Lava International
Africa calling
As the Indian smartphone industry gets more competitive, domestic handset maker Lava Mobiles has announced its entry into the African market via Egypt. Following a joint venture with Egypt-based Easy Group, the Indian company will offer its products in Egypt. Lava will start with selling and marketing its devices in Egypt and subsequently start manufacturing its products in the country. Interestingly, Lava is the first Indian smartphone company to foray into this market. The tie-up is expected to pave the way for the increased exports from India other than enabling the company to explore manufacturing opportunities in Egypt and catering to North African markets. The collaboration will create 2,000 direct and 5,000 indirect employment opportunities in the next six months and over 10,000 employment opportunities in the next five years. The partnership is also being seen as a step to strengthen the ‘Make in India’ initiative. Being the second largest mobile market in Africa, Egypt represents immense scope and potential for Indian smartphone manufacturers.
MANUFACTURING UNIT
The lion roars, yet again
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative received another shot in the arm when Chinese Internet ecosystem conglomerate LeEco recently announced the start of its first $7 million manufacturing unit in Greater Noida. LeEco had entered the Indian market in January 2016 and coming up with a manufacturing facility just within eight months of its entry reflects its commitment and alignment with the ‘Make in India’ initiative. The company also plans to make India its export hub and would be manufacturing 200,000 smartphones monthly by the end of 2016. The company’s Greater Noida unit currently has the capacity to produce 60,000 phones.
Beef Export
The Indian Alternative
As Indonesia plans to cool beef prices and reduce its dependence on Australian live cattle, Indian buffalo meat is all set to find its place on the Jakartian menu. Indonesian government’s procurement agency, Bulog, recently announced that it has signed an agreement with India to import a total of 80,000 tonne of buffalo meat in 2016. This is to stabilise beef prices, boost supply and balance the effects of food imports from Australia. It must be noted that meat prices in Indonesia had increased following the restrictions imposed on beef and cattle imports. According to reports, Jakarta is planning to increase its live cattle imports and has opened its border to beef from various sources. At the same time, it is encouraging beef production as a part of its efforts to increase self-sufficiency. It is now to be seen as to how imports of Indian beef would affect Australia’s exports to Indonesia, which was the biggest market for Aussie live cattle exports in 2015.
BILATERAL TIES
Strengthening the Bond
In order to foster closer ties between India and Vietnam, India extended its biggest Line of Credit to Vietnam till date – $500 million – to facilitate defence cooperation. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Vietnam, the two countries responded to the emerging regional challenges as they upgrade their status to Comprehensive Strategic Partners. Vietnam earlier had strategic partnerships only with China and Russia, nations with which it shares a communist legacy. The two nations also signed 12 agreements in sectors covering information technology, space, double taxation and shipping information. An agreement on construction of offshore patrol boats was also signed by both the sides. In addition, the duo agreed to enhance bilateral commercial engagement to achieve the trade target of $15 billion by 2020. Interestingly, this was the first visit to the Southeast Asian nation by an Indian prime minister in 15 years.
AVOCADO IMPORTS
Opening doors to exotic flavours
Having tasted the Peruvian grapes, the exotic fruit lovers in India would soon be relishing avocados from Peru. Following successful technical negotiations carried out by Peru’s National Agricultural Health Service, Senasa, India gave its nod for the imports of Peruvian Hass avocados. Access to the Indian market for Peruvian avocados was not an easy task, as throughout the negotiations Senasa kept holding various meetings with Indian health authorities, making efforts and taking adequate steps to ensure elimination of sunblotch pest from the fruit. Senasa satisfied Indian authorities that the Hass avocados that will be exported are not the host for the fruit fly, allowing them to meet the phytosanitary requirements for imports. With India opening its border for avocados, Peru is now working with Indian authorities to open up access to citrus fruits like asparagus and blueberries.
scotch imports
Cheering up!
India’s love for Scotch whisky is well known! The country has now emerged as the third-largest importer of Scotch whisky, with 41 million bottles being imported in the first six months of 2016. This puts India behind just France (90.9 million bottles) and US (53.1 million bottles). Interestingly, Scotch whisky accounts for nearly 25% of all British food and drink exports. And India is one of the fastest growing markets for the product in the world. According to Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), despite a 150% basic customs duty imposed by India, exports to India increased by 28% y-o-y by value to £43 million during H1 2016. SWA has called for urgent action from the UK government, asking it to prioritise discussions with the Indian government as UK develops its post-Brexit strategy. SWA wants UK to negotiate liberalisation of the import duty regime imposed by India to realise the full potential of the Indian market. If that happens, Indian Scotch lovers may suddenly find their evening tipple a tad less expensive!
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