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Too many extraneous elements slowing down India-EU trade pact talks: Goyal
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said certain “extraneous” elements are slowing down the negotiations for a proposed free trade agreement between India and the 27-nation bloc European Union (EU).
He also asserted that India should not be treated like Southeast Asian nations with which the EU has signed a trade agreement and the country can not sign a pact on dotted lines.
The minister said that the FTA talks can be fast-tracked and he is ready to engage on a daily basis like he had done with Australia, the UAE, and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) trade agreements.
“I can assure all of you, we are not looking at transposing what I gave to the UAE. These are two different economic situations. I am not looking at the EFTA agreement with the EU. Similarly, the EU needs to understand, I am not a country in Southeast Asia with which you recently or sometime back did an FTA, where they can sign on the dotted lines on anything because they are not a democracy,” he asserted.
He was speaking here at the launch of Federation of European Business in India (FEBI).
The minister said extraneous issues (like labour, environment and gender) are dealt with by other international organisations and the countries should let those organisations do their work.
“Extraneous items which have no relevance to trade or business are what are hurting the interest of trade and business. When we are trying to bring in too many extraneous elements into a free trade agreement, we are getting cornered into slow progress,” he said.
He added that the EU will have to decide whether “we are looking” at expanding trade and business between the two sides or “we are looking” at issues which are dealt with by other international organisations.
Last month, chief negotiators of both the regions concluded the ninth round of talks here.
In June 2022, India and the EU resumed the negotiations after a gap of over eight years. It was stalled in 2013 due to differences over several issues.
“So these are some of the reasons why we have not made much progress,” Goyal said adding that sadly despite several efforts, the cooperative elements have not taken centre stage as yet and many issues have been left festering in this relationship.
He said businesses and FEBI can play a key role in speeding up the talks.
“Take my comments in the right spirit in which they are intended…The spirit of openness,” Goyal said.
He suggested that the EU should not look at “cloning” an agreement that they would have had with another developed country with India as “it’s not going to be possible”.
India needs a transitional period to break from a $2,500 per capita economy to a $20,000-30,000 per capita economy and “I will need that transition period. This is ‘Chalk and cheese’,” the minister said.
He also said that the perception that a standard made by the EU is “good” and that formulated by India is not an international standard is not acceptable to India.
“Standards will have to be set bearing in mind the country’s own conditions,” he said.
He expressed concerns that sometimes EU firms and leadership flag problems of quality standards in India as they want to import those products from some third country into India.
“Friends, you can bring anything that you want to (from your country). I have confidence in high-quality goods, I have confidence in our marketing and pricing practices, there are no hidden subsidies, and there is no dumping of goods or irrational prices which will kill Indian manufacturing. But I can not say the same about other countries,” Goyal said.
Without naming China, he urged the EU to look at Indian standards from the lens of a European country and not from the lens of a third country, which may not be giving India equal and commensurate access to domestic products.
Further, he urged FEBI to invite Indian companies also in the association that are working in Europe to be members.
The role of FEBI includes issues pertaining to taxation, customs procedure, IT, labour laws, customs duties, banking regulation, ease of doing business, standards and FDI Investments.
Citing an example, he said, “I have often been approached by many Indian companies working in (EU) member states, who have the same problem on the other side. They say that we had an unviable operation but we are not able to close that operation in an EU state, because the government is not cooperating and actually creating hurdles in our business”.
He added that irrational standards set up by the EU act as a trade barrier in expanding bilateral trade.
“We have people coming (Indian companies) and telling the significant unfair trade practices of the EU side and I think if FEBI really wants to be successful, it should be two-way traffic,” Goyal said.
Speaking at the event, Ambassador of the EU to India Herve Delphin said despite best efforts from the negotiating team on both sides, “progress has been limited as of late and fundamental differences remain and are yet to be overcome”.
Delphin added that both sides have to recalibrate and “recalibrate does not mean aiming at a cheap or low-cost FTA”.
The agreement should be meaningful and both sides need to reflect on a potential package of mutual concessions which would see both sides moving to new trade policy territory that they have never ventured so far, he said.
The on Friday allowed prepaid payment instruments holders to make and receive UPI payments through third-party mobile applications.
It has been decided to enable Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments from/to full-KYC prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) through third-party UPI applications, the central bank said in circular.
“A PPI issuer shall enable holders of only its full-KYC PPIs to make UPI payments by linking its customer PPIs to its UPI handle. UPI transactions from PPI on the issuer’s application shall be authenticated using the customer’s existing PPI credentials,” it said.
Such a transaction will, thus, be pre-approved before it reaches the UPI system.
