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Over-regulation of the e-commerce sector could stifle the growth of entrepreneurship, industry body ASSOCHAM has said and cautioned micro managing of prices by the government could lead to inspector-raj.

E-commerce and the entire online space is a fledgling area of business with a vast scope for expansion, ASSOCHAM Secretary General D S Rawat said.

"While there should be rules of the game for any trade, over-reach and over-regulation should not be resorted to as it could stifle the growth of entrepreneurship," he told PTI.

An initial draft circulated among stakeholders for discussion to frame a national e-commerce policy has suggested to introduce a pre-set timeframe for offering differential pricing or deep discounts by e-commerce players to customers.

The suggestions are part of the strategy to address anti-competitive issues in the e-commerce sector effectively.

"The restriction imposed on e-commerce marketplace, to not directly or indirectly influence the price of goods and services, would be extended to group companies of the e-commerce marketplace.

"A sunset clause, which defines the maximum duration of differential pricing strategies (such as deep discounts) that are implemented by e-commerce platforms to attract consumers, would be introduced," the draft said.

Rawat said: "Deep discount or no discount is a commercial decision; as long as it is not resorted to in sectors like banking, insurance or other highly sensitive sectors, the decision should be purely commercial".

Besides, he said the deep discount and cash burning should be the prime concern of the promoters, venture capitalists and private equity funds betting on online entrepreneurs.

"Eventually, those with sound business models would survive; there would be churning, which has already started," Rawat said.

No micro managing of prices or other business practices should be encouraged; or else it could lead to inspector-raj in the cyber and online world as well, he added.

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The Coal India has decided to procure mining equipment worth USD two billion through global tender over the next three years to ramp up coal production to meet the growing demand.

"We'll procure mining equipment of Rs 12,000-13,000 crore in the next three years," Coal India Chairman Anil Kr Jha said here yesterday. He said this year contracts worth Rs 4000-5000 crore could be placed with the vendors.

Jha said that he desired that PSUs to bid for contracts and expected that they would match international parameters. The Coal India has set a target of producing 630 million tonnes in 2018-19 and one billion tonne in the next three to four years.

The CILs productivity per man each shift has been much below than international benchmark of 13 tonnes per man shift, he said adding that the Coal Ministry had asked the miner to follow the international parameters in cost of production, quality, grade, equipment performance, unit cost of production and environmental concerns.

"We have asked CMPDIL to do the assessment. Benchmarking in coal mining is not the same like manufacturing of other goods," Jha said. He said to meet the yardstick of the best global standard was difficult due to socio-economic factors in India.

"But, if we know our position then we can definitely improve from we are now," Jha said. Jha was speaking on the sidelines of an event of MoU signing between BEML and Heavy Engineering Corporation to produce mining equipment jointly.

The collaboration will help both the BEML and the HEC to manufacture rope shovels and walking draglines of various capacities with higher indegenisation in lesser time and cost leveraging strength, company sources said.

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In a blog post published on social media on Friday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hinted that Goods and Services Tax (GST) tax rate on luxury and sin goods such as cement, air-conditioners and large screen televisions, among others, could be cut soon.

The finance minister has said that “within a record period of thirteen months, the GST Council has almost phased out the 28 percent category,” with the remaining products being luxury-sin goods.

“The day GST was implemented, several items which were proposed to be put in the 28 percent category (where the 31 percent items were adjusted) were brought down to 18 percent. On 10th November, 2017, within four-and-half months of GST implementation, 177 items and on 21st July, 2018, another fifteen items were brought down. Even in other GST meetings on individual basis, several items were considered and brought down,” Jaitley said in the blog.

“Today, the 28 percent category is being phased out. Bulk of these items remaining in this category are only luxury items or sin goods,” Jaitley added.

Items of common use such as sanitary napkins, footwear and fridge got cheaper as GST rate cut on about 88 items came into effect on Friday.

The GST Council, chaired by interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, had last week pruned the highest 28 percent tax slab by moving some goods to the 18 percent tax bracket.

Refrigerator, washing machine, small screen TV, storage water heaters, paints and varnishes will attract 18 percent GST from Friday, as against 28 percent.

Sanitary napkins, which attracted 12 percent GST, have been exempted from tax with effect from Friday.

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Future Generali India Insurance on Tuesday launched a group insurance product that provides financial support to people battling vector-borne diseases.

Vector-borne diseases like malaria, dengue, chikungunya and Zika fever are human illnesses caused by parasites, viruses and bacteria that are transmitted by ticks, fleas, mosquitoes and phlebotomine sandflies.

