SHANGHAI ,08,2022: U.S.-based businesses reported more pessimism about operating in China due to bilateral tensions, ongoing COVID-19 curbs, regulatory restrictions and a slowing economy, a survey from the American Chamber of Commerce showed on Tuesday.
Optimism toward domestic market growth dropped 11 percentage points from the previous year, according to the Chamber’s report, based on responses from more than 300 member companies.
Businesses reported rising tensions between the U.S. and China as the top business challenge, followed by inconsistent or unclear laws.
Companies also reported difficulties in hiring both foreign and local talent.
Strict COVID-19 protocols in China make it difficult for overseas hires to begin working in China.
Politics have also impeded domestic hiring.
Slowing economic growth has also proven a challenge both for Beijing and U.S. companies in China.
According to the survey released on Tuesday, 59% of respondents anticipate 2021 profits will be up from 2020. But that figure remains lower than pre-COVID levels.
Despite the dour forecast and challenges, the survey revealed that most companies planned to stay, with two-thirds of them planning to increase investment in China in 2022.
Feb 02,2022:The Kerala government will set up India’s first Graphene Innovation Centre, a joint project of Digital University Kerala and Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET) with Tata Steel Limited as the industry partner, informed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday.
The Centre will be called as India Innovation Centre for Graphene (IICG) in Ernakulam.
Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan said, “Kerala opens its doors to develop India’s first Graphene Innovation Centre (IICG), a joint project of @dukerala & @cmetindia, with @TataSteelLtd as the main industry partner. This world-class facility will catalyse India’s innovations in cutting-edge graphene-based technology.”
The cost of the project is Rs 86.41, of which Rs 49.18 crore will be funded by the Central government and Rs 11.48 crore by business partners, said CM Vijayan in a Facebook post.
New Delhi , January 6,2022: India is in consultation with the Sri Lankan government for the modernisation of the Trincomalee oil tank farm as energy security is an important area of New Delhi’s bilateral cooperation, said the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday.
“We have seen reports that the Sri Lankan Cabinet has approved the development of the Trincomalee oil tank farm as you know energy security is an important area of our bilateral cooperation with Sri Lanka,” said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Thursday during a press briefing.
“We are in consultation with the government of Sri Lanka for the modernisation of the Trincomalee oil tank farm,” he added, emphasising that “this will allow for the storage of fuel and will augment bilateral energy security”.
With regard to Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s last month’s visit to India, Bagchi said that the Minister briefed the Indian side about the economic situation of the country and his government’s approach in addressing these challenges.
Jan 02,202:The United States has cut Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea out of a duty-free trade programme over alleged human rights violations and recent coups.
In a statement on Saturday, the US Trade Representative (USTR) said it terminated the three countries from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) “due to actions taken by each of their governments in violation of the AGOA Statute”.
It said the US was deeply concerned “by the gross violations of internationally recognised human rights being perpetrated by the government of Ethiopia and other parties amid the widening conflict in northern Ethiopia”, as well as by “the unconstitutional change in governments in both Guinea and Mali”.
There was no immediate comment from the Washington embassies of the three African countries.
The AGOA trade legislation provides sub-Saharan African nations with duty-free access to the US if they meet certain eligibility requirements, such as eliminating barriers to US trade and investment and making progress towards political pluralism.
In 2020, 38 countries were eligible for AGOA.
In its Saturday statement, the USTR said Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea may still rejoin the pact if they met the statute’s provisions.
New Delhi, Dec 29,2021: India on Wednesday welcomed Egypt as the fourth new member of the BRICS New Development Bank family.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, in a tweet said: “India welcomes Egypt as the fourth new member of #BRICS #NewDevelopmentBank family. Bangladesh, UAE & Uruguay joined in Sep 2021.
“Membership expansion enables @NDB_int to position itself as a premier development institution for emerging economies.”
On Wednesday, the New Development Bank (NDB) – established by BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in 2015 – admitted Egypt as a new member.
NDB’s Board of Governors authorised the Bank to conduct formal negotiations with prospective members in late 2020. After a round of successful negotiations, NDB started expanding its membership in September 2021 with the admission of Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Uruguay.
Egypt is the fourth new member admitted into NDB, further expanding the Bank’s global outreach, said the Shanghai-headquartered NDB in a statement.
Egypt will have in NDB a new platform to foster cooperation in infrastructure and sustainable development with BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries.
New Delhi, Dec 16,2021: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved Rs 76,000 crore scheme for developing semiconductors and display manufacturing ecosystem in the country.
The decision has come amid global shortage of chips affecting the manufacturing sector. The Indian car industry has been among the worst-affected by the chip shortage and have been grappling with the challenge of meeting the demand.
The mega semi-conductor project is expected to deepen India’s integration with global value chain and have multiplier effect across various sectors.
As per the plan, a minimum of 20 chip-manufacturing units would be set up in the next 2 years.
Elaborating on the plan to make India a global chip manufacturing hub, Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the government has also envisaged to create a talent pool of highly-qualified engineers over the coming years.
Accordingly, a chips to start-ups (C2S) plan has been approved.
A design-linked incentives (DLI) has been approved by the government under which 50% of the design related expenditure would be borne by the Government of India.
The Programme for Development of Semiconductors and Display Manufacturing Ecosystem is expected to significantly contribute to achieving US$ 1 trillion digital economy and a US$ 5 trillion GDP by 2025.
Vaishnaw said that in the last seven years the electronics manufacturing industry in the country has reached US$ 75 billion.