A PPI issuer, in its capacity as a payment system providers, should not on-board customers of any bank or any other PPI issuer, the RBI said.
The RBI’s decision is aimed at providing more flexibility to holders of PPIs such as gift cards, metro rail cards, and digital wallets, among others.
Currently, UPI payments from/to a bank account can be carried out using the UPI application of that bank or of any third-party application provider.
However, UPI payments from/to a PPI can only be carried out using the mobile application provided by the PPI issuer.
UPI is an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India to facilitate inter-bank transactions through mobile phones.
PPIs are instruments that facilitate purchase of goods and services, conduct of financial services, and enable remittance facilities against the value stored therein.
In a renewed push to make the state of Bihar an attractive investor destination, the second edition of Bihar Business Connect 2024 registered commitments of Rs 1.8 lakh crore from various industry segments. The two-day event concluded on December 20 with 423 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) between various industries across sectors and the state government.
The annual event, which was attended by national and global investors, also focused on encouraging MSMEs and startups in the state to set up a base for employment generation and encouraging entrepreneurship.
The event saw presentations from MSMEs and startups which have availed of government schemes including the plug-and-play facility to set up production units, a seed fund under the Bihar Startup Policy, and other benefits.
“Today we (state of Bihar) are ready to reclaim our place. With a population of 14 crore and a wealth of skilled youth excelling in exams like the UPSC, our potential is immense. It is time to harness this talent, uplift every section of the society and drive Bihar forward,” said Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Samrat Chaudhary, at the event.
Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha added that the state has maintained double-digit growth for the past fifteen years and is charting its way to progress in different industrial sectors.
At the conclusion of the event, the state saw commitments of nearly Rs 90,734 crore from the renewable energy sector, the highest among all investments. Sun Petro Chemicals committed to an investment of Rs 36,700 crore. Dilip Shanghvi, Managing Director of Sun Petrochemicals, said that the company will make the investment in Bihar to set up solar projects and pumped hydro projects in the state. The renewable sector also saw commitments from Adani Group and NHPC.
Other sectors contributing significantly to the investments included general manufacturing, with commitments to the tune of Rs 55,888 crore, and the food processing industry, with commitments of Rs 13,663 crore. In the latter, SLMG Beverages, which is a leading bottler and distributor of Coca Cola beverages, committed to an investment of Rs 3,000 crore in the state.
Nitish Mishra, Industries and Tourism Minister in the Government of Bihar said, “Over the past 19 years, Bihar has risen from a negative growth rate to achieving historic milestones, now contributing significantly to the country’s growth.” He added that the MoUs signed in the current edition of the Bihar Business Connect were threefold of the previous year.
The event also saw the announcement of upcoming policies as part of a presentation by Bandana Preyashi, Secretary, Department of Industries at Government of Bihar. These included the Bihar Food Processing Policy 2024, Bihar Pharmaceuticals Promotion Policy 2024, Bihar Plastic Manufacturing Promotion Policy 2024, Biofuel Production Promotion Policy 2024 and the Bihar Wood Based Industries Policy 2024. She further added that new land parcels were being selected to meet sectoral needs, in addition to 1,800 acres of land made available.
SaaS fintech platform Prepaid Ocean Services Ltd plans to acquire at least two companies in the next financial year to drive growth, a top company official said on Friday.
The new-age fintech this week raised Rs 595 crore through a qualified institutional placement.
“We are evaluating 5 to 6 potential targets in the SaaS FinTech space, including areas like merchant card software, accounts receivables, and FASTag solutions with plans to acquire at least two companies in the upcoming financial year,” Zaggle founder and Executive Chairman Raj Narayanam said.
“We are aiming for a billion-dollar revenue target within the next 5 to 6 years,” Raj noted.
The company is looking to strategically accelerate its growth trajectory through strategic acquisitions, he added.
Zaggle recently invested about Rs 48 crore to acquire stakes in two companies. It picked up a 98.32% controlling stake in Span Across IT Solutions (TaxSpanner) by infusing Rs 32.07 crore, and another Rs 15.60 crore was invested to secure a 26% stake in Mobileware Technologies.
Zaggle this week raised Rs 595 crore from investors, including Bank of India ELSS tax saver, Societe Generale – ODI ICICI Prudential Technology Fund and Nuvama Enhanced Dynamic Growth Equity (Edge) Fund through a qualified institutional placement.
A board committee approved the allotment of 1.13 crore equity shares at Rs 523.20 per share to eligible qualified institutional buyers on Monday.
Zaggle had reported a three-fold jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 20.3 crore for the July-September quarter. Revenue from operations for the September quarter was Rs 302.5 crore, up 64.22% over the year-ago period.
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