According to the World Health Organisation, these diseases account for 17 percent of all cases of infectious diseases in the world. 

The insurance policy is available to any person below the age of 65 years, without any medical tests. The sum insured will be between Rs 10,000 and Rs 75,000 per person per year, depending on the plan chosen.  

This insurance plan will provide a lump sum benefit in case the insured gets hospitalised (for a continuous period of 24 hours) due to any of the following diseases caused by vectors -- malaria, dengue, lymphatic filariasis, kala-azar, Japanese encephalitis, chikungunya and Zika fever.  

KG Krishnamoorthy Rao, MD and CEO, Future Generali India Insurance pointed out that not only has there been an increase in the number of claims relating to vector-borne diseases, there has also been a marked rise in the cost of treatment of these diseases. 

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today blamed earlier governments, particularly then Congress President Sonia Gandhi, for not fulfilling the promise of electrifying all households by 2009.

"Earlier governments made promises, which they failed to fulfil. Then Congress President (Sonia Gandhi) said all households would be electrified by 2009. But that did not happen even in 2009, 2010 or 2011," Modi said during an interaction with the beneficiaries of Rs 16,320-crore Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saughagya) today.

Modi said that the promises made by earlier governments were not fulfilled because there was not serious leader, and now they (opposition) are finding faults with schemes and programmes being implemented by the present government.

He said that all villages in India were electrified by April 28, 2018, which is a historic date; adding, it was pity that after 70 years of independence, people don't have access to electricity.

The Saughagya scheme was launched last year in September under which about 3.6 crore unelectrified households would be electrified by March 31, 2019. However, the government is aiming to energise all these families by December 31, 2018, under Saubhagya.

Earlier this month, power ministers of all states and union territories were unanimous on electrifying all households in the country by December 31, 2018, during the Power Ministers Conference in Shimla.

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The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal in its next meeting on Saturday is expected to discuss key issues such as cutting GST rate on items with limited revenue impact, rationalisation of rates, inclusion of natural gas and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) under the ambit of GST, among others.

According to a senior government official, the consensus between states and the Centre pertaining to the inclusion of the two petroleum products under Goods and Services Tax (GST) may not happen immediately as states have apprehension regarding a potential loss in revenue.

“Some states such as Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, among others, are against the idea of including natural gas under GST. However, it could be discussed in the Council meeting,” the official said.

Regarding the clamour for rate cut, the official said that revenue continues to be a concern for the government and items with massive revenue impact such as cement and paint may not be brought to a lower tax slab immediately.

The average revenue collection in the first quarter (April-June) of the financial year is not even Rs 97,542 crore.

“Items such as cement, paint, white goods are on the 28 percent (highest) tax slab. A rate cut is possible when the monthly revenue touches at least Rs 1 lakh crore,” the official said, adding that tax collection is expected to increase in the second half of the financial year, with greater demand due to the festive season.

The Council may agree to cut rates of some items such as handicrafts, sanitary napkins, handlooms, the official said adding that the government may not have to take a major hit on revenue if these products are moved to a lower tax slab.

The 28th GST Council meeting is crucial as Goyal will be chairing it for the first time since he got the temporary charge of the finance and corporate affairs portfolio in May. Former finance minister Arun Jaitley is currently working in a restricted environment from home as he underwent renal transplant two months ago.

Till now, Jaitley, had chaired all the 27 meetings of the Council that ironed out crucial taxation-related issues, along with the Centre. He played a crucial role towards the implementation of GST could be a part of the meeting via video conference.

The Council is also expected to approve 46 categories of amendments in GST-related laws, with a broader idea to reduce compliance burden, simplify the indirect tax system and bring more entities under the tax net.

Amendments such as the omission of liability to pay tax on the reverse charge, enabling new return filing procedures, allowing more service providers to opt for composition scheme, among others has been suggested.

The Council may also discuss rationalisation of rates, which could mean drawing a strategy towards fewer tax slabs under GST. Currently, GST has four broad tax slabs- 5, 12, 18 and 28 percent-- and three percent tax on gold and other precious stones.

However, a two or three tier tax slab is possible only when revenue collection is stable, the official said.

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The country's liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports jumped 20 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year on strong growth in demand, S&P Global Platts said today.

It expects imports from the US market to increase in the coming years to meet the increasing demand.

"India's LNG imports jumped by 20 percent in the first six months of 2018 as compared to same period last year due to strong growth in demand," S&P Global Platts' director, LNG market development, Marc Howson, told reporters here.

