Provisional trade figures released by the Ministry of Commerce indicate that India’s aggregate trade balance over the period April-August 2020 was in surplus to the tune of $14.2 billion, as compared with a deficit of $45.11 billion in the corresponding…
Multiple indicators reveal that the pre-pandemic deceleration in growth segued into a deep recession that persists six months after the first reported Covid-19 case. But official optimism hasn’t waned. Some spokespersons promise a V-shaped recovery. Others clutch at every straw…
As the world is reeling under the deaths and exponential spread of the COVID pandemic, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is busy negotiating a free trade deal in electronic medical equipments. One of the five proposals made to the WTO's…
In a surprise move, the Indian government has decided to ban the use of 59 Chinese apps, some of which like Tik-Tok and UC browser are extremely popular in India’s consumer digital space. According to The Wall Street Journal, quoting…
The competition among Asian countries to win a slice of export markets currently controlled by China is intensifying. In a recent development, Vietnam has finally ratified a free trade agreement with the EU, under which more than 70 per cent…
In the wake of the India-China conflagration at the border, the worst in more than five decades, the fault lines of India’s economic relationship with its northern neighbour are now wide open. Amidst the demands for boycotting Chinese products and…
While everyone was busy looking at the Covid-19 numbers across the world, other “stuff was happening” in international trade: the US-China trade war, which started as far back July 2018, just got significantly worse. This on-again-off-again war has been a…
Unless the Trump administration’s views on the WTO change dramatically, December 11 could mark the end of an era in global trade. On that date two more members (of the three in position out of a mandated seven) of the…
With the government being forced to withdraw from the RCEP agreement, an argument has arisen: if India is not competitive with other countries in producing a whole range of goods, which is why the producers of such goods within the…
On October 24-25, there were widespread peasant protests all over the country against the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) involving sixteen nations which India is currently negotiating. As negotiations near completion, such protests are escalating, with the All India Kisan…
