SEAnews 2015-12-25 ArtNo.45616

【New Delhi】Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on December 14 said the winter session of Parliament, which had started with much promise of a détente between the government and the Opposition, was “threatened with a washout.” This diminished significantly the chances of the passage of the Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2014.
　Mr. Jaitley made the remark in a blog post he released right after an inconclusive meeting between government managers in Parliament and Congress floor leaders. “The last session of Parliament did not function. The current session is also threatened with a washout. The reasons for the washout of the current session keep changing by the hour,” he said.
　Amid a walk-out by the Congress, Jaitley said GST would offer the economy an opportunity to touch nine per cent growth rate.
　With only six working days of the ongoing winter session left, the likelihood of the passage of the GST Bill became remote because of the continuing disruption of parliamentary proceedings by the Opposition. Also, neither the government nor the Congress showed any keenness to meet again to take forward their negotiations on the issue.

○Exports fall for 12th straight month, down 24% in Nov

【New Delhi】Merchandise exports contracted for the 12th straight month in November, dropping 24.4% from a year before, as gloomy external environment and a crash in commodity prices continue to affect the outbound shipments
　Total exports stood at $20.01 billion against $26.48 billion in November 2014, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry on December 15.
　Imports, too, having dropped consistently since December 2014 as well, declined 30.26% to $29.79 billion in November compared with the year-ago period, when it was $42.72 billion.
　However, the trade deficit has narrowed for April-November 2015 to $87.54 billion from $102.5 billion last year.

○Receipts from service exports rise marginally in October 2015

【New Delhi】As per the provisional aggregate monthly data on India’s international trade in services released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), receipts from India’s service exports rose marginally by 0.2 per cent to USD 13.3 billion in October 2015 as compared to the preceding month.
　This was also 2.7 per cent higher than the average monthly export receipts that were seen during April-September 2015.
　Payments for India’s service imports fell sharply by six per cent to USD 7 billion in October 2015 as compared to the preceding month. This was the lowest level of services payments recorded in the past five months.
　Net earnings from India’s services trade rose to USD 6.3 billion in October 2015 from USD 5.9 billion in the preceding month. Net earnings from services trade had averaged USD 5.7 billion during April-September 2015.
　Services exports, however, rose almost 10% in October from a year before (it had risen just 3% in September from a year earlier), while services imports surged 18% to $7.01 billion, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry on December 15.

【News source】

Hopes recede for GST Bill passage

With GST, India can grow at 9%: Jaitley

Fading hope for GST as govt, Cong make no efforts for next meeting

Exports fall for 12th straight month, down 24% in Nov

Exports fall 24% in November

Exports fall for 12th straight month

Receipts from service exports rise marginally in October 2015

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