June 2021 Economic Affairs

Sakshi Education

KVIC issues legal notices to over 1000 private firms for misusing its brand name
Khadi and Village Industries Commission, KVIC has issued legal notices to over one thousand private firms so far, for misusing its brand name and selling products under the name of Khadi.

Khadi Prakritik Paint is a unique, innovative paint made from cow dung is developed by KVIC. It said, the anti-fungal and anti-bacterial paint was launched by MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari on 12th of January this year.
Mandatory hallmarking of gold to come into force from today (16th June)
Mandatory Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery has come into force from today. Hallmarking has been initially started in 256 districts of the country which have Assaying marking centres.

Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs has informed that after wide range discussions with various stakeholders, a set of decisions have been taken regarding Hallmarking which will benefit both customers and businesses. Under the new provisions, Gold of additional carats including 20, 23 and 24 have also been allowed for Hallmarking.

Under the new provision, old jewellery can also be hallmarked by the jeweller as per feasibility. The Consumer Affairs Ministry has informed that a committee consisting of representatives of all stake holders, revenue officials and legal experts will be formed to look into the issues that may possibly emerge during the implementation of the scheme.

Under Hallmarking scheme of Bureau of Indian Standards, Jewellers are registered for selling hallmarked jewellery. The Consumer Affairs Ministry has said that Hallmarking will enable Consumers to make a right choice and will save them from any unnecessary confusion while buying gold. At present, only 30 per cent of Indian Gold Jewellery is hallmarked.
RBI releases Consultative Document on Regulation of Microfinance
Reserve Bank of India has released a Consultative Document on Regulation of Microfinance. It has been released for harmonising the regulatory frameworks for various regulated lenders in the microfinance space.

Key proposals of the documents are, common definition of microfinance loans for all regulated entities, Capping the outflow on account of repayment of loan obligations of a household to a percentage of the household income.
It also recommends a Board approved policy for household income assessment. It also asked for introduction of a standard simplified fact sheet on pricing of microfinance loans for better transparency and display of minimum, maximum and average interest rates charged on microfinance loans on the websites of regulated entities.
bilateral
India extends US$ 100 million LoC to Sri Lanka for Solar Energy Projects
India has signed an agreement extending a US$ 100 million Line of Credit (LOC) to Sri Lanka for projects in the Solar Energy Sector.

The agreement was signed between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Export-Import Bank of India.

This US$ 100 million LOC will help finance various projects in the solar energy sector in Sri Lanka, such as rooftop solar photo-voltaic systems for households and government buildings. Some of the projects were announced during the Founding Conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) held in March 2018 in Delhi.

Thus far 89 countries, including Sri Lanka, have signed the Framework Agreement of the ISA, which intends to bring together countries to promote the large-scale deployment of solar energy and overcome challenges related to technology, finance and capacity.
India, Kyrgyz Republic review bilateral cooperation in diverse areas
India and Kyrgyz Republic reviewed the bilateral cooperation in diverse areas including political, economic, commercial, defence, development partnership, capacity building, consular matters and cultural cooperation.

Special emphasis was laid on timely implementation of decisions taken and MoUs and agreements signed during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Kyrgyz Republic in June 2019.

Both the sides also exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest and agreed to enhance cooperation in the UN and multilateral arena. The 11th round of Foreign Office Consultations between the two countries was held through virtual mode.
India and Bhutan sign MOU for developing cooperation in the areas of Environment
India and Bhutan today inked an MoU for developing cooperation between two countries in the area of environment.

The MoU was signed virtually by Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar from the Indian side and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairperson of the National Environment Commission Lyonpo Dr.TandiDorji from the Bhutanese side.

The MoU will open new vistas of bilateral co-operation in the area of climate change, waste management etc. Describing the relationship between the two countries as symbolic, he said, India wants to engage with Bhutan on environmental related issues including climate change.
G7 nations reach landmark deal, to back global corporation tax of at least 15%
The Group of Seven, a group of the world's richest nations reached a landmark deal to close cross-border tax loopholes used by some of the world's biggest companies.
The Group said it would back a minimum global corporation tax rate of at least 15 per cent and put in place measures to ensure taxes were paid in the countries where businesses operate.
The aim of the agreement is to stop multinational firms shifting profits to lower their tax bills, make them pay more in countries where they operate and adapt the system to cope with trade in intangibles like data and information.
India’s merchandise exports witness steep rise of over 67 % in May 2021
India’s merchandise exports in the last month recorded a steep rise of over 67 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year. The Union Commerce & Industry Ministry has informed that in the month of May this year the total merchandise export from the country stood at over 32 billion US Dollars.
It informed that the figure is nearly 8 per cent higher even when compared to the pre COVID statistics for the Month of May in 2019. Collectively the merchandise export for the month of April and May this year is more than 12.5 per cent as compared to the corresponding period in the year 2019.
The Commerce Ministry also informed that the merchandise imports in the first two months of the current financial year has been recorded to be 5.41 per cent less than that of the corresponding period in 2019.
However due to the value of the imports pegged at around 38 billion US dollars , the country has registered a trade deficit of over 6 billion US dollars in the previous month.
RBI keeps policy repo rate unchanged at 4.25% for sixth time in a row
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept the key rates unchanged in its bi-monthly monetary policy statement. While announcing the policy, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that the projected Gross Domestic Product growth will be 9.5 per cent for the ongoing Financial Year of 2021-2022. RBI has kept repo rate unchanged at 4.25 per cent, sixth time in a row. The RBI reverse repo rate or RBI’s borrowing rate also remains unchanged at 3.35 per cent. RBI has also maintained accommodative monetary policy stance to support growth and kept inflation at targeted level, he said.