Mumbai: With gold imports putting pressure on the current account deficit, the Reserve Bank on Monday imposed restrictions on import of the yellow metal by banks. "To moderate the demand for gold for domestic use, it has been decided to restrict the import of gold on consignment basis by banks, only to meet the genuine needs of exporters of gold jewellery," the RBI said in a statement.
As per a data released on Monday by the government, gold and silver imports during April, 2013 jumped by 138 per cent to $7.5 billion against $3.1 billion in the year-ago period. Due to high gold imports, the country's trade deficit in April widened to $17.8 billion year on year.
Higher trade deficit in turn puts pressure on CAD, which has been described as the biggest risk to the Indian economy by the RBI. The CAD, which is difference between the outflow and inflow of foreign currency, touched a record high of 6.7 per cent in the October-December quarter on the back of rising oil and gold imports.
The RBI's decision to impose restrictions on gold imports follows recommendations of a Working Group on Gold which had suggested aligning gold import regulations with rest of the imports for creating a level playing field between gold imports and other imports. Nominated banks and agencies were permitted to import gold on loan basis, suppliers credit/buyers credit basis, consignment basis as also on unfixed price basis....
03:36 PM, May 13, 2013
New Delhi: Country's merchandise exports grew by 1.6 per cent to $24.16 billion in April this year, whereas imports increased by 10.9 per cent. Imports during the reported month stood at $41.95 billion. Exports in April 2012 stood at $23.7 billion, while imports were at $37.8 billion. Due to high imports, the trade deficit rose to $17.8 billion, Commerce Secretary SR Rao told reporters on Monday. Rao attributed the widening...
01:45 PM, May 13, 2013
New Delhi: The country's agricultural and allied product exports have increased by 11 per cent to USD 33.54 billion in the 2012-13 fiscal, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. "India's export of agricultural and allied products have increased from USD 29.8 billion in 2011-12 to USD 33.54 billion in 2012-13," Minister of State for Agriculture Tariq Anwar said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. Currently, global prices of wheat,...
04:59 PM, May 07, 2013
New Delhi: India expects total monsoon rainfall to be average in 2013, a minister said on Friday, strengthening prospects for one of the world's biggest grains producers to avoid widespread drought for a fourth straight year. India's first official forecast confirms a call by global experts last week, and points to bumper grain supplies that would swell huge current stockpiles and hold down world food prices. "Most likely this year's...
04:59 PM, Apr 26, 2013
New Delhi: India's exports during 2012-13 declined 1.76 per cent to $300.6 billion mainly on account of slowdown in the global economy, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said in New Delhi on Thursday. The declining exports have also pushed up the trade deficit during the fiscal to $190.91 billion from $183.4 billion in the previous financial year, he said while addressing a press conference to announce the annual supplement...
12:22 PM, Apr 18, 2013
Berlin: Notwithstanding severe economic sanctions slapped by the US and UN against Iran, India will continue to buy oil from "vital supplier" Iran, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said on Thursday. "We will continue to buy oil from Iran," Mathai said adding that the recent decline in oil import from Iran was due to logistics and banking problems and not because of any other reason. Mathai, who is part of the...
10:17 PM, Apr 11, 2013
Chennai: Two and three wheeler maker TVS Motor Company has reported a 8.18 per cent decline in sales in March to 1,67,583 units as against 1,82,527 units in the same month in 2012. The city-based company witnessed a fall in two-wheeler sales to 1,62,507 units from 1,80,274 units in March, 2012, TVS Motor said in a statement. Sales of two-wheelers in the domestic market also decreased to 1,43,239 units in...
12:57 PM, Apr 01, 2013
New Delhi: Government's plans to set up a fund to back local insurers providing cover for refiners processing Iranian oil after companies warned they would be forced to halt imports from the sanctions-hit nation, the federal oil secretary said on Sunday. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd and Essar Oil have said they would halt imports from Iran because of insurance problems, Vivek Rae told reporters. Europe and the United States...
05:47 PM, Mar 24, 2013
China has become the world's fifth largest exporter of major conventional arms buoyed by Pakistan's growing import from its communist ally, even as India emerged as the leading buyer of weapons, a Swedish think tank said on Monday. ...
05:46 PM, Mar 18, 2013
China has become the world's fifth-largest arms exporter, a respected Sweden-based think tank said on Monday, its highest ranking since the Cold War, with Pakistan the main recipient. ...
11:54 AM, Mar 18, 2013
India has tightened its export control norms to prevent sensitive technologies and materials falling in hands of terrorists, thus making a strong case for its membership to key multilateral export control regimes. Asserting that the new norms were more stringent than those practiced by the members of Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) and Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said these will be notified soon. ...
05:53 PM, Mar 13, 2013
India's February exports rose 4.25 per cent from a year earlier to $26.3 billion, while imports rose 2.6 per cent to $41.2 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $14.9 billion, trade ministry officials said on Monday. ...
12:55 PM, Mar 11, 2013
Iran's oil export revenues are helping Indian rice exporters to claw back some of the lucrative business lost to cross-border truckers in Pakistan as a result of Western sanctions. ...
03:43 AM, Mar 09, 2013
A CBI special court on Friday permitted the investigation agency to interrogate former Karnataka minister and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy and five other accused in the case of multi-crore iron ore exports scam from Belekeri port on the state's west coast. ...
02:34 AM, Mar 09, 2013
India's offer of an extra 5 million tonnes of wheat for export direct to private traders is at too high a price, traders said, undermining its own efforts to avoid rotting stocks and make room for the new harvest. ...
04:38 AM, Mar 08, 2013
India will do everything it can to push record volumes of wheat onto the global market to cut massive stocks, a senior farm ministry official said on Wednesday, in a move that could hit shipments of other grains using rail and congested ports. The world's No 2 wheat producer is expecting another bumper harvest to start rolling in within weeks but lacks the warehouses needed to weatherproof a grain mountain...
11:53 PM, Mar 06, 2013
India held its gold import duty unchanged in Thursday's budget, defying industry expectations that the world's biggest bullion buyer would increase rates to curb demand and rein in a record current account deficit. The government could still raise the duty if imports do not ease in response to a January hike to 6 per cent from 4 per cent. ...
06:44 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Finance Minister P Chidambaram proposed tax incentives to increase shipments of labour-intensive sectors such as leather, much to the cheer of exporters. "I look forward to the changes that will be made to the Foreign Trade Policy next month and I assure my support to measures that will be taken to boost exports of goods and services," he said in his Budget 2013-14 speech. ...
03:34 PM, Feb 28, 2013
After contracting for eight straight months, India's exports grew by a meagre 0.82 per cent in January to $25.58 billion. Exports had stood at $25.37 billion in January, 2012. ...
12:31 PM, Feb 13, 2013
Exports from India's IT outsourcing sector are expected to grow between 12 and 14 per cent in the fiscal year starting April to as much as $87 billion, according to the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), the industry lobby. ...
01:58 PM, Feb 12, 2013
