Banks cannot attach pension account to recover loan dues: Madras HC

While allowing a Writ Petition filed by Mrs. A. Muthuiruvakkal of Nagercoil in Kanyakumari district the Madras High Court Madurai Bench of Justice K. Ravichandrabaabu held that a Savings Bank Account maintained primarily for the purpose of depositing monthly pension amount could not be attached by a bank just because the account holder had defaulted repayment of a loan availed from them. The petitioner had challenged an order passed by the State Bank of India on August 13 preventing her from operating the pension account for recovering the outstanding loan amount.

सरकार ने विभि‍न्‍न उत्‍पादों के निर्यात को अब और ज्‍यादा सहारा देने की घोषणा की है, भारत से वस्‍तु निर्यात की योजना (एमईआईएस) के जरिए कुछ और उत्‍पादों को कवर किया गया

वैश्‍वि‍क अर्थव्‍यवस्‍था में छाई सुस्‍ती के चलते भारतीय निर्यातकों के सामने मौजूद चुनौतियों को ध्‍यान में रखते हुए वाणिज्‍य विभाग ने आज विभि‍न्‍न उत्‍पादों के निर्यात को अब और ज्‍यादा सहारा देने की घोषणा की। यही नहीं, वाणिज्‍य विभाग ने भारत से वस्‍तु निर्यात की योजना (एमईआईएस) में कुछ और उत्‍पादों को शामिल कर लिया है। विदेश व्‍यापार महानिदेशालय द्वारा 29 अक्‍टूबर, 2015 को जारी सार्वजनिक नोटिस 44 के जरिए ये नए कदम उठाए गए हैं।

    विदेश व्‍यापार नीति (एफटीपी) 2015-20 के जरिए 1 अप्रैल, 2015 को शुरू की गई एमईआईएस एक प्रमुख निर्यात संवर्धन योजना है, जिसे वाणिज्‍य एवं उद्येाग मंत्रालय द्वारा क्रियान्वित किया गया है। एमईआईएस में 4914 वस्‍तुओं (टैरिफ लाइंस) के लिए उत्‍पाद एवं बाजार पर फोकस करते हुए प्रोत्‍साहन दिए गए हैं। एमईआईएस के तहत ईनाम कवर किए किए निर्यात के हासिल एफओबी मूल्‍य के प्रतिशत के रूप में देय होते हैं। यह एमईआईएस ड्यूटी क्रेडिट स्‍क्रि‍प के जरिए देय होता है, जिसे हस्‍तांतरित किया जा सकता है और बुनियादी सीमा शुल्‍क समेत विभि‍न्‍न तरह के शुल्‍कों की अदायगी के लिए इसका इस्‍तेमाल किया जा सकता है।

    वर्तमान संशोधन में 110 नई टैरिफ लाइंस को शामिल किया गया है और इसके तहत मौजूदा 2228 टैरिफ लाइंस के लिए दरों अथवा देश संबंधी कवरेज अथवा दोनों को ही बढ़ाया गया है। 29 अक्‍टूबर, 2015 को जारी सार्वजनिक नोटिस 44 में अतिरिक्‍त कवरेज के सार के बारे में विस्‍तार से बताया गया है।, जो निम्‍नलिखि‍त है :

I – निम्‍नलिखि‍त श्रेणियों को वैश्‍वि‍क सहारा प्रदान किया गया है :

·        वस्‍त्र आइटम (चैप्‍टर 50-60)

·        दवाइयां, शल्य चिकित्सा, हर्बल्स

·        परियोजना वस्तुओं का निर्यात

·        ऑटो कलपुर्जे

·        दूरसंचार, कंप्यूटर, इलेक्ट्रिकल और इलेक्ट्रॉनिक्स उत्पाद

·        रेलवे, परिवहन उपकरण और कलपुर्जे

II - उत्‍पादों की निम्‍नलिखि‍त श्रेणियों, जिनमें से ज्‍यादातर का निर्माण एमएसएमई द्वारा किया जाता है, को ज्‍यादा सहारा प्रदान किया गया है :

