he United States is the largest consumer of guar gum representing 25 per cent of world trade. India exported over 3.25 lakh MT of Guar during 2010-11, out of which over 2.05 lakh MT was to the United States. This information was given in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today by the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing, Mr Harish Rawat. He said the production guar is mainly concentrated in the arid region of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and some parts of Punjab.

 Apparel exports stood at $11.4 billion in 2010-11 and $13.6 billion in 2011-12. But neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam are having better growth in this sector.

To provide a boost to apparel exports, the Government is planning to expand the market for Indian apparel to Japan, the European Union and the USA. The Government has announced interest subsidy of

Rs 15,880 crore for the sector in the 12th Plan period. About 140 Apparel Training and Design Centres are being set up all over the country to train manpower. 


A

Despite the slowdown in world economies, the government expects exports to increase 20 percent in the current fiscal .Commerce Secretary S R Rao told reporters after meeting the exporters body India is still the second fastest growing economy. Last fiscal, the country crossed the merchandise shipment target of 300 billion US Dollars. 

Rao expressed relief over narrowing trade deficit and said the trade gap would be under control. Last month, exports dipped over 5 percent while imports shrunk over 15 percent, bringing down trade deficit to a 15-month low.

Director-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Anup Pujari said the trade deficit stood at 185 billion US Dollars last year and the government has taken steps to reduce the trade
deficit this year.

The Finance Ministry has asked public sector banks not to accept bulk deposits beyond 15 per cent of total deposits to improve asset-liability management. This was informed by the Secretary Department of Banking and Financial Services D K Mittal on the sidelines of a meeting of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations in New Delhi today. Mr Mittal said the Finance Ministry has recently issued a circular to the banks in this regard.

Mr Mittal called upon exporters to desist from devaluing the domestic currency by trading in foreign currency, which creates problems for the government. He said exporters should focus on exporting goods and services rather than worrying about the fluctuations in the Rupee. On the export credit issue, the Secretary said, the government is committed to promoting exports. He said the issues raised by exporters require consultations with the RBI and the Commerce Ministry.

Commenting on the issue of HSBC bank’s Indian staff coming under the scanner of a US probe into money laundering, Mr Mittal said the RBI is looking into it. He said the finance ministry would assist the central bank with the required inputs

India's exports contracted by 5.45 per cent, year-on-year basis, to 25.07 billion US Dollars in June due to the persisting global economic slowdown.

According to the Director General of Foreign Trade A Pujai that imports also declined by 13.46 per cent to 35.37 US Dollar billion, leaving a trade deficit of 10.30 billion US Dollar.

Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary S R Rao told reporters in New Delhi today that exports have contracted but trade deficit is also coming down. 

During the April-June quarter of this fiscal exports have shrunk 1.7 per cent to 75.2 billion US Dollar over the first quarter of 2011-12. Imports have also dipped by 6.1 per cent during the first quarter of 2012-13 to 115.26 billion US Dollar.

Trade deficit in first quarter has declined to 40.06 billion US Dollar from 46.30 billion US Dollar in April-June last fiscal.

In China, the Ministry of Commerce today welcomes the decision of the World Trade Organization to rule in China's favor over duties China imposed on US steel exports.

China imposed countervailing and anti-dumping duties in April 2010 on US steel products.

The punitive duties were imposed after domestic steel makers, including Baosteel Group and Wuhan Iron and Steel Group, complained about imports from the United States.

The country's passenger car exports jumped 34.2 per cent in May, to 45,036 units. According to figures released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, the current growth is mainly on account of new non-European markets.

In May, Hyundai Motor India's exports grew 42.2 per cent at 23,659 units. But Maruti Suzuki India's overseas passenger car sales fell 9.4 per cent, to 9,363 units.

Nissan Motor India saw its exports rising over two-fold, to 8,157 units last month.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor, which started exports from April this year, sold 1,693 units in May in South Africa.

But Ford India's exports dipped 15.8 per cent to 1,693 units. Tata Motors' exports rose 32.4 per cent to 372 units.

Exports of all categories of vehicles from India during May 2012 increased 4.6 per cent, to nearly 2.5 lakh units.

Two-wheeler exports rose to 1.7 lakh units in May, up 8.1 per cent. But exports of commercial vehicles decreased 8.7 per cent to 7,861 units in May.

Asian markets shot up on Monday, stocks surged to a four- week high after Spain sought as much as 100 billion euros to save its banking system and Chinese export data topped forecasts.

So Japan's Nikkei 225 index surged 2%; Hong Kong's Hang Seng spurted 2.4%; China's Shanghai Composite index rose 1.1%; South Korea's KOPSI jumped 1.7%; and Singapore's Straits Times index gained 1.8%. Chinese data over the weekend showed strong exports and imports growth, and inflation cooling more rapidly than expected amid an economic slowdown.

