FDI of nearly $200 mn in textile sector in
Foreign direct investment (FDI) of $199 million was made in India\'s textile sector in the financial year 2013-14, government data shows. Thereafter, for the period April-May 2014, the country\'s textile sector attracted FDI worth $11.70 million, according to the textiles ministry. \"The government is implementing various schemes to ensure the maximum utilisation of FDI in textile sector like Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS), Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP), Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS), Scheme for development of Technical Textiles, and Schemes for the development of the Powerloom Sector etc.\" the ministry said in a statement in New Delhi. Signalling a positive shift in India\'s textile export, the country shipped $36.69 billion worth during 2013 from $32.88 billion in 2012 -- up 11.58 percent. The country had shipped textile, clothing and handicrafts worth $34.93 billion during April-March, 2012-13. Exports of clothing and textiles roped in foreign currency inflows of $35.42 billion during April-May, 2014-15, up 12.75 percent from $31.62 billion during 2012-13. Figures obtained from Foreign Trade Statistics of India and Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), Kolkata, the exports of clothing and textiles stood at $32.94 billion in 2011-12. Statistics from Global Trade Information Service showed that China\'s textile exports grew to $274.05 billion during 2013 from $246.12 billion during calendar 2012. European Union\'s textile exports grew to $56.11 billion from $53.057 billion and the US\'s $26.76 billion from $26.56 billion in the like period. The textile ministry said the government is helping the industry by exploring new markets by holding exhibitions in the Russian Federation, Israel, Eastern Europe, Latin American countries and other non-traditional markets.
\"The government is providing grants under market access initiative and market development assistance scheme for this purpose,\" the ministry said.
India’s textile export up 12 percent in 2013
Signalling a positive shift in India\'s textile export, the country shipped $36.69 during 2013 from $32.88 billion in 2012, up 11.58 percent. According to the Textiles Ministry, $39.31 billion worth of textile, clothing and handicrafts during 2013-14 up 12.58 percent. The country had shipped textile, clothing and handicrafts worth $34.93 billion during April-March, 2012-13. Exports of clothing and textiles roped in foreign currency inflows of $35.42 billion during April-May, 2014-15, up 12.75 percent from $31.62 billion during 2012-13. Figures obtained from Foreign Trade Statistics of India and Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), Kolkata, the exports of clothing and textiles stood at $32.94 billion in 2011-12. Statistics from Global Trade Information Service showed that China\'s textile exports grew to $274.05 billion during 2013 from $246.12 billion during calendar 2012. European Unions\' textile exports grew to $56.11 billion from $53.057 and US\'s $26.76 from $26.56 billion in the like period. The Textile Ministry said that the government is helping the industry by exploring new markets by holding exhibitions in Russian Federation, Israel, Eastern Europe, Latin American countries and other non-traditional markets. \"Government is providing grants under market access initiative and market development assistance scheme for this purpose,\" the ministry said.
Online retail category expands by 65 p.c.
With increasing number of people preferring to shop online, the retail category penetration has increased to 65 per cent and has grown to 53.4 million visitors a month, an overall growth of 15 per cent annually, according to a report. Apparel, health, home furnishings, fragrances and cosmetics are the few categories which have shown growth in the last 12 years, with apparel being the strongest with 66 per cent followed by fragrances and cosmetics at 12 per cent growth, according to a report by Assocham and com- Score, titled State of e-commerce in India. “The growth has come across all retail categories and most of them show promising transactions and conversion rates along with growth in visitors,” the report said. The report said that Flipkart group of websites (including the recently-acquired Myntra) are the most visited retail sites with over 26 million unique visitors for the month of July 2014 (excluding visitors using mobile internet and mobile apps). It was followed by Jabong (with 23.5 million unique visitors), Amazon (with 16.9 million unique visitors). It also found that the travel category has also been growing overall and the growth has come from all the sub-categories including car rentals, online travel agents, airlines as well as hotels and travel information sites. “Indian Railways is among the most visited sites in India with over 15 million unique visitors a month. MakeMy Trip, Yatra and Cleartrip individually reach over 8.9 per cent, 7.6 per cent and 3.5 per cent of total online users respectively,” it said. According to the report, age group of 15-24 years has been the fastest growing age segment online with user growth being contributed by the both male and female segments. The top 5 popular categories accessed online are social networking, portal, search, entertainment and new sites, according to the report. “e-commerce” is increasingly emerging as the fundamental sales channel for growing number of businesses. The internet user base is expanding fast and e-commerce has opened up a big window of opportunity for businesses to expand to new markets with ease and at low cost,” Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said. The report said that India has third fastest share in retail marketing adding over 7 million internet users among the BRIC nations. “India, Brazil and Russia are quite close to each other but China has been surging ahead in retail. The China continues on the growth path with over 103 retail million internet users by the end of June 2014. The Russian Federation has also surged ahead with a very high growth rate of 32 per cent,” it said. It added close to 13 million users in the retail category. Brazil is also growing in double digits at 13 per cent and added 6 million unique visitors in the last year.
