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Business Line G. Chandrashekhar In an inexplicable departure from what should have been obvious and rational, the Union Finance Ministry has created an ‘inverted duty’ structure for some of the imported raw materials for the country’s personal care industry. Palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) and crude palm stearin (CPS) are raw materials used in the manufacture of toilet soaps, soap noodles, shampoo and other personal care products. They are imported for producing oleochemicals such as fatty acids and fatty alcohols. Customs duty Both PFAD and CPS were allowed at nil rate of customs duty under the ‘actual user’ condition in June 2017, providing a boost to the domestic personal care and oleochemicals industry. The logic of the ‘actual user’ condition was to ensure prevention of excessive import and leakage of revenue. However, on July 5, in the Union Budget 2019-20, the Finance Minister imposed a 7.5 per cent customs duty on their import, the rational...

The Indian Express Aashish Aryan Telecom companies and equipment makers are scheduled to meet Department of Telecom (DoT) officials Tuesday to discuss terms of the trial, government sources said. The discussion will also include circles and population areas that the trials could cover. The government has decided to give all telecom operators and equipment manufacturers, including Chinese giant Huawei , clearance to start trials for 5G services in the country. Speaking at an event Monday, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “We have taken the decision to give 5G spectrum for trial to all the players. The in-principle decision has been taken.” Later, asked specifically on the sidelines of the event whether Huawei would be allowed to take part in the trials, the Minister said: “Yes, all have been allowed.” The decision to permit Huawei to participate in the trials assumes significance in the face of global scrutiny that the telecom equipment maker faces for secur...

The Indian Express Prabha Raghavan In the words of the Commerce Ministry, Indian industry and services will be competitive and benefit from access to “large developed markets”. India’s existing and stalled bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) slowly garnered more attention from the government this year, even as it was trying to conclude seven year-long negotiations to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)- the world’s “largest” regional trade pact. Despite the country now having backed out of the mega trade deal, its renewed interest on its other trade pacts, several of which have failed to deliver the results expected, has set the tone for its focus in the coming year. In the words of the Commerce Ministry, Indian industry and services will be competitive and benefit from access to “large developed markets”. This includes forging stronger economic ties with regions like the EU, with which FTA talks were initiated in 2007 but fell through. “...

The Indian Express Government think tank NITI Aayog plans to conduct a financing exercise with states that have been “historically backward” in development to ensure that India can achieve its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on time. “There is consensus on all levels that unless these States make significant progress, India will find it challenging to achieve its SDG targets on time. NITI Aayog has started working closely with these States, enabling them in establishing SDG monitoring systems and supporting them in forging partnerships for building institutions, capacity, knowledge and convergence,” stated the body in its SDG India Index 2019 report.  Bihar, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh and Assam were among the worst performers in terms of their progress towards achieving these SDGs, shows the report. NITI Aayog has already begun estimating the financial cost of achieving “key” SDGs in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund, sta...

The Express Tribune Zulfiqar Baig A popular social networking site has blocked live news streaming by Pakistan’s national broadcaster over posts about Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) which has been under siege since August 5, 2019 after the Narendra Modi government unconstitutionally stripped the disputed region of its special status. Radio Pakistan accused Facebook of blocking live news bulletins by the Pakistan Broadcast Corporation (PBC) over its social media activity on “continued atrocities, curfew and military lockdown” in IOK.   In a statement, the national broadcaster showed screenshots of Facebook’s messages on some of the posts that it said went against standards on “dangerous individuals and organisations”. According to officials, Facebook informed Radio Pakistan on Sunday of suspending its live news streaming for two months and with a warning that if the PBC did not abide by the social media giant’s policy, the provision of...