In the European markets, key stock indices in the UK, France and Germany were up by between 1% and 1.9% in intra-day trade on Monday.

Spain's Treasury today said the government's plan to shore up the banks with a loan of up to 100 billion euros will reinforce the overall solvency of the debt markets in the country.

Handicraft exports grew about 12 per cent year-on-year to USD 205 million in May this year despite demand slowdown in western markets like Europe. In May 2010, these exports stood at USD 183 million, according to the data provided by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts, EPCH. 

EPCH Executive Director Rakesh Kumar said there is an increase in demand from new markets like China, the Middle-East and Latin America. He said, the demand, however, is still weak in the US and European markets that are witnessing sluggish economic growth.

The US and Europe together account for over 60 per cent of the country's total handicraft exports. The council expects handicraft exports to touch USD 3.2 billion in the current fiscal compared to USD 2.75 billion in the previous year.

The government has set a target of 20 per cent growth in exports during the current financial year while Indian exports registered 20.9 per cent growth in last year to touch 303 billion US dollar. Announcing the annual supplement to the Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14 in New Delhi today, Commerce and Industry and Textile Minister Mr. Anand Sharma unveiled seven-point strategy to boost exports which include extension of interest subsidy scheme till 31st March of next year. Our correspondent reports, the government came out with an interest subvention scheme under which 2 per cent interest subsidy was given to handlooms, handicrafts, carpets and SME sector. The seven point agenda include give a focussed thrust to employment intensive industry, to encourage domestic manufacturing for inputs to export industry, to encourage exports from the North Eastern Region and to provide incentives for manufacturing of green goods recognising the imperative of building capacities for envrionmental sustainability.

India's exports grew by a mere 3.2 per cent year-on-year to 24.4 billion US dollar in April 2012 mainly due to demand slowdown in western markets like Europe. Exports stood at 23.6 billion US dollars in April last year . Imports during the first month of the current fiscal grew 3.8 per cent to 37.9 billion US dollars, leaving a trade deficit of 13.4 billion US dollar. The sectors which registered growth in April include engineering, electronics, pharmaceuticals and chemicals.

The Government today lifted the ban on exports of skimmed milk powder,smp. The decision was taken in the meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan singh in New Delhi. The lifting of ban amid surplus availability, of skimmed milk powder (SMP) will improve the finances of dairy firms and help milk producers. The government had banned SMP exports in February 2011 to contain rise in domestic milk prices.

Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said the Commerce Ministry has been asked to consider providing incentives to the exports of SMP in line with other farm produce. He said, the ministry has also been asked to examine the possibility of imposing import duty on SMP.

The dairy industry has been facing liquidity crunch as it could not make profit through sale of skimmed milk powder due to steep fall in domestic prices following surplus supplies.

Domestic prices of SMP have declined to 150 Rupees per kg now as against 190-200 rupees per kg in the same period last year. 

Milk production in India, the world's biggest producer, is estimated at over 120 million tonnes in 2011. Our corresondent reports there is strong demand for milk produced in India in countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh and other east asian countries.

To ease foodgrain storage crisis and to decide on export of wheat, an Empowered Group of Ministers, EGOM, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to meet next week.

The Food Minister K V Thomas on Wednesday said in New Delhi that the government agrees with the recommendations of the Rangarajan panel to handle surplus stocks.

A committee, headed by Rangarajan, last week submitted a report to the Prime Minister suggesting offloading of 10 million tonnes of wheat to the families below poverty line, BPL and above poverty line, APL and three million tonnes via open market sale. 

The panel also suggested export of two million tonnes of wheat from the government godowns. It also favoured giving incentives to private traders for export of one million tonnes as wheat exports at present are unviable.

The government today decided to allow further cotton exports, in 2011-12 marketing year ending September, as production estimates have been revised upwards. Commerce and Textiles Minister Anand Sharma told reporters in New Delhi after meeting Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar that a decision has been taken to remove suspension of cotton exports registration and it will be allowed by the government.

Last month, the government had lifted the ban on exports, but decided not to issue fresh registration of certificates. Today's decision comes against the backdrop of Pawar writing to the Prime Minister objecting to the government's export policies towards certain farm items like cotton, sugar
and milk.

Mr. Sharma said there would not be any quantitative restrictions on registration for exports, but the group of ministers (GoM) would review the situation in two-three weeks.

overnment today said that India's production of Chrome ore is sufficient to meet domestic consumption and exports. 

Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Mines Dinsha Patel said that the export of chrome ore is not directly impacting the steel industry.

The Minister said that there is no proposal to completely ban the export of chrome ore.