India Inc. welcomes Modi\'s I-Day speech
India Inc. welcomed the maiden speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of Independence Day in which he presented a vision to transform India into a global manufacturing hub. Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort, Modi said: \"I tell the world, Make in India! Sell anywhere but manufacture here. We have the skill and talent.\" He said it should be every Indian\'s dream to see \"Made in India\" products around the world -- environment-friendly and with zero defects. Industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) welcomed the prime minister\'s speech citing high importance attached to manufacturing and investment in it. \"As PM said, manufacturing is necessary for employment and for trade expansion. Come, make in India - what an inspiring statement! CII is sure these words will be welcomed by foreign investors,\" Chandrajit Banerjee, director general, CII said. Prime Minister Modi, 63, who took charge May 26, elaborated in his hour-long speech, which he delivered extempore, that: \"electricals, chemicals, automobiles, agro value-addition, pharma, paper, satellites and submarines - all can be made in India.\" CII said it has been working with the government on a facilitative investment climate and improving ease of doing business to promote the manufacturing sector. \"Some of the areas to be addressed for this would be taxation, including introduction of the GST, land acquisition, faster approvals, trade policy,\" Banerjee said. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) also welcomed the prime minister\' speech which, it said, gave clear signals to investors - both domestic and global. \"We are now confident that the \'Make in India\' and \'Made in India\' vision will be supported by requisite policy and implementation measures for enhancing the competitiveness of our manufacturing sector,\" said Sidharth Birla, president, FICCI. \"This is critical if we have to create a million jobs each month for the next ten years and ensure a sustainable balance of payments,\" said Birla. FICCI further said that the new structure that replaces Planning Commission will provide a concrete direction towards broad-based development and its monitoring and that good governance would be greatly enhanced by e-governance and digitisation. \"This is an absolute imperative for connecting the remotest of villages and sharing the fruits of growth with people in these regions. Digitization will also help realize the vision of financial inclusion and skill development,\" Birla said. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) also welcomed the prime minister\'s speech specifically stating that it illustrated commitment to reach and connect to rural India through mobile governance. “The initiative will empower our rural population as they will come closer to the governance machinery. This, combined with a big initiative of financial inclusion through bank accounts and debit cards, will go a long way in bringing millions of people in the mainstream of economic development,” said Rana Kapoor, President, Assocham. Kapoor added that the announcement to completely revamp the Planning Commission and make it relevant to the present-day challenges of governance, direction, and thinking is a refreshing idea.
New Indian navigation technology to be offered to partner countries
The Indian government plans to offer its newly-developed Gagan (GPS-aided geo augmented navigation) system to Southeast Asian countries to generate financial resources and showcase the country\'s next generation navigation and surveillance technologies. Gagan is a satellite-based augmentation system which helps aircraft navigates by GPS, hitherto seen in passenger cars. It offers free enhanced satellite navigation signals over India that is 10 times more precise than GPS. The advanced features of the system provide better accuracy, integrity and continuity of navigation services for various applications in the civil aviation sector by using data from satellites rather than ground-based radar tracking systems. \"Currently AAI is working on show casing the technology to interested parties. The government is also in favour of sharing the new technology that can also be used in non-aviation sectors,\" a senior official of the Airports Authority of India told IANS at its Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan headquarters here. \"The possible users might come from the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations). There are also plans to provide global navigation services by clubbing Gagan\'s capabilities with that of the US Global Positioning System (GPS), Russian GLONASS, European Galileo, Chinese Compass, Japanese Quasi Zenith Satellite System.\" The system can also provide useful information in various non-aviation fields like vehicle tracking, intelligent highway systems, train tracking, disaster management, search and rescue operations, surveying land management through terrestrial mapping and marine and farming applications. Minister of State for Civil Aviation G.M. Siddeshwara recently informed parliament that \"to promote the usage of Gangan in the non-aviation sector, AAI and the Indian Space Research Organisation have organised two user meets\". The space segment of the system comprises of two satellites (GSAT8 and GSAT 10) provided by ISRO for Rs.774 crore ($127 million). The systems is controlled from the Indian Master Control Centre in Bangalore and has 15 reference stations in India. Other stakeholders in the system have also welcomed the move by AAI to share the next generation technology. \"As part of our long-standing involvement in the US-India Aviation Cooperation Program (ACP), we are currently identifying new ways to collaborate with our Indian and US government partners in innovative ways to further support India in expanding its Gagan system, extending its coverage over greater areas, possibly in the neighbouring region,\" said Nikhil Khanna, country director and senior executive - India for electronics major Raytheon. \"We believe this supports India\'s economic and foreign policy objectives, while showcasing India as an aviation technology leader in the ASEAN region. It also provides potential revenue generation opportunities for the government of India,\" he added. Recently, the importance of such a system was realized when Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 with 239 passengers and crew on board mysteriously vanished about an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur early March 8. The Boeing 777-200ER was initially presumed to have crashed off the Vietnamese coast in the South China Sea and the search area was later widened off the Australian coast. The wreckage is yet to be located. A senior official with the communications, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) arm of the AAI told IANS that satellite based location systems like Gagan can be used in providing an aircraft\'s location to ground-based tracking units. \"Gagan\'s job is to provide GPS-based location of the aircraft to pilots, thereby saving fuel. The system can also provide real-time satellite-based location to ground handlers,\" the CNS official said. \"Gagan can work in various phases of the aircraft\'s flight from takeoff, cruising and landing. This system then can be used to pinpoint the exact location of the aircraft even if a crash has occurred.\" \"This can be beneficial in averting such incidents (like MH 370) in the future,\" the official added.
DISCLAIMER
This newsletter is compilation of news articles from various business-e-newspapers and in no way is an endorsement or reflection of Embassy of India, Berne views.
