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  01 MAIN
   
   
  02 NEWSMAKERS
   
   
  03 INVESTMENT UPDATE
   
   
  04 TRADE & ECONOMY
   
   
  05 POLICY
   
   
 

06 TECHNOLOGY
   
   
  07 TRAVEL
   
   
  08 CALENDAR
   

   
  HIGHLIGHTS
   
 

India celebrates 150 Year of "First war of Independence
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  Arunachal Pradesh: Mysterious Magical
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04. TRADE AND ECONOMY
INDIA’S FOREIGN TRADE DATA UPDATE

According to the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics (DGCI&S),  
The cumulative value of India’s exports for the period April-March, 2007 was US $ 124629.48 million ($ 124.6 billion) or Rs.563800.06 Crore as against US $ 100606.92 million  ($ 100.6 billion) or Rs.445657.97 Crore during the same period last year, indicating a growth of 23.88%, according to the provisional data for merchandise exports available from Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics (DGCI&S). 

  Exports during the month of March 2007 were valued at US $ 12583.58 million ($ 12.5 billion) or Rs.55400.45 crore  compared with US $ 10906.21 million ($ 10.9 billion) or Rs.48511.93 Crore in March, 2006.  

The cumulative value of India’s imports during April-March, 2007 was US $ 181368.26 million ($ 181.3 billion) or Rs.820568.13 Crore which was higher than imports at US $ 140237.65 million ($ 140.2 billion) or Rs.620826.68 Crore during April-March, 2006. Imports during the month of March, 2007 were valued at US $ 16382.94 million (Rs.72127.53 crore) compared with US $ 13811.65 million (Rs.61435.58 Crore) in March, 2006.  

Crude Oil imports were valued at US $ 4597.64 million in March, 2007 compared with US $ 4202.92 million in the corresponding period last year thus registering a growth of 9.39%. Crude Oil imports during April-March, 2007 were valued at US $ 57271.10 million which was 30.31% higher than Crude oil imports of US $ 43951.27 million in the corresponding period last year. 

Non-oil imports were estimated at US $ 11785.30 million during March, 2007 which was 16.55% higher than growth on non-oil imports of US $ 10111.47 million in March, 2006. Non-oil imports during April-March, 2007 were valued at US $ 124097.15 million which was 24.74% higher than the level of such imports valued at US $ 99481.88 million in April- March, 2006.

The trade deficit for April-March, 2007 was estimated at US $ 56738.77 million which was higher than the deficit of US $ 39630.72 million during April- March, 2006.

TRADE BY EXPORT-ORIENTED INDUSTRIAL UNITS

Total foreign exchange earned by the Export Oriented Units (EOUs) during the year 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 (April-December) were to the extent of approximately US $ 8700 million, US $ 11200 Million and US $ 8100 Million (provisional) respectively. The share of EOUs in the total exports of the country was about 10.45%, 10.84% and 9.07% during the year 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 (April-December) respectively.

Units under export oriented scheme are eligible for fiscal concessions which include duty free import, domestic procurement and reimbursement of Central Sales Tax (CST) on capital goods, raw materials, consumables for their production activities and corporate tax exemption on export income for a period of 10 years.

This was stated by the Minister of State for Commerce, Shri Jairam Ramesh, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha

INDIA’S SHARE IN WORLD TRADE GOES UP SIGNIFICANTLY

India’s share in world trade has gone up significantly since 2004.   According to the latest information published in the World Trade Statistics by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), India’s share in total world trade (which includes trade in both merchandise and services sector) has gone up from 1.1% in 2004 -- i.e., the initial year of the Foreign Trade Policy (2004-09) – to 1.5% in 2006.   “Based on the current rates of growth of merchandise and services trade, it is expected that India’s share in world trade covering merchandise plus service sector trade may well double from the level of 2004 to cross 2% mark in 2009”, Shri Kamal Nath, Minister of Commerce & Industry, has said.

INDIA’S SHARE IN WORLD TRADE GOES UP SIGNIFICANTLY

The United States of America (USA) has allowed the import of Indian mangoes irradiated at 400 Gy dose to mitigate mango stone weevil. The irradiation facility was approved on April 26, 2007 by United States-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (US-APHIS). The first consignment of mangoes was dispatched to the United States on April 27, 2007. There was accordingly no export of mangoes to USA in last 3 financial years.

ECONOMY GROWS AT 9.4%

Indian economy grew by 9.4 per cent in 2006-07 against 9 per cent in the previous year as robust growth in manufacturing and services sector more than made up for a slowdown in agriculture and construction sector. However, gross domestic product growth slowed down to 9.1 per cent in the fourth quarter (Jan-March) of 2006-07 against 10 per cent in the same quarter of the previous fiscal, pulled down by slow agriculture, construction, financial and social services growth. GDP growth during the fourth quarter was; however, higher sequentially as it was 8.7 per cent in the previous quarter of 2006-07. Manufacturing grew by 12.3 per cent in 2006-07 against 9.1 per cent in the previous year, while trade, hotels, transport and communication grew by 13 per cent against 10.4 per cent. Agriculture and allied sector's growth, however, slowed down to 2.7 per cent against six per cent and construction to 10.7 per cent against 14.2 per cent.

GRADING OF IPOS MANDATORY

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has made grading of all Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) mandatory for which draft documents are filed with it after April 30. "It shall be mandatory to obtain grading from at least one credit rating agency. The issuer shall be required to disclose all the grades obtained by it for its IPO in the prospectus, abridged prospectus, issue advertisements and all other places where the issuer is advertising for the IPO,'' SEBI said in a notification to all registered merchant bankers and stock exchanges.
 


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