India's urban unemployment rate drops to 9.3% in Jan-Mar 2019: Govt data

The urban unemployment rate in the country fell to 9.3 per cent during January-March 2019 from 9.8 per cent in April-June 2018, government data showed on Saturday. The data does not contain comparable figure for the year-ago period of January-March 2018.
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released its Quarterly Bulletin for the January-March 2019 period, presenting estimates of labour force indicators, for urban areas, a statement said. The data showed that unemployment rate in urban areas among males was estimated at 8.7 per cent during January-March 2019 as compared to 9 per cent during April-June 2018.

For women, the UR was at 11.6 per cent during the reported period as against 12.8 per cent during April-June 2018. The government had been receiving a lot of criticism for high unemployment rates amid slowing economic growth. In May this year, government data had shown that joblessness in the country was 6.1 per cent of total labour force during 2017-18, the highest in 45 years.
The statement on Saturday pointed out that the overall labour force participation rate (LFPR) was estimated as 36 per cent in the urban areas during January-March 2019, as compared to 35.6 per cent during April- June 2018. The LFPR for men was estimated to be 56.2 per cent, while for women it was at 15 per cent in the urban areas during the January-March 2019 period.

Centre to import 100,000 tonnes onion to control price rise, says Paswan

The government on Saturday decided to import 1 lakh tonnes of onion to control prices that have shot up to about Rs 100 per kg in the retail market.
While state-owned trading firm MMTC will import onions, cooperative Nafed will supply the key kitchen items in the domestic market. This decision was taken at a meeting of a committee of secretaries held on Saturday.

"The government has taken a decision to import one lakh tonnes of onion to control prices," Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said in a tweet.
The MMTC has been asked to import onions and make it available for distribution in the domestic market, between November 15 and December 15 period, he added.
Nafed has been directed to supply imported onions across the country, the minister said.
Onion prices have risen sharply for more than a month due to tight supply. The retail prices have increased up to Rs 100 per kg in the national capital and ruling in the range of Rs 60-80 per kg in other parts of the country, as per the trade data.

Will continue to work with US to strengthen economic ties, says India

India Saturday said it will continue to work with the US to strengthen economic ties in the wake of America's decision to withdraw export benefits under a programme.
The US has said with effect from June 5, it will withdraw incentives to Indian exporters provided under its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme.

In a statement, the commerce ministry said in any relationship, particularly in the area of economic ties, there are ongoing issues which get resolved mutually from time to time.
"We view this issue as a part of this regular process and will continue to build on our strong ties with the US, both economic and people to people. We are confident that the two nations will continue to work together intensively for further growing these ties in a mutually beneficial manner," it said.
It said that the GSP benefits given by developed countries like the US to developing nations such as India are "unilateral, non reciprocal and non discriminatory".
The US' decision came following complaints by its medical devices and dairy industries, which have alleged that India did not provide equal market access to their products. The medical devices players have also raised objections over price caps put by India on products like stents.
The ministry said that India, as part of its bilateral discussions with US officials, had offered resolution on significant US requests in an effort to find a mutually acceptable way forward.
"It is unfortunate that this did not find acceptance by the US," it added.
However, it said that India, like other nations, shall always uphold its national interests in these matters.
"We have significant developments imperatives and concerns and our people aspire for better standards of living. This will remain the guiding factor in the government's approach," it said.
On March 4, the US had stated that it would roll back the GSP benefits after 60 days.
India had earlier also said that the US' decision will not have a significant impact on its exports to the country.
India exports goods worth USD 5.6 billion under the GSP, and the duty benefit is only USD 190 million annually, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan had said.
As many as 1,900 Indian products from sectors such as chemicals and engineering get duty free access to the US market under the GSP, introduced in 1976.
The US' demand for relaxation in norms for exports of medical devices and dairy products are non-negotiable for India.
Commenting on the issue, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Ganesha Kumar Gupta said the government should provide some support to products where GSP loss has been significant so that the market is not lost.
"We favour extension of Rebate of State and Central Tax Levies Scheme (RoSCTL) on such products on exports to US," Gupta said.