·        औद्योगिक मशीनरी, आईसी इंजन, मशीन के उपकरण, डेयरी, कृषि, खाद्य प्रसंस्करण, कपड़ा, कागज के लिए कलपुर्जे एवं मशीनरी

·        कृषि/बागवानी/वानिकी, सुरक्षा रेजर, ब्‍लेड में इस्तेमाल किए जाने वाले हस्‍त औजार

·        सभी प्रकार के ताले, सुदृढ़ तिजोरी, मजबूत बक्से और दरवाजे, सुरक्षित जमा (सेफ डिपॉजिट लॉकर)

·        फ्लेक्सिबल (लचीली) टयूबिंग, पैकेजिंग के लिए पिल्फर प्रूफ कैप्स

·        साइकिल के कलपुर्जे

III – चुनिंदा चमड़ा उत्पादों, लोहा, इस्पात और मूल धातुओं, उत्पादों के लिए अतिरिक्त देशों को कवर किया गया है।

IV - काजू, सिले-सिलाये वस्‍त्रों, कागज की लुगदी वाले उत्पादों और हाथ से तैयार ऊनी शॉल को अब कहीं ज्‍यादा सहारा देने की इजाजत दी गई है।

V - निम्नलिखित नए उत्पादों को जोड़ा गया है:

·        मानव निर्मित वस्त्र सामग्री के लचीले मध्यवर्ती थोक कंटेनर

·        चिकित्सा उपकरण

·        खेल-कूद के सामान

·        प्राकृतिक रबड़, रसायन और प्लास्टिक के मूल्‍य वर्द्धि‍त/प्रसंस्कृत उत्पाद

5. उत्पादों, दरों और देश संबंधी कवरेज की पूरी सूची डीजीएफटी की इस वेबसाइट पर उपलब्ध है :http://dgft.gov.in/Exim/2000/PN/PN15/pn4416.pdf

Central Government notifies the general conditions for grant of license for cultivation of opium poppy in the crop year 2015-16

The Central Government vide Notification No. 1/2015-Narcotics Control-1 dated 5th October, 2015 has notified the general conditions for grant of license for cultivation of opium poppy on account of the Central Government during the Opium Crop Year commencing on the 1st day of October, 2015 and ending with the 30th day of September, 2016. Under the proposed policy, the average yield of opium Cultivators who had cultivated opium poppy during the crop year 2014-15 has been fixed at 56 kg/hectare for cultivators in the States of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and an average yield of opium of not less than 52 kg/hectare in the State of Uttar Pradesh. 

The Central Government would consider issue of more licenses to farmers this year with good performance in the past for cultivation of opium poppy in the future, in light of proposed augmentation of capacity of the Government Opium and Alkaloid Works, adequate demand of opium for domestic and export purposes, provided the concerned farmers have satisfied MQY and other conditions of the licensing policy of the relevant year. 

Such licenses, as and when issued, would be through an objective and transparent policy keeping in mind the interests of all the stakeholders. The policy would endeavor giving priority to traditional cultivators who have been earlier granted licenses for cultivation of opium poppy.

Forward Markets Commission to be merged with SEBI from September 28

The government on Wednesday notified the merger of commodities market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) with Sebi with effect from September 28.

"Forward Contracts Regulation Act (FCRA) 1952 gets repealed and Regulation of Commodity Derivatives Market will shift to Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) under Securities Contracts Regulation Act (SCRA) 1956 with effect from 28th September, 2015," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in his Budget speech, had announced the merger of FMC with the capital market regulator Sebi to strengthen the regulation of commodity futures market.

A unified regulator for commodities and capital markets will help streamline monitoring of commodity futures trading and curb wild speculations. In the wake of a Rs 5,500-crore payment crisis at the National Spot Exchange Ltd, FMC was brought under Finance Ministry in 2013.

Enabling legislation, amending the Securities Contracts Regulation Act (SCRA) 1956 and FCRA 1952 were proposed in the Finance Act, 2015.

In the beginning, FMC was only regulating regional commodity exchanges and its role was expanded after the emergence of national electronic trading platform in early 2000.

