by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Commodities, Commodities News, Corporate, Corporate Governance, Large Enterprise
New Delhi : With India and its agriculture and food processing sectors facing grave nutritional challenges, industry chamber Assocham on Sunday suggested the government should adopt a two-pronged strategy based on the public-private partnership (PPP) mode to promote nutritious and diversified food production.
In a report, “Bridging the gap: Tapping agriculture potential for optimum nutrition”, jointly prepared with British financial services firm Ernst & Young (EY), Assocham said that while the government in partnership with companies should promote nutritious food among consumers, it should also promote diversified and resilient food production to reduce costs.
“There is a need to focus on a dual pronged approach, where on the demand side, nutritious food is promoted among consumers by bringing companies and the government together on a consumer sensitisation campaign; and on the other hand, diversified and resilient food production is promoted that reduces the cost of production on the supply side,” it said.
“India must bring about both policy and practice level reforms in order to cater to the large unmet need of both macronutrients and micronutrients.
“The nutrition and agriculture programs will need to strengthen both demand and supply side initiatives such as agricultural diversification of farmland, food production, food fortification, strengthening food supply chains, empowering local communities for growing nutritious food and encouraging kitchen gardens,” Assocham said.
India needs to shift its approach towards “responsible farming” where enhancing agricultural production can no longer be seen as the sole objective of the sector, according to the Assocham-EY study.
“Focusing on nutritional adequacy to address India’s malnutrition crisis will have to be considered as a prime objective as the country is home to about 50 per cent of world’s undernourished children,” it said.
The study also suggested the need to shift focus to a “crop-neutral agricultural policy” that reduces the bias toward particular staple commodities while encouraging farmers to respond to the market demands.
According to Assocham, “bio-fortification” would prove to be a more effective strategy in India as it is cost-effective and has the ability to reach the rural population.
“Such initiatives need to be scaled up to ensure that a larger proportion of population can reap its benefits,” the statement said.
“There is a strong need of convergence between the health and agriculture sectors along with gender-based empowerment,” it added.
Developing a nutrition-sensitive approach to agriculture is critical to successfully meet India’s nutrition requirements and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the report concluded.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Economy, Markets, Medium Enterprise, News, SMEs
New Delhi : Assocham on Tuesday urged the government to provide interest equalisation of three per cent in respect of yarn exports in the budget for 2018-19, with a view to boost yarn exports and ensure that domestic product can compete in global markets.
As part of its pre-budget recommendations on indirect taxes submitted to the Centre, the industry lobby also requested that two per cent of the benefits of the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) be extended to the spinning sector as the recent spike in raw material and other input costs have made the industry’s survival difficult.
On the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme, Assocham requested that sufficient provision be made in the Union Budget 2018-19 to take care of old left out cases and the current dues.
“While this scheme has been operating since 1999 and has been prevalent over the period with various amendments and is currently valid up to March 2022, during last 3-4 years there have been problems in its implementation,” the Assocham pre-budget memorandum on indirect taxes pointed out.
The chamber urged the government to reduce the hank yarn obligation by half from the current level of 40 per cent.
Assocham sought abolition of customs duty on import of wool fibre, stating: “The apparel grade wool of fine micron (25 micron and finer) and other animal hair are not available indigenously in our country as such the woollen industry is dependent on imports.”
The industry chamber requested the Centre to reduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on man-made fibre from 18 per cent to 12 per cent so that it is fully set-off at the yarn stage.
Seeking exemption from payment of GST on export of goods, the industry chamber said under the present system, an exporter has to pay IGST on export of goods, which is refunded to him on submission of shipping bills which involves blockage of working capital for a long time.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, Markets, News, Politics
New Delhi : With government policies set to tilt more towards the “stress-ridden rural landscape” next year in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Indian economy may reach a 7 per cent growth in 2018 while recovering from the lingering effects of demonetisation and GST, industry chamber Assocham said on Sunday.
“After ‘disruptions’ from the lingering effects of demonetisation and GST roll-out, the Indian economy may reach a 7 per cent growth in 2018 with government policies tilting towards the stress-ridden rural landscape in the penultimate year before the Lok Sabha elections,” according to the industry body’s “Year-Ahead Outlook”.
“Against GDP growth of 6.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2017-18, the economic expansion may reach the crucial 7 per cent mark by the end of September 2018 quarter, while inflation may range between 4-5.5 per cent towards the second half of the next calendar year with the monsoon being a key imponderable,” it said.
Assocham President Sandeep Jajodia said the projections were based on the assumption of stability in government policies, good monsoons, pick-up in industrial activity and credit growth as also stability in the foreign exchange rates.
“The worries on account of crude oil shooting up are likely to abate, if there are no fresh geo-political shockers.”
According to the Assocham outlook, while the underlying bullish sentiment should continue to prevail in the Indian stock market in 2018, the returns on equity may not be as robust as in 2017.
“This is because the 2017 bull run has already factored in the return of growth steadiness in 2018 and the corporate earnings witnessing a pick-up,” it said.
The industry lobby said in the run-up to state assembly elections in several politically important states, the political economy is set to tilt towards the farm sector “which has been witnessing some stress”.
