CA Online

The finance ministry has asked banks to give preference to Indian manufacturers under the ‘Make in India’ initiative when purchasing ATMs.  A finance ministry official said the directions are in accordance with the guidelines issued in 2017 by the then Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). “Banks have been directed to ensure compliance,” he said. DIPP has since then been renamed the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). DIPP had directed all departments to evolve an internal system of vetting the restrictive and discriminating terms against domestic manufacturers especially included in the tenders they float with states. The extant norms also said there should be no criteria for bidders that would be advantageous to foreign manufactured goods.  A bank executive said the move may help domestic ATM manufacturers, who number over 200,000. The Confederation of ATM Industries of India has in the past raised the issue that the revenues ...

Worried over a slowdown in exports, the government is looking to use India’s good relations with other countries to push up exports through governmentto-government (G2G) trading arrangements for food products.  The commerce department is exploring export of non-Basmati rice to the Philippines and Indonesia, and sugar to Egypt under this mechanism to boost exports that have been hit by rising protectionism globally and slowdown in trade. The department sent a proposal to Egypt last week to participate in its sugar tender. “We want to increase total exports and G2G trade is one such arrangement. This was a common way to trade a decade ago and is being revived now because many countries float tenders to procure food,” said one official aware of the details. “We want to be part of that procurement.”  The foreign trade policy for 2015-20 has set a target of dollar 900 billion for merchandise and services exports by 2020, which is seemingly unachievable due to muted growth of tr...