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India’s overall export (Merchandise and Services combined) stood at USD 58.22 billion in November 2022, registering a positive growth of 10.97 per cent over the same period last year. As per an official release, overall import in November 2022 is estimated to be USD 69.33 Billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 5.60 per cent over the same period last year.

Further, India’s overall exports in April-November 2022 is estimated to register a positive growth of 17.72 per cent over the same period last year. As India’s domestic demand has remained steady amidst the global slump, overall imports in April-November 2022 is estimated to grow at 29.47 per cent.

India’s overall exports (Merchandise and Services combined) in April-November 2022 are estimated to be USD 499.67 Billion. Overall imports in April-November 2022 are estimated to be USD 610.70 Billion.

India’s merchandise exports exhibited a positive (y-o-y) growth in 15 out of 30 sectors in November as compared to the same period last year and imports have increased in 19 out of 30 sectors (y-o-y). Among the QE commodity groups, electronic goods (54.48%), gems and jewellery (4.61%), RMG of textiles (11.70%), drugs and      pharmaceuticals (8.66%), rice (19.16%), leather & leather products (8.68%), ceramic products & glassware (22.64%), fruits and vegetables (25.01%), cereal preparations & miscellaneous processed (22.75%), other cereals (53.78%), oil seeds (38.83%), oil meals (17.55%), tobacco (101.02%), tea (27.03%) and coffee (3.21%) registered positive growth (y-o-y) in November 2022.

India’s wholesale inflation rate, based on the All India Wholesale Index (WPI), eased to 5.85% for the month of November, 2022 (over November, 2021) against 8.39% recorded in October, 2022. As per a release from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, the decline in rate of inflation in November, 2022 is primarily due to the fall in prices of food articles, basic metals, textiles, chemicals & chemical products and paper & paper products as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

The month over month change in WPI index for the month of November, 2022 stood at (-)0.26% as compared to October, 2022.

Prices of Minerals (5.98%), Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas (0.29%) and Non-food articles (0.18%) increased in November, 2022 as compared to October, 2022. Prices of food articles (3.07%) declined in November, 2022 as compared to October, 2022.

Prices of Mineral Oils (3.61%) and Electricity (2.42%) increased in November, 2022 as compared to October, 2022.

Out of the 22 NIC two-digit groups for manufactured products, 11 groups have witnessed increase in prices while 10 groups have witnessed decrease in prices. Index of two groups has remained unchanged. The increase in price is mainly contributed by food products; fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment; other manufacturing; other non-metallic mineral products; machinery and equipment etc. Some of the groups that have witnessed decrease in prices are basic metals; textiles; chemicals and chemical products; paper and paper products; rubber and plastics products; in November, 2022 as compared to October, 2022.

The Food Index consisting of food articles from Primary Articles group and ‘Food Product’ from Manufactured Products group have decreased from 177.5 in October, 2022 to 174.3 in November, 2022. The rate of inflation based on WPI Food Index decreased from 6.48% in October, 2022 to 2.17% in November, 2022.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Department of Space to develop the Krishi-Decision Support System (Krishi-DSS) using geospatial technologies and related databases for enhancing evidence based decision making capability of all the stakeholders in the agriculture sector.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is developing Krishi-DSS, a decision support system, on the lines of Gati Shakti, using RISAT-1A and VEDAS of the Department of Space. 

Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that a new dimension is being added in the field of agriculture. Revolution is being initiated in the agriculture sector through space science. He said that the agreement between the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Space will further enhance the strength of the agriculture sector. If this knowledge reaches the farmers, their production and productivity will increase. The quality of production will increase and export opportunities will also increase.

Minister of State, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that RISAT-1A data would be extremely useful in developing decision support systems for Agriculture, Bioresources, Environment, Water Resources and Disaster Management. He said efforts were made to make this coordination and cooperation possible.

RISAT-1A, India’s first Radar Imaging Satellite, launched on 14th February 2022, is an all-weather satellite and can penetrate deep into vegetation. It can take high resolution geospatial images regardless of lighting conditions. RISAT-1A data is received, processed and disseminated by the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad, through its Bhoonidhi Geoportal.

Maharashtra publishes Special Allowance for Revised Minimum Wages for Engineering Industries from 29.11.22 to 31.12.22

D. A. of Drugs and Pharmaceuticals schedule employment for the period of 21.11.2022 to 31.12.2022

The CBDT circular contains the rates of deduction of Income-tax from the payment of income chargeable under the head “Salaries” during the financial year 2022-23

Copy of the circular is attached.

Maharashtra revises Minimum Wages for industries manufacturing Drugs and Pharmaceuticals from 21.11.22

Copy of notification attached

Maharashtra revises Minimum Wages for Engineering Industry from 21.11.22

Copy of notification attached

Maharashtra declares Public Holidays for the year 2023 under the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881

As per the Government, the National Single Window System (NSWS), a digital platform for facilitating ease of doing business, is rapidly gaining traction amongst the investors community and as of date has about 3.7 lakh plus unique visitors.Around 44,000+ approvals have been facilitated through NSWS and 28,000+ approvals are currently under process. The portal will progressively onboard a greater number of approvals and licenses, based on user /industry feedback.

The portal currently accepts applications for 248 G2B clearances from 26 Central Ministries/ Departments, in addition to different State/UT Level clearances in 16 States/UTs.

The NSWS was envisioned to reduce duplicity of information submission to different ministries, reduce compliance burden, promote sector specific reforms and schemes, reduce gestation period of projects, and promote ease of starting and doing business. NSWS enables the identification, applying and subsequent tracking of approvals for all integrated States and Central Departments, making it a true National Single Window System

Further, the Know Your Approvals (KYA) service is live on NSWS with 544 approvals across 32 Central Ministries/ Departments and 2895 approvals across 30 States/ UTs. While a total of 3439 approvals are listed, 1,32,510 investors have used the KYA module to know about the type of approvals they need for their businesses.

Plans are on to integrate 5 more states (Haryana, Andaman & Nicobar, Tripura, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh) to the portal by 15 December and a total of 71,000 approvals have been applied on NSWS till date. The Government has said that it expects to onboard the remaining 8 Ministries/Deptts of Govt of India by 31 Dec 2022 and the balance states/UTs by 31 March 2023.