Wholesale Price Index movement for primary articles and fuel & power indicates diverging weekly trends and persistent elevated year on year inflation.
Wholesale Price Index movements for Primary Articles and Fuel & Power for the week ended 19 March 2011 show a modest weekly decline in Primary Articles driven by falls in several food and non food items, while Fuel & Power rose week on week due to higher petroleum product prices. Both major groups continued to exhibit double digit year on year inflation rates, with detailed subgroup tables and a six week trend annexure showing heterogenous commodity level trends.

Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement pending ratification, enabling greater investment protection and cooperation in key economic sectors.
India and Zimbabwe intend to expand cooperation in mining, power, agriculture, railways and ICT, anchored by the Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement which India has ratified and is awaiting Zimbabwean ratification before exchange of instruments; complementary initiatives include an Indo Zimbabwe SME project with machinery, training and a planned Vocational Training Centre, increased technical cooperation training slots, major Indian investment in ZISCO, and the reactivation of the Joint Trade Committee to coordinate trade and investment implementation.

International MSME collaboration to share advisory experience and pursue structured dialogue for sectoral development and market access
Bilateral cooperation on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is proposed through exchange of best practices and institutional experience, with Canada offering to share its SME Advisory Committee model for policy advice. Indian officials acknowledged common challenges in financing and marketing and agreed to follow-up meetings to concretize steps for a structured dialogue focused on sectoral engagement and sustained policy-level exchanges to enhance SME development and market linkages.

Foreign direct investment in multi brand retail remains undecided following a discussion paper and inter ministerial review.
The Government has not taken a decision on Foreign Direct Investment in Multi Brand Retail Trading. The current policy allows foreign investment in single brand retail under conditions; a Discussion Paper was issued to obtain stakeholder views and an Inter Ministerial Committee analysed the comments and submitted a report that made no recommendation on multi brand retail FDI.

Wholesale price inflation: primary articles and non food commodities drove weekly rises while fuel and power remained unchanged.
Wholesale Price Index data for the week ending 12 March 2011 report Primary Articles at 188.0 (up ~1.0% weekly) with year on year inflation 13.53%; Food Articles rose modestly led by poultry, fruits & vegetables while Non Food Articles increased notably led by logs & timber and raw cotton; Fuel & Power remained unchanged at index 157.9 with point to point inflation 12.79%.

Service tax exemption on specified hospital and diagnostic services maintained until GST implementation; garment retail abatement increased.
The proposal to impose a service tax on air conditioned hospitals with more than twenty five beds and on diagnostic services was withdrawn and those services are exempted from the levy until the Goods and Services Tax comes into force; additionally, the abatement on the retail price of certain branded readymade garments and textile made ups was increased, reducing the taxable base for those products.

Electronic TDS/TCS submission via pen drive enabled; submitters must verify TIN center feasibility and media will be returned.
Acceptance of e-TDS/TCS statements has been expanded to permit submission via pen drive in addition to CD; filers should confirm feasibility with TIN Facilitation Centres, a single media may contain multiple statements, and the submitted media will be returned after acceptance.

Manufacturing policy target to increase sectoral GDP share and expand employment, prioritizing green and low carbon growth.
The Government proposes a draft Manufacturing Policy to increase the manufacturing sector's share of GDP and substantially expand employment, supported by significant investment, while integrating a Green Manufacturing and low carbon growth strategy that promotes eco innovation and participation in the market for environmental goods and services.

Foreign direct investment policy allows automatic approvals in most sectors, supported by a consolidated policy circular and active promotion.
India's FDI regime permits broad foreign ownership in most sectors through an automatic route and is maintained under an investor friendly policy subject to ongoing consultative review. The policy was consolidated in Circular 2 of 2010, providing a publicly accessible statement of entry and approval mechanisms. The Government also promotes investment by disseminating information, advising prospective investors, and establishing joint commissions, working groups and business fora to foster cooperation and stimulate FDI.

Patent examination backlog persists; recruitment of examiners underway, no new office branches proposed, list of grants published.
A significant patent examination backlog exists due to increased examination requests and examiner shortages; 200 examiner posts were created and a recruitment exam for 257 examiners was held, there is no proposal to open additional patent office branches, and a list of pharmaceutical product patents granted between 2005-06 and 2009-10 has been published on the Indian Patent Office website.

