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The Hindu January 05, 2020 Author:  D. Ravi Kanth Is the World Trade Organization dying? Why does America disregard the authority of the Appellate Body? The story so far:  Even as the trade war between China and the United States shows no signs of ending, Washington has paralysed the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body, which acts as a supreme court for international trade. In December 2019, the U.S. chose to spike the Appellate Body by starving funds for its functioning. It also stalled the selection process for filling six vacancies at the Appellate Body. Consequently, the Appellate Body is left with only one member, who will not be able to deliver any rulings on pending trade disputes — a minimum of three members is required to adjudicate any dispute. What is the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body and why is it in the news? Global trade disputes are complex and difficult to resolve. For proper enforcement of trade rules, a binding, two-stage disp...

The Hindu January 03, 2020 Amid global uncertainties and falling imports, the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council is looking to tap new markets, while making further inroads in the US as the Government there levies a more punitive duty on jewellery imports from China. India’s exports of gems and jewellery are largely concentrated in the US, the UAE and Hong Kong, which account for about 80 per cent of the total exports. Under a new strategy chalked out for the cut and polished diamond industry, the GJEPC will focus on Russia, Brazil, the UK, Vietnam, Singapore, France, Italy and Germany, and for gold jewellery on Qatar, Australia and Thailand. Besides, it is exploring the UAE, the UK, Germany and Singapore for coloured gem stones and Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and South Africa for export of imitation jewellery. Impact of US-China trade war Colin Shah, Vice-Chairman, GJEPC, said the trade war between the US and China has challenged the concept of globalis...

The Hindu January 02, 2020 A large number of retail clients and brokers are yet to gear up for SEBI’s new margin norms that came into effect from January 1, with regard to the cash segment. A representation made by brokers to SEBI has highlighted several practical problems in immediately adjusting to SEBI’s circular. According to a recent circular, even selling of shares would require clients to deposit prior margin with the broker, which was not the case so far. The regulator changed a 14-year-old practice of buying and selling of shares for a large number of retail players in India’s market. The circular was issued by SEBI on November 20, 2019. Brokers are calling up their clients and asking them to shift their demat accounts to the brokerage or be ready to deposit initial margin money to avail any kind of buying or selling limit. If a client has a demat and trading account with the same broker, margin for selling of the shares may not be required. Data from depositor...

The Hindu January 05, 2020 A number of trusts set up in overseas tax havens using a complex maze of entities have come under the scanner of Indian and Swiss authorities for suspected tax evasion by parking of illicit funds in Switzerland-based banks, as per notices issued to those entities. In addition, several individuals who are suspected to have moved abroad after evading taxes back in India are also being probed and their banking details are in the process of being shared by the Swiss authorities with their Indian counterparts. As per the notices published in Switzerland’s federal gazette over the past one month, these individuals, including some businessmen, as also trusts based in Cayman Islands and companies have been asked to appoint their nominees in case they want to appeal against sharing of their banking details with India. Trusts, especially those set up in jurisdictions like Cayman Islands, Panama and British Virgin Islands, have often been seen as routes...

The Hindu January 05, 2020 The government on Sunday said eight states, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Karnataka, have finalised action plan for agriculture export policy which aims to double such exports. “The Agri Export Policy was announced last year with an objective of doubling the export and ensuring doubling of farmers’ income...Many states have nominated nodal agency and nodal officer. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Punjab and Karnataka have finalised the State Action Plan and other states are at different stages of finalisation of the action plan,” the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement. The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has been adopting a focused approach for ensuring greater involvement of the state governments for effective implementation of Agri Export Policy (AEP). Throughout the year APEDA held a series of meetings with state gov...

The Indian Express January 06, 2020 The Revenue Department has asked the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) to make the system of accrediting exporters with ‘star’ tag more robust as such exporters enjoy many facilities, including reduced customs inspections. The department based its advice on preliminary findings that some ‘star’ exporters were fraudulently availing IGST refunds. “There are instances where an exporter with over Rs 50 crore of exports of readymade garments has taken refund of Rs 3.9 crore while the entity’s total GST payment in cash was a mere Rs 1,650. In another case, tax payments in cash were Rs 51,201 while the exporter obtained refund of Rs 9.59 crore. It is believed that such cases involve fake invoicing and fraudulent tax credits, which have been encashed through the facility of IGST refunds,” an official said. The department further said there was a strong case for DGFT to continuously (or annually) seek a compliance and verification report fr...

