India’s industrial production growth accelerated to 5 per cent in January 2025, driven by a rebound in manufacturing activity, according to official data released on March 12, 2025. The government has also revised the December 2024 industrial output figure to 3.5 per cent from the provisional estimate of 3.2 per cent released in the previous month, an official statement said. The IIP growth in November 2024 was 5 per cent. The pace of factory output growth stood at 5 per cent in January 2025.
Source: The Financial Express
Developments in the first three quarters were in line with the WTO's trade forecast which predicted trade volume growth of 2.7% for the whole of 2024.
Increased trade policy uncertainty and prospects of new tariffs could weigh on global trade in the medium term, even though for the first few months of 2025 it is expected to be steady, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said on March 12, 2025. However, it hasn’t made any revision of its forecast of growth in global merchandse trade volume for 2025, from 3% seen in last October.
Source: The Financial Express
India and the US are expected to have smooth trade negotiations after US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a productive meeting during Modi’s visit to the White House last month, Stephen A Schwarzman, chairman, chief executive officer, and co-founder of one of the world’s largest alternative investment firms, Blackstone Group, said in Mumbai on March 12, 2025.
Source: The Business Standard
The Prime Minister of Mauritius, Dr. the Honourable Navinchandra Ramgoolam, GCSK, FRCP and the Prime Minister of India His Excellency Shri Narendra Modi had comprehensive and productive discussions on the entire gamut of bilateral relations between Mauritius and India during the latter’s State Visit to Mauritius from 11 to 12 March 2025.
During the bilateral meeting held on 11 March 2025, the two leaders reaffirmed that Mauritius and India enjoy a special and unique relationship that is unparalleled, given the shared bonds of history, language, culture, heritage, kinship, and values. They further acknowledged that Mauritius-India ties, anchored in people-to-people and cultural exchanges, have grown from strength to strength in the last several decades into a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership that cuts across various domains and benefits the two countries, their people and the wider Indian Ocean Region.
Source: PIB
In order to promote growth and development of the textile sector including exports, the Government is implementing various schemes/initiatives including Scheme for Integrated Textile Park (SITP), Integrated Processing Development Scheme (IPDS), Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme, National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM), SAMARTH – Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector ATUFS, Silk Samagra-2, National Handloom Development Program (NHDP) and National Handicraft Development Program (NHDP).
With a view to develop integrated large scale and modern industrial infrastructure facility for entire value-chain of the textile industry, the Government has approved setting up of 7 (Seven) PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) Parks in Greenfield/Brownfield sites with scheme outlay of Rs. 4,445 crore for the period 2021-22 to 2027-28.
This information was provided by UNION MINISTER OF TEXTILES, SHRI GIRIRAJ SINGH in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
Source: PIB
German exports were down by 2.5 per cent month on month (MoM) and imports were up by 1.2 per cent MoM on a calendar- and seasonally-adjusted basis in January this year, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).
Exports decreased by 0.1 per cent year on year (YoY) and imports rose by 8.7 per cent YoY in the month, provisional data show.
After calendar and seasonal adjustment, Germany exported goods worth €129.2 billion and imported goods worth €113.1 billion in January 2025.
The foreign trade balance thus showed a surplus of €16 billion in the month. The calendar- and seasonally-adjusted surplus stood at €20.7 billion in December 2024. In January 2024, the surplus was €25.3 billion.
Source: Fibre2fashion
Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) director Abubakar Dantsoho recently said the country aims at turning itself into a maritime logistics hub for sustainable port services in Africa, particularly under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.
As the AfCFTA sought to collapse all trade barriers within the continent, it was viewed by many as a threat to Nigerian ports, he told an event in Lagos focused on the maritime and logistics sector organised by the Nigerian British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC).
However, he said a seaport should improve its competitive strategy to stay ahead of its rivals to maintain its market position.
Source: Fibre2fashion
