Category: Economy

Mobile phone exports from India increased to nearly $9.5 billion in February, with Apple contributing half of the total exports, said mobile devices industry body India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) on March 22.

A senior official at the industry body said the industry is on track to cross the target of mobile phone exports worth $10 billion from India by the end of this financial year. Till January 31, the exports were around $8.5 billion, and it is estimated to have reached about $9.5 billion in February, the official added. In 2021-22, the country recorded mobile phone exports worth $5.5 billion, according to the ICEA data.

Apple now dominates the exports with 50 percent share followed by Samsung with around 40 per cent share. The other smartphone companies constitute the remaining 10% export share.

“The mobile phone industry will cross $40 billion manufacturing output and 25 percent exports at $10 billion is a stellar performance,” affirmed Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, ICEA.

India has more than 260 units manufacturing mobile phones and accessories today, while it had only two units operational in 2014. The mobile phone production in the country increased from 5.8 crore units valued at about Rs 18,900 crore in 2014-15 to 31 crore units valued at over Rs 2,75,000 crore in the last financial year.

The total installed renewable energy capacity in India touched 168.96 GW by February 2023-end, RK Singh, Union Minister for Power, New and Renewable Energy, informed the Parliament on March 22.

In the written reply to the Rajya Sabha, the union minister said that out of the total 168.96 GW, 64.38 GW is solar power capacity, 51.79 GW hydro, 42.02 GW wind and 10.77 GW bio power. Another 82.62 GW of green energy capacity is under implementation and 40.89 GW of capacity is under various stages of tendering.  A total of 3,16,754.86 MU of electricity has been generated from renewable energy sources during the current year 2022-23 (up to January 2023), Singh told the Upper House.

According to the minister, India’s total power generation capacity was at 412.21 GW as on February 28, 2023. The government’s aim is to achieve 500 GW of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030.

India is ranked third in the Renewable Energy Country Attractive Index in 2021. The country is now the third largest energy-consuming country globally. Furthermore, India ranks fourth in the world for renewable energy installed capacity, wind power capacity, and solar power capacity, according to the REN21 Renewables 2022 Global Status Report.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a nearly $3 billion bailout for Sri Lanka, as the country faces its worst financial crisis in more than seven decades. About $333 million will be immediately disbursed to the country under this programme. Sri Lanka defaulted on its debts with international lenders for the first time in history in 2022.

The IMF on March 20 said its executive board approved the bailout, and the country’s presidency said the program will enable it to access up to $7 billion in overall funding. The immediate disbursement of about $333 million will spur financial support from other partners, potentially helping theAsian country emerge from its worst financial crisis in over seven decades.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Sri Lanka also needs to undertake various reforms.

“For Sri Lanka to overcome the crisis, swift and timely implementation of the EFF-supported program with strong ownership for the reforms is critical,” Georgieva said in a statement.

EFF refers to the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility. The IMF MD emphasised the need for ambitious revenue-based fiscal consolidation. “For the fiscal adjustments to be successful, sustained fiscal institutional reforms on tax administration, public financial and expenditure management, and energy pricing are critical,” Georgieva said in the statement.

In a recent address at an industry event in New Delhi, Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong encouraged Indian businesses to increase their investment in Southeast Asia.

Speaking at the annual Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Partnership Summit, Gan Kim Yong highlighted the importance of Indian businesses viewing Southeast Asia as a lucrative market for trade and investment. He acknowledged that India is headed towards a $30 trillion economy by 2050. “My challenge to Indian businesses is to increase your investment in ASEAN by at least ten-fold to $20 billion by the end of this decade,” he said.

India and Singapore have maintained strong economic ties for years. According to the High Commission of India in Singapore, investors have invested over $137 billion in India over the last two decades. According to the Singapore minister, the two countries can channel their partnership towards renewable energy and supply chain strength, especially as the world faces major challenges on all fronts. “Indeed, we meet in a time of great political, economic, social, and environmental stress. Our world is facing unprecedented uncertainty and economic headwinds. Many countries, even those that once took for granted that the supermarket would always be full, are now worried about food security,” he said. 

Leaders from Singapore and Indonesia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Singapore on March 16 to develop renewable energy generation projects in Indonesia, both for domestic needs and for export to Singapore.

Singapore and Indonesia will facilitate the development of solar farms and battery energy storage system to supply renewable energy, and when viable, hydrogen and ammonia, said Indonesia’s coordinating ministry for maritime affairs and investments, and Singapore’s trade and industry ministry in a joint statement.

The Green Corridor Project will attract an estimated $50 billion of foreign direct investments to Indonesia, reducing the country’s national determined contributions (NDCs), and transferring renewable energy knowledge and skills into Indonesia. The Green Corridor plan is to develop a green manufacturing industry, creating “tens of thousands” of green jobs for Indonesians, said the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore (SEAS).

Members of SEAS and multiple partners working to develop the Green Corridor project include AirCarbon Exchange, Climate Resources Exchange, Durapower Batteries, EDPR Sunseap, ET Solar, Haitai Solar, Huawei, Keppel, Meike Solar, Seraphim Solar, Narada Batteries, Gotion Batteries, SERIS, Sungrow, Vanda RE (a joint venture between Gurin Energy and Gentari) and VFlowTech Batteries.