The Indian Express January 06, 2020 The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Sunday accorded sanction to the appointment of Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar, a retired IPS officer, as Advisor to Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor G C Murmu. The advisor, according to the communication from the MHA, shall assist the Lieutenant Governor in the effective discharge of his functions. The appointment will be effective from the date from which he assumes charge, it added. Bhatnagar will be Murmu’s third advisor, the other two being K K Sharma and Farooq Khan. While Sharma is a former IAS officer who held various positions including Chief Secretary of Delhi and Goa, besides Secretary in the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Khan is a retired IPS officer who served Jammu and Kashmir Police in various capacities, and later served as the administrator of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep. Reference: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/mha-sanctions-third-advisor-to-jk-lt-governor...

The Indian Express January 05, 2020 Fuelled by strong foreign direct investment, foreign portfolio investment and relatively stable global crude oil prices in calendar year 2019, foreign exchange reserves in the country shot up by 16.3 per cent, or $64 billion, to close the year at $457.46 billion. However, a sudden spike in global crude oil prices on Friday, following the growing geopolitical tension between the US and Iran, poses a potential threat in the near term to Indian currency, inflow of funds to India and India’s import bill. According to the weekly data released by the Reserve Bank of India, the forex reserves rose by $2.56 billion in the week ended December 27, 2019. The reserves have grown sharply over the last three months and it has grown week after week over the last 14 weeks, adding $28.9 billion since September 20 when the foreign exchange reserves stood at $428.57 billion. On September 20, the Finance Minister announced a cut in the corporate tax rate, a ...

The Indian Express January 05, 2020 The government in 2019 made progress in its goal towards a regime of self-regulation by the pharmaceutical industry, with decisions that signify a shift in how prices of medicines and medical devices in India may be regulated this year. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), along with the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), has been finalising a proposal to limit the trade margins of non-scheduled medicines and medical devices, which are not under price control. In the works and recommended for over a decade now, the move aims to bring down the prices of unreasonably marked up medicines and medical devices. However, different segments of the industry feel this will have a limited impact on improving affordability for various reasons. So far, non-scheduled medicines have mostly been out of the ambit of price control, save for a limit on how much their prices can be increased every year — 10 per cent. In certain extraordi...

The Indian Express January 06, 2019 Maj. Gen Qassem Soleimani  had “made the death of innocent people his sick passion, contributing to terrorist plots as far away as New Delhi and London”, President Donald Trump said after the United States had killed the Iranian commander in Baghdad early on Friday. India’s Ministry of External Affairs had reacted cautiously  to Gen Soleimani’s assassination — noting that “a senior Iranian leader has been killed by the US”, underlining that “peace, stability and security in this region is of utmost importance to India” and it was “vital that the situation does not escalate further”, and urging “restraint”. The MEA statement did not mention Gen Soleimani by name; and India is yet to react to Trump’s mention of his “terrorist plots” in New Delhi. India’s outgoing ambassador in Washington DC, Harsh Shringla, who will now take charge as foreign secretary, “paid a farewell call” on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday, but there w...

The Indian Express January 05, 2020 The  killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani  triggered protests in Shia-dominated Kargil, in Ladakh UT, and Budgam in central Kashmir, with thousands of people taking to the streets in Kargil to protest against the  US drone strike . The protest rally in Kargil was organised by the powerful Shia organisation Jamiat-e-Ulema of Kargil. Sheikh Nazirul Mehdi, head of the Islamia School, said, “The people of Kargil are angry and sad over the US attack. Qasem Soleimani had eliminated terrorism from several countries. From his killing, it is clear that the US is in league with terrorists." Anti-US protests also took place at several places in Kashmir Valley. Several hundred protesters took to the streets at Magam area of central Kashmir’s Budgam district; a similar protest rally was also taken out from the main market in Budgam. Hundreds of people also protested at Hassanabad, in Zadibal locality of Srinagar. The Shia populat...

T he Hindu  Dated: January 04, 2019 Hong Kong authorities activated a newly created serious response level Saturday as fears spread about a mysterious infectious  disease  that may have been brought back by visitors to a mainland Chinese city. Five possible cases have been reported of a viral pneumonia that has also infected at least 44 people in Wuhan, an inland city west of Shanghai and about 900 km north of  Hong Kong. The outbreak, which emerged last month, has revived memories of the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic that started in southern  China  and killed more than 700 people in the mainland, Hong Kong and elsewhere. The serious response level indicates a moderate impact on Hong Kong’s population of 7.5 million people. It is the second highest in a three-tier system that is part of a new government plan launched Saturday to respond to infectious diseases of unknown cause. The city’s health department added an additional thermal imaging ...