The Centre will introduce new guidelines for releasing subsidies to farmers for the purchase of farm machinery and tools, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shobha Karandlaje has said. A major portion of the subsidy is at present set apart for the purchase of tractors and farmers are not able to purchase other farm machineries and tools required for their daily work, she said.  The minister asked youth...

-Moneycontrol.com Exports in April-November amounted to $295.26 billion, up 11.1 percent, while imports were 29.5 percent higher at $493.61 billion India's merchandise exports posted a marginal increase in November on a year-on-year basis to $31.99 billion, data released by the commerce ministry on December 15 showed. The rise in exports in November was a mere 0.6 percent. The latest trade numbers come after data released last month showed exports contracted 17 percent in October...

-The Hindu How are other export-dominated countries faring? Why is the government optimistic that domestic demand will counter the effects of declining exports? The story so far: India’s exports declined about 16.7% in October compared with the year-earlier period. This is the first slide reported for any month since February 2021. October imports rose at a much milder pace than earlier, most likely because of softening commodity prices worldwide, and trade deficit...

There is some respite expected for India in terms of prices of imported commodities. This may ease the depletion of its foreign exchange reserves. The country has faced a widening of its merchandise trade deficit from US$ -17.91 billion to US$ -26.91 billion between October 2021 and October 2022. The commodity price data provided by the World Bank in December 2022 (termed as The Pink Sheet) shows that energy prices plummeted by...

-The Hindu BMS chief Hiranmay Pandya said workers face low wages, lack of job security and social security benefits, and had to suffer poor working conditions this year On the second day of the Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of the International Labour Organisation (APRM of ILO), representatives of workers and employers from India on Wednesday highlighted the employment situation in the country. While employers hailed the Union government’s steps to “help” workers...