Broad based Trade and Investment agreement negotiations advancing to deepen trade and investment and address services and professional mobility.
Negotiations on a Broad based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) between India and the EU are advancing with multiple rounds completed; institutional mechanisms such as the Joint Economic & Trade Committee (JETCO) and an India-UK CEOs Forum are tasked with coordinating government and business inputs to enhance bilateral trade and investment, while identified principal export and import sectors (garments, transport equipment, machinery, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery, and industrial inputs) inform negotiation and policy priorities including movement of professionals and services liberalisation.

Wholesale Price Index update shows marginal monthly rise, varied sectoral movements and elevated annual inflation pressures.
Wholesale Price Index for February 2011 shows all commodities WPI at 146.0 with annual inflation at 8.31% and financial year build up 7.51%. Primary Articles fell 2.9% month on month due mainly to lower food article prices; Fuel & Power rose 0.7% led by higher petroleum and aviation turbine fuel costs; Manufactured Products rose 1.3% with mixed subgroup movements including increases in edible oils, textiles, chemicals and metals and declines in leather and selected food items. The release includes detailed item level variations and revised December 2010 final index.

Cluster Development Programme expands infrastructure support; approvals granted for multiple infrastructure proposals to upgrade MSE clusters.
Implementation of the Micro and Small Enterprises - Cluster Development Programme (MSE-CDP) to develop MSEs through cluster interventions establishing Common Facility Centers and infrastructure upgradation; under the scheme's infrastructure component, 130 proposals have been approved for infrastructure development.

Promotion of Small Enterprises: financial support under MSE-CDP and PMEGP expands infrastructure and assisted units across states.
The Government is promoting small enterprise creation through financial support under the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises- Cluster Development Programme and the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme. Nine infrastructure development projects were sanctioned in 2008-10 to establish or upgrade centres and estates, resulting in sixty-one small and micro enterprises established. PMEGP assistance is reported statewise for 2008-09 and 2009-10, with a table of units assisted by State/UT and aggregated totals showing an overall increase in assisted units.

Mail Network Optimization: KPI-driven upgrades and expanded Speed Post centres to bolster service competitiveness.
The Department has initiated a Mail Network Optimization project emphasising deployment of date-based Key Performance Indicators and enhancement of the Speed Net Track and Trace system to measure service delivery, together with KPI-driven monitoring of operations in twenty-eight major cities, technological upgradation of Speed Post Centres, establishment of premium delivery centres, and creation of additional Speed Post Centres to improve competitiveness and quality of Speed Post Service.

Wholesale price index movement shows easing in primary articles while fuel and power inflation moderates year-on-year.
Wholesale Price Index for the week ended 26 February 2011 shows the Primary Articles major group declined week on week with lower point to point annual inflation than the prior week, driven by decreases in Food Articles, Non Food Articles and Minerals for specified commodities, while Fuel & Power remained unchanged week on week though its year on year inflation moderated; the release supplies detailed subgroup indices, build up statistics and a commodity table.

Geographical indication registration secures regional tea identity while coupled IP and market support boost product quality and branding.
Promotion combines intellectual property protection and industry support: the geographical indication registration of "Assam orthodox" and a copyrighted Assam logo, plus the India Tea Logo, protect regional tea identity while recognition of agro climatic driven flavour distinctions informs quality differentiation; parallel Rubber Board assistance targets planting, productivity, quality and marketing in Karbi Anglong.

Equity support for public sector banks to preserve capital adequacy and restore minimum government ownership levels.
Decision to provide equity support to public sector banks to preserve Tier One CRAR at 8% and to raise Government of India shareholding in banks where it is below 58%, with modalities and implementation mechanisms to be worked out by the administration.

Income eligibility limits for minority matric scholarships set; no single unified income ceiling proposed.
Eligibility for minority scholarships is governed by separate family income ceilings for pre-matric and post-matric awards, determined for the Eleventh Five Year Plan period and functioning as administrative criteria; no proposal exists to establish a single unified income ceiling for all minority scholarship schemes.

FDI in power sector shows sustained year on year growth, with official figures reporting rising inflows over the period.
Foreign direct investment in the power sector showed a sustained year on year increase from 2003-04 to 2009-10, with annual rupee figures and corresponding US dollar amounts presented in brackets in an official press release summarising sectoral FDI inflows.