“…and the rate at which we are moving we would reach the figure of US$ 300 billion in the next six years,” he said.
In a move to further boost fintech sector, the Cabinet also cleared an incentive scheme for promotion of RuPay Debit Cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions.
Mumbai, Dec 15,2021: In an attempt to “revolutionize” the movie industry, NFT Community Arabian Camels and Swapp Protocol on Wednesday launched the “Antara Movie NFT,” which allows buyers to hold up to 50 percent Intellectual Property rights to “Antara”, a USS50 million feature film based on the life of Arabian knight Antarah Ibn Shaddad.
Arabian Camels will partner with Swapp Protocol to produce the world’s first decentralized feature film production NFTs with DeFi capabilities. The idea behind partnering with Swapp Protocol is to enable the use of their decentralized finance products to eliminate the monetary risk associated with movie funding.
“My vision was to create a system to produce films that normally cost more than USD50M, completely risk-free,” said Alexander Amaratei, the Producer of Antara. “In addition to eliminating funding risks, this system would allow films to be owned by the fans and the NFT owners. This feat would not have been possible without Swapp’s innovative NFT Farming capabilities and blockchain/cryptocurrency knowledge and platforms.”
Washington [US], December 9,2021: The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill by a vote of 428 to 1 banning imports from China’s Xinjiang made with forced labour and threatening sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for persecuting the minority community.
The bill come days after the US announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics over rights abuses in Xinjiang.
The bill, passed on Wednesday, intends to ensure that “goods made with forced labour in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China do not enter the US market.”
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, requires corporations to prove with “clear and convincing evidence” that imports from Xinjiang are not made with forced labour, American news website Axios reported.
The bill must now pass the Senate and be signed by US President for it to take effect.
The legislation targets “goods, wares, articles, and merchandise imported directly from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region or made by Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tibetans, or members of other persecuted groups in China.”
The bill requires the American president to impose sanctions on officials responsible for persecuting minorities and facilitating the use of involuntary labour.
The legislative text highlights the poor conditions of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and members of other Muslim minority groups in a system of extrajudicial mass internment camps.
The prisoners are forced to produce “textiles, electronics, food products, shoes, tea, and handicrafts” at a network of government-subsidized factories in Xinjiang and elsewhere in China, according to legislation.
Back in July, the Senate passed its version of the bill with a unanimous vote.
Earlier this year, US President Joe Biden had warned businesses who are involved in Xinjiang to run a “high risk” that they are in conflict with US laws on forced labour.
New Delhi, Nov 21,2021: As Centre gears up to start consultation with industry for Union Budget, industry body PHDCCI has proposed to keep personal income tax, corporate tax and peak GST rate all at 15% in order to boost demand and investment in the country.
Speaking to UNI, PHDCCI President Pradeep Multani said that personal income tax should be cut to 15% from the peak rate of 35% now in order to increase disposable income of the people which would lead to push demand curve.
“As regards corporate tax, our view is that whether it is proprietorship, LLPs (limited liability partnerships) and corporates, whether old or new, there should be one uniform corporate tax of 15% across the board,” Multani said.
Offering mega concession to the industry, the central government had in September 2019 slashed corporate tax rates to 22% for domestic companies and 15% for new domestic manufacturing companies besides other fiscal reliefs. The total annual revenue foregone for the reduction in corporate tax rate and other relief were estimated at Rs 1,45,000 crore.
PHDCCI Chief said that personal income tax is currently very high in the country because the base is low which means fewer people are paying taxes.
“It is higher than almost all the advanced and emerging economies. But still our tax-to-GDP ratio is only 17%. In peer economies like China, Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia the average tax-to-GDP ratio is 22%,” he said attributing the low tax-GDP ratio in India to tax evasion.
“The tax evasion is high because of higher tax rates,” he noted.
Multani further said that the peak GST rate should not be more than 15% as the current highest slab of 28% tempts people to evade tax.
“If someone is buying a product worth Rs 100,000 and the peak GST rate of 28% is levied, then Rs 28,000 would be tax on that. If tax rate is so high, people would tend to evade tax,” he said.
In order to attract foreign investment and encourage domestic players to ramp up their businesses, Multani suggested effective implementation of single-window clearance and reduction in cost of doing business.
He proposed to the government to get an analysis carried out by experts on cost structure in China and provide a level-playing field to the Indian industry.
“Let government do the analysis of China. We don’t need even 0.1% extra. What we are saying that the incentives China is giving to its industry we should also get the same cost,” the PHDCCI Chief said.
Washington [US], November 18 ,2021: US-India Strategic Partnership Forum Chief Mukesh Aghi has said that the Trump administration was very close to the mini trade deal with India, but now the domestic politics in America is “much more complicated”.
“With Trump administration, we were very close to the mini trade deal. I think to show some kind of success in early harvesting. It is important that India-US agree where it was left with the Trump administration to close that out to build the momentum itself. But the domestic politics in the US is now much more complicated,” Aghi told ANI on Wednesday (local time).
Commenting further on the Biden administration, US-India Strategic Partnership Forum Chief said, “The progressive Left inserts labour rights, they talk about human rights, religious freedom, and I think if you start pushing those into a trade deal, you will not get a trade deal.”
US and India have agreed to take a comprehensive look at ways to expand the bilateral trade relationship.
In a virtual meet, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal had looked forward to their upcoming meetings in New Delhi (November 22-23).
Both leaders agreed to take a comprehensive look at ways to expand the bilateral trade relationship and ensure the future success of the US-India Trade Policy Forum, read Tai’s statement.