Digital export promotion: an e-catalogue aggregates engineering suppliers and enables searchable, downloadable company profiles for global buyers.
The Department of Commerce-backed e-catalogue promotes Indian engineering exports under the Brand India digital drive by aggregating supplier information across four sectors and offering device compatibility, advanced search by city/end-use/certificates/product category, downloadable company profiles, dedicated kiosks at international exhibitions, back-end support for sourcing queries, and media and digital promotion to broaden market reach.

Trade policy stimulus boosts export incentives, prioritising labour intensive manufacturing and value added services under FTP mid term review
Mid term revisions to the Foreign Trade Policy raise incentives under the MEIS for labour intensive MSME sectors and priority textile, garment, leather and footwear segments, and increase support for value added goods such as telecom and electronics components and medical equipment. Enhanced rates under the SEIS apply to major service categories, while complementary measures focus on market diversification, sectoral branding and export quality to improve access to target markets.

Export incentives expanded: duty exemptions, deemed exports status and increased MEIS/SEIS rates to support exporters.
To support exporters and address the trade deficit, the Government extended Advance Authorization, EPCG and 100% EOU schemes to allow sourcing from abroad and domestic suppliers, waived Integrated Goods and Services Tax and cess on imports for holders, and treated domestic supplies to them as deemed exports; additionally, MEIS and SEIS incentive rates were increased by two percentage points for specified sectors to enhance exporter competitiveness.

Export incentive schemes for MSMEs expanded, boosting MEIS and SEIS rates and introducing duty-free input procurement.
The Foreign Trade Policy provides targeted support to MSME exporters through a 3% Interest Equalization subvention on Rupee export credit, duty credit scrips under the Merchandise Exports from India scheme for India-manufactured goods (including MSME output), Status Recognition with double weightage for MSME export performance, and cluster training under the Niryat Bandhu Scheme. The mid-term FTP review increased MEIS and SEIS incentives for labour-intensive sectors, introduced self-assessment duty-free input procurement for exports, and created a Logistics Division to coordinate logistics reforms.

Economic growth projection prompting policy tilt toward rural support and employment-focused measures ahead.
Government policy is expected to prioritise the rural and agricultural sectors with a budget tilt to farmers and job-creating industrial measures; growth recovery is projected on assumptions of policy stability, good monsoon, industrial and credit pick-up, and stable foreign exchange. The note identifies regulatory constraints-lack of APMC reforms and restrictive agricultural marketing rules-and calls for revisiting import-export policy to improve farm incomes. Investment revival is likely delayed until later quarters after capacity absorption and debt reduction, while external accounts should remain manageable.

Methanol economy expansion could diversify energy supply and reduce dependence on crude oil imports through domestic feedstocks.
The coordinated initiative recommends producing methanol from high-ash coal, stranded gas, biomass and solid waste by upscaling and retrofitting existing facilities using indigenous technology and industry participation, positioning methanol as a cleaner fuel for transportation and cooking that can supplement energy solutions and help reduce crude oil import dependence through interagency, academic and industry collaboration.

Import duty increase on chickpeas and lentils to protect farmers by restricting cheap imports and supporting domestic prices.
Imposition of a 30% import duty on Chana (chickpeas) and Masoor (lentils) has been announced with immediate effect to protect domestic producers from cheap international imports that could suppress domestic prices and harm farmers' interests; the measure is implemented by a Customs notification and reflects a policy decision to use tariffs as a market intervention supporting agricultural incomes.

Exchange rate determination for import and export goods set by customs notification, superseding the prior exchange-rate notice.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs prescribes official rupee-equivalent exchange rates for specified foreign currencies, with distinct rates for imported goods and for export goods, effective from 22nd December, 2017, and superseding the immediately prior customs exchange-rate notification; rates are set out in two annexed schedules for use in customs valuation and related statutory compliance.

Monetary Policy Committee keeps repo rate at 6.0% and maintains neutral stance amid rising oil and input cost risks.
Under Section 45ZL of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the MPC published minutes of its December 5-6, 2017 meeting recording that it kept the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.0% and maintained a neutral stance. The decision was based on an assessment of global and domestic developments-rising crude and commodity prices, mixed domestic growth signals with an industrial pickup, volatile food and housing inflation, firming inflation expectations, and declining surplus liquidity managed through market operations. The MPC retained the 2017-18 GVA projection at 6.7% with risks evenly balanced.