Currently, there are three national and six regional bourses for commodity futures in the country. The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) had recommended that Sebi, IRDA, PFRDA and FMC should be merged into a single entity into a unified financial agency (UFA).

Steps to Boost Exports By India Gov

India’s merchandise Exports, Imports as well as Trade Deficit during the last three years have shown a mixed trend as evident from the table below:-

Values in US $ Billion
	Export	Growth %	Import	Growth %	Trade Deficit	Growth %	*  GDP	Trade Deficit as % of GDP
2012-13	300.4	-1.8	490.7	0.3	190.3	3.8	1835.8	10.4
2013-14	314.4	4.7	450.2	-8.3	135.8	-28.6	1875.2	7.2
2014-15	310.5	-1.2	447.6	-0.6	137.1	1.0	2051.1	6.7
*Source: CSO, New Series Estimates( 2012-13, 2013-14), DGCI&S

It would be seen from the Table above that Trade Deficit as % of GDP has shown a continuously declining trend. The major contributors for the trade deficit are imports of Petroleum and Gold (contributing for nearly 80% or more of total trade deficit). Whereas the import of Petroleum is critical for the growth of economy and meeting the energy needs of the country, the government introduces various policy measures from time to time, for managing imports of gold, keeping in view the overall economic and Current Account Deficit (CAD) situation of the country.

The government has taken a number of measures to restore the positive growth rate in exports and manage imports, in order to manage the Trade deficit.  The main steps taken are:

i)          Government performs import appraisal to evaluate the quantum of imports on a periodic basis. In order to control imports of gold and silver the Government gradually increased customs duty on gold from 2 per cent in January 2012 to 10 per cent in August 2013. In the month of April, 2015, the Government raised import tariff value of gold to $388 per 10g from $375 per 10g and of silver to $524 per  Kg from $512 per Kg.

ii)            Government has recently released the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-20, which has introduced two new schemes, namely, ‘Merchandise Exports from India Scheme’ (MEIS) for incentivising export of specified goods to specified markets and ‘Service Exports from India Scheme’ (SEIS) for increasing exports of notified services from India for diversification of India’s export markets and products and give a boost to India’s exports.  This also includes goods and services from MSME Sector.

iii)        The Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 has also introduced several measures for facilitating trade and improving `Ease of doing business’ by reducing the number of mandatory documents required for export and import to three each. In order to facilitate faster processing and enable working in 24*7 mode, DGFT has facilitated submission of various applications and documents in online mode, as well as online payment of application fees through credit/debit cards and electronic fund transfer from 53 banks. CBEC has also facilitated integration of Plant Quarantine and FSSAI with EDI system of Customs, for purposes of export and import.  These measures will facilitate trade by reducing transaction cost and time.

iv)        In order to provide Indian exporters better access to various markets, the government is engaged in regional, bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations with various countries and trade blocks.

v)         In order to promote exports, the State governments have been requested to develop their export strategy, appoint export commissioners, address infrastructure constraints restricting movement of goods, facilitate refund of VAT/Octroi/State level cess, and address other issues relating to various clearances etc. and build capacity of new exporters.

vi)        The government continuously monitors the export performance of different sectors to different countries and takes need based measures from time to time, keeping in view the emerging global financial situation and overall economic implications.

The quantity of incense sticks exported during the last three years are as under:                                                                           (Quantity in thousand kgs)

Year	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Incense Sticks	42220.29	40092.04	42423.33

The top ten countries to which the incense sticks have been exported are United States of America, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Nepal, Brazil, Malaysia, Chile and Iran. 

           This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Rajya Sabha 

SOURCE - PIB

Indian states by GDP Growth

At constant 2004-05 prices, Puducherry has attained highest GSDP growth of 10.69% among 33 Indian States and Union Territories In year 2013-14. Only Puducherry has growth rate of above 10 per cent. Next in line come Meghalaya (9.76%), Chandigarh (9.64%), Madhya Pradesh (9.48%) and Delhi (9.35%). With Gross state domestic product Growth rate of 9.12 per cent Bihar is at number 7 and Gujarat is at number 10.