India has 203 million tons of chrome ore. Out of this only 54 million tons are reserved.

dia today said it cannot be the target of regime based restrictions and pitched for full membership of export control entities, including the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

Foreign Secretary Rajan Mathai expressed confidence that India can fulfil the requirement of these export control regimes and the logical conclusion for it is to get the full

membership of the four multilateral regimes- Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement. Speaking at a seminar in New Delhi, Mr Mathai said India has the ability to

produce, manufacture or supply a vast majority of items that are controlled by these regimes. 

India has signed civil nuclear cooperation agreements with France, US, Russia, Canada, Argentina, UK, Namibia,Mongolia, and Kazakhstan. Negotiations are taking place with Japan on a bilateral Nuclear Cooperation Agreement .

The Government will consider allowing more exports of sugar in the current marketing year. Talking to media persons on the sidelines of a function in New Delhi today, Food and Consumer Affairs minister K V Thomas said that the idea of allowing more exports of the sweetener will be considered in the coming Empowered Group of Ministers, EGoM, meeting.

Mr. Thomas said that since the production is good, the Government is not against allowing some more quantity of sugar exports. Production is expected to increase from 24.67 million tonnes to 25.5 million tonnes this year. The minister said as per the data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, production of sugar next year is expected to be at the current year's level.

Impacted by the economic slowdown in the US and euro-zone, India's export growth slipped to a three-month low of 4.2 per cent, at 24.6 billion dollars in February this year. But imports grew 20.6 per cent, year-on-year, to 39.7 billion dollars in February. This left a trade deficit of 15.1 billion dollars.

During the April 2011 to February 2012 period, exports aggregated 267 billion dollars, a year-on-year growth of 21.4 per cent, thanks to the surge witnessed in the early months of

the fiscal. During this 11-month period, imports increased 29.4 per cent, to 434 billion dollars.

The trade gap during the period stood at nearly 167 billion dollars. Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar said imports for the 2011-12 fiscal are likely to be close to 480 billion dollars, and the trade deficit is expected to be around 175 to 180 billion dollars.

Oil imports in February grew 39.4 per cent, to 12.7 billion dollars. Non-oil imports increased 13.5 per cent, to 27.1 billion dollars

The government allowed additional one million tonnes of sugar exports in view of surplus production. The move will help mills clear mounting cane arrears, that have reached 8,409 crore rupees till February, to farmers. The decision to allow exports was taken yesterday by an Empowered Group of Ministers, EGoM, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. 

The sources said that the food ministry will frame new modalities for expediting sugar exports as the country has 1.64 million tonnes of surplus sweetener. The EGOM also decided to continue exports of wheat and non-basmati rice, which was allowed under Open General Licence in September last year, on record production.
India is the world's second-largest producer of sugar and is also the biggest consumer

Global leaders agreed to make voluntary and substantive efforts towards strengthening nuclear security and implementing political commitments made in this regard. In a joint communique issued after two day Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, they urged the states to enhance the physical protection and accounting system for nuclear materials. They also stressed for making emergency preparedness and response capabilities and relevant legal and regulatory framework.


Making a joint call to secure all vulnerable nuclear material in four years, the leaders also recognized that it is fundamental responsibility of States to maintain effective security of radioactive materials. It reaffirmed measures to strengthen nuclear security and made it clear that such steps will not hamper the rights of States to develop and utilize nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Noting about March 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident and the nexus between nuclear security and safety, the leaders maintained that sustained efforts are required to address these issues in a coherent manner. This is to ensure safe, secure and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Leaders also agreed to make every possible effort to achieve further progress in Global Nuclear Security Architecture including International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism and the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material.
Over 50 leaders attended the Seoul Summit.

Earlier, in his address to the Summit, the Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh warned that nuclear terrorism will remain a potent threat as long as there are terrorists seeking to gain access to atomic materials and technology. Prime Minister asserted that the best guarantee for nuclear security is a world free of such weapons. He said the UNSC resolution 1540 adopted unanimously several times, seeks to enforce legal and regulatory measures against the proliferation of chemical, biological, radiological nuclear weapons to non state actors.

The resolution was piloted by India in 2002. The Prime Minister said though nuclear security is primarily a national responsibility, but there are benefits to supplement these actions through sustained international cooperation.
The Prime Minister made a strong pitch for India's membership in the four member nuclear suppliers group . Dr.Singh added that it would help strengthen its export control systems and maintain the highest international standards.

Dr.Singh pointed out that India is determined to further strengthen the export control systems to keep nuclear safety at par with the highest international standards. He said India supported early commencement of negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty at the Conference of Disarmament in Geneva. The Prime Minister said New Delhi is also in the process of setting up a statutory, independent and autonomous Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority.

Dr.Manmohan Singh offered India's assistance through IAEA to those countries who are unable to effectively deal with radio active sources.