Export facilitation enabling trial air shipment from Varanasi to Dubai with customs and phytosanitary support for fresh produce.
APEDA facilitated a trial air export of green chillies and green peas from Varanasi to Dubai by arranging an exporter, importer tie-ups, airline logistics via Delhi, and initiating establishment of on-site customs clearance and phytosanitary certificate issuance at Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport to streamline exports from eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Kimberley Process reform: India to chair ad hoc committee to revise certification, expand scope and strengthen controls.
India will chair an Ad Hoc Committee on Review & Reforms of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme to propose revisions to the core document, consider scope expansion, evaluate a permanent secretariat and multi donor funding, and strengthen operational safeguards against forged certificates through statistical reconciliation, information sharing frameworks, professional peer reviews, financial transparency measures and accessible detection technology for differentiating natural and lab grown diamonds.

Trade policy reform focusing on export expansion and manufacturing competitiveness to boost employment and MSME participation.
The revised Foreign Trade Policy and Make in India initiative refocus government measures on expanding manufacturing and exports through policy incentives, infrastructure development, ease of doing business reforms, data driven export monitoring, and targeted promotion of MSMEs and labour intensive sectors to increase employment, value addition, and agricultural export realisations.

Decline in trade: select export and import sectors show contraction driven by market, currency, and cost factors.
Comparative merchandise export and import statistics show that only three of the major twenty sectors have declining exports and three have declining imports in the current year compared with the corresponding prior-year period. Export declines are recorded in Project Goods, Office Equipments, and Gems & Jewellery; import declines are recorded in Office Equipments, Transport Equipments, and Marine Products. The report attributes these sectoral contractions to demand and supply shifts in domestic and international markets, currency fluctuations, cost of credit, and logistics costs, citing DGCI&S, Kolkata (provisional) as the source.

Customs duty increase raises smartphone retail prices, leading manufacturers to adjust MRPs for imported models while excluding locally assembled units.
The government's increase in import duties on smartphones caused a major manufacturer to raise MRPs for its imported models, passing higher import taxation to consumers, while leaving prices unchanged for a domestically assembled model, underscoring the pricing impact of policies promoting local manufacturing.

Trade Balance shows widening overall deficit as exports and imports rise, driven by oil and core commodities.
Merchandise exports rose strongly in November 2017 with major gains in engineering goods, petroleum products, gems & jewellery, chemicals and pharmaceuticals; imports increased markedly, led by petroleum, electronics, precious stones, machinery and coal, with oil imports influenced by higher Brent prices. Services recorded a surplus in October 2017. Combined merchandise and services trade produced a substantially wider overall deficit for April-November 2017-18 compared to the prior year.

Place of supply rules: tax demands on exported IT services addressed, appellate review set aside disallowances and sustained refunds.
Place of supply rules were applied to IT/IT enabled services to treat exports as supplied in India and taxed, but appellate review set aside orders disallowing refunds and sustained orders granting refunds, removing the basis for reported apprehensions.

Law Review Committee recommendations referred for final examination and decision by senior government officers after advisory group submission
The Advisory Group submitted recommendations on 5th December 2017 which have been referred to the Law Review Committee-composed of senior Central and State Government officers-for examination and final decision; the Advisory Group is chaired by a retired government officer and includes representatives of Laghu Udyog Bharti, FIEO, CAIT and private law and tax practitioners, and the Law Review Committee will meet to consider these recommendations on 13th and 14th December 2017.

Monetary policy: repo rate held at 6.0%, neutral stance to target 4% CPI while supporting growth.
The MPC maintained the policy repo rate at 6.0 per cent and a neutral stance to achieve the medium term CPI inflation target of 4 per cent ( 2%) while supporting growth; it highlighted upside inflation risks from food, fuel, input cost pass through and fiscal pressures, noted declining surplus liquidity and recent durable liquidity absorption, and retained projections for near term CPI inflation and real GVA growth with risks evenly balanced.

Minimum import price for pepper announced to curb cheap imports and protect domestic growers' prices.
Minimum Import Price set for pepper by fixing a CIF-based floor on imports to protect domestic growers from cheaper imports, address a significant domestic price decline, and prevent trade diversion that exploits preferential duty arrangements; the measure aims to stabilise farm incomes and improve domestic prices as the harvest season approaches.