Policy Roundup: Pitching for Investments in the US; MoUs With UK, UAE and More

Last Updated on Sep 9, 2022 by

Here are the key highlights of the past week on bulk drug parks, jewellery hallmark, call for US investors, MoU with UAE on Education and more.

Table of Contents

1. Centre’s nod for bulk drug parks in three states

The Department of Pharmaceuticals has provided approvals to the proposals from Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh under the scheme for promoting bulk drug parks.
The scheme, with a financial outlay of Rs. 3,000 cr., provides financial assistance to the three states for establishing the parks and aims to bring down the cost of manufacturing bulk drugs by creating common infrastructure facilities.

2. 3.7 cr. Jewellery articles hallmarked

To ensure the quality of jewellery sold in the market, about 3.7 cr. Jewellery pieces have been hallmarked from 01 April 2022 till 31 July 2022.
During 2021-2022, 8.68 cr. Jewellery articles were hallmarked after hallmarking of gold jewellery was made mandatory from 23 June 2021.
The number of BIS registered jewellers increased from 43,153 on 01 July 2021, to 1,43,497 on 01 August 2022.
Provision to allow a common consumer to get the purity of their unhallmarked gold jewellery tested at any of the BIS recognised Assaying and Hallmarking Centres (AHC) was launched on 01 January 2022.

3. GST revenue in August hits Rs. 1.4 lakh cr.

GST revenues for August were 28% higher than the collection made in the same month last year.
Monthly GST revenues have been more than Rs.1.4 lakh cr. for six months in a row.

4. Ensuring safety and standards of vehicle batteries

After several fire incidents observed in electric two-wheelers in different parts of the country, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highway constituted an Expert Committee. Several members recommend additional safety requirements in the existing battery safety standards.
Based on the committee’s recommendations, the Ministry has amended AIS 156- Specific requirements for motor vehicles of the L category (motor vehicles with less than four wheels and a quadricycle) with an electric power train.
These amendments include additional safety requirements related to battery cells, BMS, on-board charger, design of battery pack, internal cell short-circuiting and more. The changes come into effect from 01 October 2022.

5. 28th edition of status report on external debt released

India’s external debt stands at US$620.7 bn as of 31 March 2022. It has grown by 8.2% from US$573.7 bn as of end-March 2021. While 53.2% of it was denominated in the US dollar, Indian rupee-denominated debt, estimated at 31.2%, was the second largest.
External debt as a ratio to GDP fell to 19.9% as of March-end 2022 from 21.2% a year ago.

6. CCI clears two corporate acquisitions

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the acquisition of a stake in Apraava Energy Private Limited by CDPQ Infrastructures Asia II Pte. The proposed combination pertains to the acquiring an additional 10% shareholding in Apraava by CPL GPEC (Mauritius) Holding Limited.
The CCI also approved the acquisition of 100% of the equity share capital of IndiaIdeas.com Limited (IIL) by PayU Payments Private Limited (PayU India).

7. Lentils procurement rules relaxed

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare increased the limit from 25 quintals to 40 quintals per day for the purchase of Moong and Urad under the Price Support Scheme during the summer season 2021-22 for farmers in Madhya Pradesh.
The relaxation of procurement rules has come into effect immediately.

8. Tapping investors in the US

The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, was in the US last week and called upon investors in the US to avail the opportunities that India offers in an address to the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) in San Francisco.
Speaking on India-US relations, Goyal said the relations between India-US are a ‘Partnership of Trust’, which rests on 3Ts – Trade, Technology and Talent.

9. Cabinet approves signing of MoU with UAE on Education

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the signing of an MoU between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Education of UAE on cooperation in the field of education.
The objective of the MoU is to strengthen and widen the educational collaboration between India and UAE.
The earlier MoU was signed in 2015, with the UAE expired in 2018.
The new MoU incorporates changes by the National Education Policy 2020 in India’s education ecosystem.

10. MoU on mutual recognition of academic qualifications with the UK

The Union Cabinet granted approval for the MoU between India and the United Kingdom on mutual recognition of academic qualifications, signed on 25 April 2022.
The MoU aims to promote academic collaboration and student mobility.
Professional degrees like engineering, medicine, nursing and para-medical education, pharmacy, law, and architecture are out of the purview of this MoU.
It will also facilitate the establishment of joint/dual degree courses between higher education institutions, one of the objectives under NEP 2020 for the intel-nationalisation of education.

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