 12 months. By the time we close the year, we had expected to touch $ 50 billion. It is a remarkable achievement for our farmers and the entire ecosystem associated with it.'

 

'Our engineering exports will cross $ 100 billion. Gem & Jewellery, Textiles, Leather- all of them are coming back on track. Petroleum exports also shown remarkable increase. Steel sector has also done extremely well'.

 

'We will reach wonderful targets on service exports; we will probably top $ 250 billion of service exports', said the Minister.

 

Self-Reliant India and International Trade

 

'When PM Modi talks of a self-reliant India, he is certainly not talking about an India which closes its doors to international engagements. Aatma Nirbhar Bharat is about self-confidence, self-sufficiency, it is about engaging with the world from a position of strength', said the Minister.

 

'No country in the world has grown without significant international engagement. Towards that end, we should look at some critical elements in our journey to Aatma Nirbhar Bharat. Every Ministry and Department of the government along with states is working on this goal'.

 

Free Trade Agreements

 

'We are negotiating Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Australia, UK, Canada, EU, Israel and, very soon, we hope to launch it with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC- Middle-Eastern countries)'.

 

Speaking about the recently concluded India-UAE FTA, the Minister said, 'Our own estimate is that the trade which is at about $ 60-65 billion will go up to $ 100 billion very rapidly'.

 

The Minister pointed out the need to look at various geographies and see how we can expand especially to developed countries. He said India is ready to do this.

 

'India is cost-competitive, has talent, is trusted, other countries look up to us for robust and resilient supply chains. India is looked upon as a reliable partner. Our industry is ready to work with the rest of a world which works on rule-based and transparent systems'.

 

'When India walked out of RCEP, we got unanimous support from across industry, farmers, everybody. Everyone was concerned about the presence of China since their economy is not very open, doesn't welcome Indian industry and has non-transparent pricing'.

 

PLI Scheme and PM Gati Shakti will be the game changers

 

'Production Linked Incentive Program, which emerged from an industry-led committee under the facilitation of the Government, was conceived after a careful analysis of 24 sectors, leading to a selection of 14 sectors to help them achieve scale and global competitiveness', informed the Commerce Minister. PLI scheme has identified sectors that have huge global opportunities but where India has remained a marginal player, he added.

 

'As regards textiles, we have often been focused on one element of the market, ignoring sectoral areas such as technical textiles & geo-textiles where majority of the global trade lies but where we remained a marginal player. PLI scheme seeks to redress the imbalance'.

 

'Speciality steel is another area with low domestic demand and no price competitiveness where PLI scheme has been brought in. Food processing and drone manufacturing are other sectors where PLI has been brought in'.

 

For the first time, the Government has come out with a scheme for semi-conductor sector alone, providing Rs. 76,000 crore PLI support to attract domestic manufacturing, stated the Minister.

 

PM Gati Shakti

 

Highlighting importance of the innovative initiative called PM Gati Shakti, Shri Goyal said, 'It will help India develop infrastructure in a much more thoughtful, organized & intelligent manner.  It will also help better monitoring and achieve faster rollout of infrastructure at stated costs, helping bring down logistics costs'.  He urged the media to study and demystify this scheme for the common man.

 

FE CFO Awards

 

Shri Goyal handed over the FE CFO Lifetime Achievement Award 2022 to JSW Group’s CFO and Joint MD Shri Seshagiri Rao. He also handed the awards to twenty eight winners from industry across three categories.

 

The Editor of The Financial Express Shri Shyamal Majumdar, Executive Director of Indian Express Shri Anant Goenka and Chairman and MD, Hindustan Unilever Limited Shri Sanjiv Mehta and chief financial officers and industry leaders were present on the occasion. 

On Thursday 17 March 2022, the Republic of India and the United Kingdom concluded the second round of talks for an India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA). 

 

A delegation of Indian officials undertook technical talks in London. The negotiations were conducted in a hybrid fashion, with some negotiators in a dedicated UK negotiations facility, and others attending virtually. 

 

For this round of negotiations, draft treaty text was shared and discussed across most chapters that will make up the agreement.  Technical experts from both sides came together for discussions in 64 separate sessions covering 26 policy areas.

 

The third round of negotiations is due to be hosted by India in April 2022.