These entities have actively engaged with Singapore’s EMA and Indonesia’s MARVES to develop the Green Corridor project in Batam/Riau Archipelago, Indonesia.

India and the European Union (EU) concluded their fourth round of talks for a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) in Brussels on March 18, tweeted Nidhi Mani Tripathi, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce and India’s chief negotiator for the agreement. The next round of talks is planned for June 12-16.

India had started negotiations for a trade pact with the 27-nation bloc of EU in 2007, but the talks stalled in 2013 as both sides failed to reach an agreement on key issues, including customs duties on automobiles and spirits and the movement of professionals. The two sides resumed negotiations on June 17, 2022 after a gap of over eight years on the proposed agreements on trade, investments and Geographical Indications (GIs).

India’s merchandise exports to EU member countries stood at about USD 65 billion in 2021-22, while imports aggregated USD 51.4 billion.

A GI is primarily an agricultural, natural or manufactured product (handicrafts and industrial goods) originating from a definite geographical territory. Typically, such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness, which is essentially attributable to the place of its origin.

Big Japanese companies have offered the largest pay rises in a quarter century in response to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s calls for higher wages to counter rising living costs.

Worker pay has been low in Japan since the late 1990s due to sputtering growth, when investment in the economy turns sluggish over a sustained period of time, affecting consumption. It has left Japanese pay well behind the pays in other member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Now, a weak yen and rising commodity prices have driven up import costs and pushed inflation to the highest in four decades, prompting Kishida to ask for better pay.

The average wage rise at “shunto” spring wage talks in 2023 was the highest in about 30 years, of almost 3 per cent, which would be the highest since the 2.9 per cent in 1997.

“This spring marks a turning point for growth and wealth distribution,” Mr Kishida told a meeting with representatives of business lobbies and unions. He also said he aimed for a nationwide increase in the minimum wage.

A number of Japan’s biggest corporations, including Toyota Motor and Hitachi, said that they had agreed fully to the requested increases from unions.

India and Australia have agreed to conclude the negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement “as soon as possible” as there is huge potential to enhance bilateral commerce in the next five years, said a joint statement.

The statement was issued after the meeting of Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Australia’s Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell in New Delhi on March 11.

Both countries already implemented an economic cooperation and trade agreement (ECTA) in December 2022, and are now negotiating to widen the scope of that pact into a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA). The ministers noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese look forward to swift progress in negotiations and for an early conclusion of the ambitious CECA, which will build on the foundation laid by the ECTA, including new areas of trade, investment and cooperation. The CECA will create new employment opportunities, raise living standards and improve the general welfare in both countries, the statement said.

The ministers also highlighted the importance of a smooth and timely clean energy transition.

“India-Australia bilateral trade exceeded USD 31 billion last financial year. Both agreed that given the trade complementarities between the two countries, there is considerable potential for significantly enhancing bilateral trade within the next 5 years,” the statement said.

Sri Lanka has used over $10 million from India’s assistance of $1 billion to print nearly half of the textbooks for its four million young students, the Indian High Commission here said on March 12.

A concessional credit facility of $1 billion was extended to the Government of Sri Lanka by the Government of India in March 2022 for supply of essential items, including food, fuel, medicines, and industrial raw materials. Out of this facility, over $10 million has been used by State Printing Corporation (SPC) and private importers to procure printing paper and material from India. The fund is being used to print 45 percent of textbooks required by 4 million young students of Sri Lanka for the academic year 2023, it said in a statement.

India and Sri Lanka enjoy a multi-faceted and multi-sectoral partnership. Under India’s Neighbourhood First policy, the country assisted the people of Sri Lanka in various ways, such as through concessional credit facilities and lines of credit. To date, lines of credit worth over $4 billion have been extended to Sri Lanka in diverse areas, including supply of essential items, petroleum, fertilisers, development of railways, infrastructure, defence sector and renewable energy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina will virtually inaugurate the first cross-border oil pipeline between the two countries on March 18 for diesel transportation to Bangladesh. Delhi would use the 130-km long India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL), which has been built at a cost of ₹346 crore, from the Indian line of credit (LoC).

Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner Andalib Elias has called the cross-border oil pipeline the real manifestation of the wonderful friendship of India and Bangladesh. “PM Modi and my PM Sheikh Hasina first initiated this pipeline a few years ago. On 18th March, it will be formally launched. The oil will start going through it. That’s a huge step forward in the wonderful friendship that we have.”

The pipeline stretches 125 km inside Bangladesh territory and 5 km inside India. The two premiers joined the ground-breaking ceremony for the IBFPL in September 2018 through video conferencing.

Bangladesh used to import diesel from India through railway carriages. The Bangladeshi foreign minister said that he has also urged New Delhi to ensure an uninterrupted supply of essential products to Bangladesh. Momen said India gave high respect to the Bangladesh delegation throughout the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting reflecting the excellent Dhaka-Delhi bilateral relations.