“The stress in the agriculture sector is traceable to lack of reforms in the rural economy. Despite political promises, several of the states have not been able to reform the APMC Act, which restricts farmers to sell their produce to a particular set of cartels.”
Assocham expects the forthcoming Union Budget to be “heavily tilted” towards the farmers while the industrial focus would be on sectors which create jobs.
“A realisation seems to be dawning that growth per se is not enough, the benefits must be seen in the form of higher employment. The year 2018 would see policies in this direction”, the statement added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Buzz, Economy, Large Enterprise, Markets, News
New Delhi : The Indian healthcare market is likely to reach $372 billion by 2022 in a threefold growth in value terms, industry chamber Assocham said on Sunday, citing its latest study on the subject.
“India’s healthcare market may see threefold rise as its size in value terms is likely to reach $372 billion by 2022 from the level of $110 bn as of 2016, thereby clocking a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22 per cent,” an Assocham release said here, citing the Assocham-RNCOS joint paper.
“Growing lifestyle diseases, rising demand for affordable healthcare due to increasing healthcare costs, technological advancements, emergence of telemedicine, rapid health insurance penetration, mergers and acquisitions helping to reach untapped markets and government initiatives like tax benefits, incentives and a host of regulatory policies are driving the healthcare market in India,” the study said.
The paper “Indian Healthcare Sector- An Overview” said that factors like growing geriatric population, uptick in medical tourism and gradual decline in cost of medical services will drive the domestic medical devices market, which was valued at $4 billion in 2016 and is likely to cross the $11 billion mark by 2022, registering a CAGR of 15 per cent.
Imports, however, make up about 75 per cent of Indian medical devices market, according to the study.
It said generic drugs account for about 70 per cent of the $20 billion worth Indian pharmaceutical market.
“Increasing expenditure on research and development (R&D), rising collaborations between Indian and foreign companies, reduction in product approval time and other such factors are driving the growth of Indian pharmaceutical market,” the study said.
It also noted that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will have a positive impact on the Indian healthcare market, particularly on the pharmaceutical sector.
“GST would not only streamline taxation structure but lead to ease of doing business by minimising cascading effect of many taxes applied to a product, rationalise supply chain, enable flow of seamless tax credit, lower manufacturing cost, reduce cost of technology and make healthcare affordable,” it said.
According to Assocham, the Indian pharmaceutical market is third largest globally in terms of volume and 13th largest in terms of value.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Buzz, Large Enterprise, News, Politics
New Delhi : The GST rates for hydropower should be brought at par with wind and solar, so that value added cost and tax are commensurate for all renewable power projects, industry chamber Assocham said on Thursday.
This, among other suggestions, to revive the languishing hydropower sector in the country have been made in an Assocham paper titled “Need for Hydropower in India – Industry Submission”, which was released by Union Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister R.K. Singh here on Wednesday evening.
“Assocham has urged the Centre to fix Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates for hydropower at par with wind and solar, so that value added cost and tax are commensurate for all renewable power projects,” the industry body said in a statement.
“Hydro projects attract 18 per cent GST for equipment and 28 per cent for cement, while the same for solar is five per cent for Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC), which has a glaring additional cost impact on power produced from hydro projects,” noted the Assocham paper.
Besides, EPC contracts for hydropower projects should also be categorised under the lowest GST slab of 5 per cent, it said.
“Currently, electricity at the consumer end or at discom end does not attract any GST and therefore the last leg of consumption of GST is with the generator,” Assocham said.
Releasing the Assocham paper, the Power Minister said a draft hydro power policy is being finalised for being placed before the Union Cabinet.
“A sector which has failed to add even 2,500MW of capacity in the last five years is in urgent need of revival, given that only hydro power can help balance the grid in absorbing the much higher levels of renewable energy planned to be progressively introduced by the government,” Singh said at Assocham’s roundtable with stakeholders.
“The 175 gigawatt (GW) capacity target from renewable sources is given and is part of our international obligations (on climate change). To balance the grid, it needs balancing power and for that hydro fits the bill,” he said.
He noted that hydroelectric power did not have to be imported, unlike gas, which could also perform the grid balancing function.
“We have a policy in the works for hydropower development which will be placed shortly before the Cabinet for approval. States are interested in its development and it is necessary for our future,” the minister said referring to the environmental benefits of hydroelectricity.
“Renewables go with hydro for grid purposes also because the costs of solar and wind power have become quite cheap,” he added.
Multipurpose projects, which were at the centre of India’s development strategy post-Independence, have become unviable because of revenue issues and the sector is saddled with a large share of stalled projects and stressed assets.
Singh said that the ministry had received various suggestions from stakeholders on a scheme of financial incentives.
“Some of these suggestions spoke of increasing the period of loan as well as the depreciation period, which would help reduce the tariff,” he said.
The Assocham paper suggested that government should support commissioned and under-construction projects through power purchase agreements (PPAs) and by mandating hydro purchase obligations (HPOs).
It also recommended that states waive the current free power requirement which would help reduce tariff in the initial years and make the project “more viable and competitive”.
—IANS