Six states/UTs has growth rate between 9 - 10 % and 5 states has between 8 - 9 %. The bottom five states, in reverse order, are Odisha (1.82%), Telangana (4.76%), Rajasthan (4.79%), Uttar Pradesh (4.95%) and Chhattisgarh (4.99%).

Data for 2014-15 are available for 14 states. Top 3 Fastest growing Indian states are Puducherry, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

During Period 2005-14, Sikkim has highest average growth rate of 16.49%. Uttarakhand (12.45%), Puducherry (10.62%), Goa (10.26%) is at 2nd, 3rd, and 4th position, respectively. Rank of Bihar is 8 and rank of Gujarat is 9. Four states/UTs has average growth rate of above 10 per cent. 11 states has above 9 per cent, and 18 has above 8 per cent. 20 states has grown faster than India's average 7.61 per cent at 2004-05 prices. Bottom five states are : Manipur, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha.

At current prices, top five fastest growing states during 2005-14 are : Sikkim (26.06%), Uttarakhand (19.57%), Bihar (18.10%), Telangana (17.92%), and Rajasthan (16.74%). 17 states has growth rate greater than India's average 15.04 per cent. Five slowest states are : Manipur, Jharkhand, Assam, Tripura and Nagaland.

Rank	State	GSDP Growth (04-05 Prices)			GSDP Growth (Current Prices)
		14-15	13-14	05-14	14-15	13-14	05-14
1	Sikkim	-	7.87	16.49	-	18.18	26.06
2	Uttarakhand	9.34	8.43	12.45	12.88	13.53	19.57
3	Puducherry	11.54	10.69	10.62	22.50	25.50	15.96
4	Goa	-	7.71	10.26	-	15.30	16.49
5	Delhi	-	9.35	9.99	-	16.18	16.77
6	A. & N. Islands	-	5.11	9.92	-	9.18	14.65
7	Telangana	-	4.76	9.80	-	12.87	17.92
8	Bihar	9.45	9.12	9.45	17.06	17.05	18.10
9	Gujarat	-	8.76	9.33	-	16.26	15.92
10	Tamil Nadu	7.25	7.29	9.20	14.34	14.68	16.38
11	Maharashtra	-	8.71	9.00	-	11.52	15.20
12	Mizoram	-	7.78	8.68	-	23.13	16.24
13	Tripura	-	9.23	8.63	-	18.12	13.06
14	Haryana	-	6.97	8.52	-	13.93	16.88
15	Meghalaya	9.10	9.76	8.25	15.56	15.32	14.40
16	Madhya Pradesh	10.19	9.48	8.25	16.86	20.33	16.21
17	Rajasthan	-	4.79	8.14	-	10.09	16.94
18	Chhattisgarh	5.86	4.99	8.04	13.20	12.10	16.45
19	Himachal Pradesh	-	6.24	7.78	-	12.04	14.73
20	Nagaland	6.80	6.52	7.69	13.24	13.22	13.17
21	Kerala	-	6.27	7.38	-	13.93	14.29
22	Karnataka	-	5.40	7.36	-	12.26	14.98
23	Jharkhand	-	8.91	7.20	-	13.93	12.80
24	Chandigarh	-	9.64	7.11	-	16.09	14.69
25	Andhra Pradesh	7.21	7.16	7.00	12.03	13.20	14.78
26	Punjab	-	5.25	6.69	-	11.18	14.12
27	Uttar Pradesh	6.00	4.95	6.63	13.16	10.55	14.23
28	West Bengal	7.15	6.91	6.63	13.35	17.11	14.53
29	Odisha	8.08	1.82	6.59	13.86	8.66	15.13
30	Arunachal Pradesh	7.04	8.91	6.10	15.08	14.44	16.47
31	Jammu & Kashmir	-	5.18	5.82	-	12.59	13.83
32	Manipur	-	6.21	5.57	-	12.81	12.14
33	Assam	6.41	7.50	5.57	15.26	15.22	12.97
	India		4.74	7.61		11.54	15.04