With the government taking proactive steps to ease infrastructure bottlenecks and push for gas as penetration in the energy mix, Howson said LNG is the only option in boosting the country's gas demand in the next few years.

The country imports nearly 60 percent of LNG from the Middle East and the rest from Australia, West Africa and the US, the global energy, metals and commodities information provider said.

In the world market, China, ranked second, witnessed 50 percent growth in LNG imports, while India was ranked as the fourth largest importer of LNG, Howson said.

"We see higher imports from the US market in coming years. The LNG imports from US market is relatively small at 5 percent at present, which could well grow as US projects ramp-up in the coming years. The US LNG prices are also still competitive to spot price of LNG in India," he said.

The country has over 20 million tonne (mt) of contracted LNG, of which six mt is from the US. The country has contracted to buy $2 billion of US LNG annually for 10 years, S&P Global Platts said.

Howson said the country's gas market has a relatively low penetration of around 6.5 percent of energy mix as against government's target of 15 percent by 2020, due to an inadequate infrastructure of the pipeline for LNG expansion.

He pointed out that the LNG contracted volume and length of the derivatives contracts have drastically declined over the last decade. Historically, the majority of LNG contracts were priced indexed to oil prices, but now more contracts are being priced indexed to gas benchmarks, Howson said, adding that as gas markets become more volatile and buyers have less opportunity to pass through costs in regulated pricing, the importance of gas price hedging has grown.

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China is preparing to give swift regulatory approvals to India-manufactured drugs, the head of an Indian export promotion group said, as Beijing looks for new commercial partners ahead of what could be a protracted trade war with the United States

Indian firms are looking to fill gaps in Chinese demand for generic drugs, software, sugar and some varieties of rice, trade officials in New Delhi said.

"We do feel that China is receptive at this time and it's all about making prices competitive," said a government official involved in the effort to promote trade with China. The official declined to be identified since he is not authorised to speak to the media.

No concrete deals have been signed but the outlook for pharmaceutical sales from India is positive, according to officials from both nations.

India dominates the world's generic drugs market, exporting $17.3 billion worth of drugs in the 2017/18 (April-March) year, including to the United States and the EU. But only one percent of that went to China, the world's second-largest market for pharmaceuticals, industry data showed.

Dinesh Dua, chairman of the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil), which falls under India's trade ministry, told Reuters in an interview that Indian firms could expect to win licences to export to China within six months of application.

"We understand internally that Chinese authorities have issued instructions that EU-approved Indian suppliers should be granted the industrial drug licence in an expeditious manner so they can enter the Chinese market within six months," Dua said.

Many Indian drug-makers are already selling to the European Union. The EU is already one of India's key export markets for medicines, and accounted for about 15 percent of overall drug exports in 2016/17, according to Pharmexcil.

Swift regulatory approvals in China, the world's second-largest drug market, would allow Indian companies to boost revenue at a time when pricing scrutiny and regulatory troubles have hurt US sales.

Some of India's largest drugmakers, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Lupin Ltd as well as Aurobindo Pharma Ltd have been trying for years to expand in the massive Chinese market, which is second only to the United States.

Details of Chinese moves to open up its heavily regulated pharmaceuticals sector have not been previously reported.

The CFDA did not respond to a Reuters' request for comment.

But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said this week that China was moving forward on giving greater market access to Indian drug makers.

"China and India are witnessing a growth in pharmaceutical trade, and the two sides are in sound communication on opening the Chinese market to drugs from India and conducting dialogue and cooperation between the two sides' pharmaceutical industries," Hua told a regular news conference on Monday.

"The relevant departments have formulated specific measures on promoting China-India pharmaceutical trade cooperation and granting greater access to drugs from India. We believe that stronger pharmaceutical trade cooperation will contribute to the well being of the people in our two countries."

PENDING CLEARANCE

In May, China exempted import tariffs on 28 drugs, including all cancer drugs, a move that would help India reduce its trade imbalance with China, Luo Zhaohui, the Chinese ambassador to India said.

About 250 product applications from Indian drug firms are pending before the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), some of them for years, an Indian trade ministry official said.

Bilateral trade between the two Asian nations touched $89.6 billion in 2017/18 with the trade deficit widening to $62.9 billion in China's favour, an over nine-fold increase over the last decade.

The two sides are discussing ways to increase Indian sales of farm products, including sugar and some varieties of rice, to China.

