Commerce Minister News

He said that the idea of the ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) is that small retailers should be protected. Further, he suggested a five-point action plan for IIT students to unleash India's golden era.

The two-day India US trade talks came to an end on Friday with no big breakthrough but sides agreeing to continue discussions on trade issues. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal will be going to Washington for the next round of talks, the dates of which are yet to be decided.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday held a meeting with other ministers and government officials for a review of the current Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy, informed sources said.

Only illegal slaughter houses are being shut in Uttar Pradesh and there cannot be a difference of opinion that they should be shut, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday.

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has pitched for 'restriction free' imports of gold to help gems and jewellery exports and also discourage smuggling.

Volkswagen on Friday announced the biggest revamp in its history, cutting 30,000 jobs in a huge savings plan to help the German auto giant recover from the dieselgate emissions cheating scandal.

Doing some tough-speaking, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said the US Special 301 report on IPR is a "unilateral" move and no country has any right to interfere in the sovereign position of other nation.

No government has achieved what the Modi-regime has accomplished in the first two years of coming to power with regard to growth, lower inflation and a corruption-free environment, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

"We just started working on it. Because quantum of sugar is annually getting accumulated. In the last four years it (the accumulation of sugar) has been quite substantial," she told reporters here.

The government on Tuesday said FII investment limit in the banking and defence sector has been retained at the existing level to prevent 'fly by night operators' from disrupting the sensitive segments.

Ahead of the Parliament session, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday pushed for early passage of the Land Bill which is stuck due to opposition from various parties, insisting that the proposed legislation would give the farmers "much more" than the previous Act of 2013.

The ministry is also scheduled to meet chief ministers on July 15 to discuss the FDI issue.

Facing criticism on retail FDI issue, the government on Thursday sought to downplay the continuation of the policy permitting 51 percent FDI in the multi-brand retail sector saying the BJP's stand remains the same on the matter.

Growth of the eight sectors slowed to 3.5 per cent in 2014-15 compared with 4.2 per cent in the previous fiscal.

The visit assumes significance as India is one of the largest importers of crude oil and exporters of basmati rice to Iran. Iran has the world's fourth-largest oil reserves.

Besides demanding significant duty cuts for exporting automobiles to India, EU wants tax reduction in wines/spirits and dairy products as well as a strong intellectual property regime (IPR) in the country.

The two-way commerce is estimated at about USD 46.83 billion in April-December 2013.

As the government readies its national IPR policy, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that there is no question of "appeasing" the US or anyone else.

'Make in India' is an ambitious programme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi which aims at attracting domestic and foreign investments and boost manufacturing sector growth.

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will visit Sweden later this month to identify areas of closer economic cooperation between the countries.