Govt releases draft e-commerce policy, restricts data storage abroad

The government Saturday released the draft national e-commerce policy proposing setting up a legal and technological framework for restrictions on cross-border data flow and also laid out conditions for businesses regarding collection or processing of sensitive data locally and storing it abroad.
The draft policy said the framework would be created to provide the basis for imposing restrictions on cross-border data flow from specified sources including data collected by IoT devices installed in public space, and data generated by users in India by various sources, including e-commerce platforms, social media, search engines.

The 42-page draft addresses six broad issues of the e-commerce ecosystem -- data, infrastructure development, e-commerce marketplaces, regulatory issues, stimulating domestic digital economy and export promotion through e-commerce.
"It is almost a cliche today that data is the new oil. Unlike in the case of oil, data flows freely across borders. It can be stored or processed abroad and the processor can appropriate all the value. Therefore, India's data should be used for the country's development and Indian citizens and companies should get the economic benefits from the monetisation of data," the draft 'National e-Commerce Policy - India's Data for India's Development' said.
A business entity that collects or processes any sensitive data in India and stores it abroad, shall be required to adhere to the certain conditions, according to the policy draft.
The conditions state that all such data stored abroad shall not be made available to other business entities outside India, for any purpose, even with the customer consent.
Further, the data shall also not be made available to a third party for any purpose and it would also not be shared with a foreign government, without the prior permission of Indian authorities, the draft said.
"Suitable framework will be developed for sharing of community data that serves larger public interest (subject to addressing privacy-related issues) with start-ups and firms. The larger public interest or public good is an evolving concept. The implementation of this shall be undertaken by a 'data authority' to be established for this purpose," it added.
The policy laid out strategies to protect misuse of data while maintaining the spirit of existing regulations, it said adding that e-commerce warrants a framework which extends across segments, due to the cross-cutting nature of issues.
On e-commerce marketplace businesses, it said the policy aims to invite and encourage foreign direct investment (FDI) in the marketplace model "alone", which is being carried out by companies like Flpkart and Amazon.
"An e-commerce platform, in which foreign investment has been made, therefore, cannot exercise ownership or control over the inventory sold on its platform. In this manner, foreign investment is not seen as a threat by small offline retailers of multi-branded products," it said.
Online marketplaces should not adopt business models or strategies which are discriminatory and which favour one or few sellers/traders operating on their platforms over others, the draft clarifies.
It enlists certain steps which has to be followed by all e-commerce websites/applications.
Besides, all e-commerce sites/apps available for download in India must have a registered business entity in India as the importer on record or as the entity through which all sales in India are transacted.
"This is important for ensuring compliance with extant laws and regulations for preventing deceptive and fraudulent practices, protection of privacy, safety and security," the draft, which has been floated for seeking public views, said.
It has also suggested measure to contain sale of counterfeit products, prohibited items and pirated content.
This is the second draft being prepared by the department for promotion of industry and internal (DPIIT) as several concerns were raised over the first draft of the department of commerce.
On the regulatory regime of the sector, it said the governments are finding existing regulations and structures inadequate to deal with issues thrown up by the digital economy.
Existing statutes and laws, the draft said, need to evolve to take into account the changing ways of doing business and changing business models.
On taxation related issues in the sector, the draft policy said the current practice of not imposing custom duties on electronic transmissions must be reviewed in the light of the changing digital economy and the increased role that additive manufacturing is expected to take.
On export promotion through e-commerce, it said there is a need to incentivise and reduce administrative requirements for outbound shipments through this medium.
"The existing limit of Rs 25,000 shall be increased to make Indian e-commerce exports attractive even for high-value shipments through courier mode," the draft said.
It also stressed on developing physical infrastructure for a robust digital economy and suggested steps for developing capacity for data storage in India.
"An assessment needs to be done regarding how data-storage-ready the available infrastructure in the country. Creation of infrastructure for storage would take some time. A time-frame would be put in place for the transition to data storage within the country. A period of three years would be given to allow industry to adjust to the data storage requirement," it said.