Page 12 - BANKING FINANCE November 2015 ONLINE

ROUNDUP

Drought-hit districts eligible for additional 50 days of Jute commissioner scraps

work under MGNREGA import licences of 77 mills

The Cabinet recently approved a proposal to provide an extra 50 days of un- The jute commissioner of India has
skilled manual work in the current fiscal year under the scrapped import
MGNREGA jobs scheme in areas hit by drought or natural licences of all 77
distress. This is besides the already approved 100 days of jute mills across
assured employment to card holders. the country on
account of the
"This will enable States to provide additional wage employment to the poor in
drought-affected areas. The poorest rural households will benefit from this, as rising imports from Bangladesh.
it will help in immediate absorption of rural seasonal unemployment, and re-
duce rural distress," as per the sources. Many regions, particularly in the pen- The mills used to illegally import jute
insula and Maharashtra have borne the brunt of a deficit monsoon this year. bugs from the neighbouring country,
for packing sugar and food grain
India-made auto parts in high demand therby violating the provisions of
Jute Packaging Materials Act (JPMA),
The exports of automobile components grew 10 per cent in an all time high of 1987. According to the Act, only jute
$11.2 billion in 2014-15 as the country's overall exports declined. and jute goods produced in the coun-
try can be supplied for packaging.
The growth of automobile component exports was helped
by demand from the US,Turkey and Italy. In rupee terms, The commissioner has issued a
exports grew 11 per cent to Rs.68,500 crore as per the data three-page mandatory "declaration
released by the Automobile Component Manufacturers' As- form" to be filled by the mills want-
sociation of (ACM). The industry's turnover grew 11 per cent ing to import raw jute and jute
to Rs.234,800 crore in 2014-15 against a decline of two per goods. The jute mills will have to
cent in 2013-14. declare on the utility of the imported
bags. From now on, the commis-
The fortunes of the component industry are linked to vehicle sales. Passenger sioner will issue a no-objection cer-
vehicles sale grew nearly four per cent in 2014-15 against a decline of six per tificate (NOC) for imports.
cent in the previous year. Medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales grew 16
per cent in 2014-15 and two wheeler sales grew eight per cent. FDI in oil and gas sector

Intellectual property will add value to the economy: jumps 10 folds

Basha Foreign direct investment (FDI) in
petroleum and natural gas sector
Justice K. N. Basha, Chairman, Intellectual Property Appel- has witnessed almost 10-time jump
late Board, at the Southern India Chamber of Commerce and in 2014-15 as compared to the pre-
Industry (SICCI) meet on Intellectual property had appreci- ceding fiscal, touching Rs.6,473.22
ated a 14 year old teenager who has invented a device to crore, as per Dharmendra Pradhan,
pick up dust in crowded streets. According to him such inno- the Oil Minister.
vations from young minds should be encouraged and re-
Over the last three financial years, the
warded. sector attracted FDI worth more than
Rs.8,375 crore. FDI in petroleum and
He further added that intellectual property is an asset that would add value to natural gas sector touched
the economy when the innovations are devised in the interest of the public. Rs.6,473.22 crore in 2014-15 when the
same was Rs.678.39 crore in 2013-14,
Jawahar Vadivelu, President, SICCI said nearly 40 per cent of economic activi- he said. In the first three months of
ties in the European Union is generated by IP-intensive industries accounting current fiscal (2015-16) the sector re-
for Euro 4.3 trillion each year, generating 77 million jobs depending directly or ceived Rs.31.35 crore FDI, he said.
indirectly on sectors that rely on IP according to a recent study. IP will be the
backbone of an economy as it will help create jobs through innovations that
could be mass-produced.

12 | 2015 | NOVEMBER | BANKING FINANCE

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