India and UK have decided to resume talks on a proposed trade agreement, Commerce and Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said on 24th February 2025, adding that the countries will look to speed up negotiations.
Furthermore, the commerce minister announced that immigration was not part of any discussions. "India has much more flexibility to cut tariffs on UK," said Piyush Goyal. Goyal was speaking at a joint press conference with Britain's Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, who is in India to resume talks which were halted last year ahead of general elections in India.
Source: The Economic Times
India, the world's third largest oil consuming and importing nation, bought crude oil worth 49 billion euros from Russia in the third year of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a global think tank said. India, which has traditionally sourced its oil from the Middle East, began importing a large volume of oil from Russia soon after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This is primarily because Russian oil was available at a significant discount to other international benchmarks due to western sanctions and some European countries shunning purchase This led to India's imports of Russian oil seeing a dramatic rise, growing from less than 1 per cent of its total crude oil imports to a staggering 40 per cent in a short period. "Russia's stronghold over new markets has solidified in the third year of the invasion. The three biggest buyers, China (EUR 78 billion), India (EUR 49 billion) and Turkey (EUR 34 billion) were responsible for 74 per cent of Russia's total revenues from fossil fuels in the third year of the invasion," Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air said in its latest report.
Source: The Economic Times
A decision on revenue deficit grants to states hasn't been made yet, says Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya. The commission will finalize this after visiting all states. Some states have proposed changes to the funds' vertical and horizontal devolution criteria, including Mizoram. Key suggestions include revising weightage on income distance, population, and introducing new criteria.
Source: The Economic Times
Companies take forward premium rates into consideration while making their decision on hedging their foreign exchange risks. The one-year dollar/rupee forward premium plunged on 24th February 2025 and shorter-term India government bond yields fell, after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a forex exchange swap to shore up the rupee liquidity.
Source: Business Standard
In a bid to boost economic ties between Egypt and Bahrain, Egypt’s minister of investment and foreign trade, Hassan El-Khatib, recently attended the Egyptian-Bahraini joint governmental committee meetings for trade, economic, scientific, and technological cooperation in Bahrain. El-Khatib met with Bahraini minister of industry and commerce, Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, and other officials from Bahrain.
He reviewed the investment opportunities in Egypt, along with the current measures and procedures implemented by the government in trade and investment policies to make it easier for investors and streamline foreign trade in the country.
Source: Fibre2fashion
The Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) has expressed serious concerns regarding the influx of yarn and fabric imports in the country, which they claim threaten the local textile industry. During a press conference BTMA President Showkat Aziz Russell highlighted the negative impact of these imports on local mills, attributing the situation to competitive pricing that undermines local production costs.
Russell stated that the BTMA has formally requested the Government to halt imports of yarn through land ports until the capacity of these ports is improved. He emphasised that such measures are necessary to prevent false declarations associated with yarn imports, which he believes are contributing to the current challenges faced by the local textile sector.
Source: Apparel Resource
Vietnam recently released 42 criteria for evaluating the efficiency of foreign direct investment (FDI). The decision by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh includes 29 economic, eight social and five environmental criteria that assess the impact of FDI on economic development, considering factors like capital, growth, operational performance, technology, tax contributions, spillover effects and links to domestic enterprises.
Source: Fibre2fashion