India is also trying to persuade China to give access to its cost-competitive software service firms that have dominated global markets. Some of these firms are pitching for 'smart' manufacturing projects in the central city of Wuhan and two other provinces in the healthcare and automotive sector.

But it is in the drugs sector that India is hoping to make the first dent, according to officials and a government document.

China has agreed to train Indian pharmaceutical executives to help them gain a swifter entry into the Chinese market, a government document seen by Reuters on efforts to improve trade with China showed. The training is planned for next month.

India's Pharmexcil and the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products will shortly sign an agreement to ease clearance processes and help Indian companies find Chinese partners, according to the document.

Dua and the Indian trade ministry official said China will soon open a desk at its embassy in New Delhi to facilitate Indian drug makers.

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China is preparing to give swift regulatory approvals to India-manufactured drugs, the head of an Indian export promotion group said, as Beijing looks for new commercial partners ahead of what could be a protracted trade war with the United States

Indian firms are looking to fill gaps in Chinese demand for generic drugs, software, sugar and some varieties of rice, trade officials in New Delhi said.

"We do feel that China is receptive at this time and it's all about making prices competitive," said a government official involved in the effort to promote trade with China. The official declined to be identified since he is not authorised to speak to the media.

No concrete deals have been signed but the outlook for pharmaceutical sales from India is positive, according to officials from both nations.

India dominates the world's generic drugs market, exporting $17.3 billion worth of drugs in the 2017/18 (April-March) year, including to the United States and the EU. But only one percent of that went to China, the world's second-largest market for pharmaceuticals, industry data showed.

Dinesh Dua, chairman of the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil), which falls under India's trade ministry, told Reuters in an interview that Indian firms could expect to win licences to export to China within six months of application.

"We understand internally that Chinese authorities have issued instructions that EU-approved Indian suppliers should be granted the industrial drug licence in an expeditious manner so they can enter the Chinese market within six months," Dua said.

Many Indian drug-makers are already selling to the European Union. The EU is already one of India's key export markets for medicines, and accounted for about 15 percent of overall drug exports in 2016/17, according to Pharmexcil.

Swift regulatory approvals in China, the world's second-largest drug market, would allow Indian companies to boost revenue at a time when pricing scrutiny and regulatory troubles have hurt US sales.

Some of India's largest drugmakers, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Lupin Ltd as well as Aurobindo Pharma Ltd have been trying for years to expand in the massive Chinese market, which is second only to the United States.

Details of Chinese moves to open up its heavily regulated pharmaceuticals sector have not been previously reported.

The CFDA did not respond to a Reuters' request for comment.

But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said this week that China was moving forward on giving greater market access to Indian drug makers.

"China and India are witnessing a growth in pharmaceutical trade, and the two sides are in sound communication on opening the Chinese market to drugs from India and conducting dialogue and cooperation between the two sides' pharmaceutical industries," Hua told a regular news conference on Monday.

"The relevant departments have formulated specific measures on promoting China-India pharmaceutical trade cooperation and granting greater access to drugs from India. We believe that stronger pharmaceutical trade cooperation will contribute to the well being of the people in our two countries."

PENDING CLEARANCE

In May, China exempted import tariffs on 28 drugs, including all cancer drugs, a move that would help India reduce its trade imbalance with China, Luo Zhaohui, the Chinese ambassador to India said.

About 250 product applications from Indian drug firms are pending before the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), some of them for years, an Indian trade ministry official said.

Bilateral trade between the two Asian nations touched $89.6 billion in 2017/18 with the trade deficit widening to $62.9 billion in China's favour, an over nine-fold increase over the last decade.

The two sides are discussing ways to increase Indian sales of farm products, including sugar and some varieties of rice, to China.

India is also trying to persuade China to give access to its cost-competitive software service firms that have dominated global markets. Some of these firms are pitching for 'smart' manufacturing projects in the central city of Wuhan and two other provinces in the healthcare and automotive sector.

But it is in the drugs sector that India is hoping to make the first dent, according to officials and a government document.

China has agreed to train Indian pharmaceutical executives to help them gain a swifter entry into the Chinese market, a government document seen by Reuters on efforts to improve trade with China showed. The training is planned for next month.

India's Pharmexcil and the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products will shortly sign an agreement to ease clearance processes and help Indian companies find Chinese partners, according to the document.

Dua and the Indian trade ministry official said China will soon open a desk at its embassy in New Delhi to facilitate Indian drug makers.

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The Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are planning to set up a database or a 'search engine' to track  all non-cash financial transactions in the country, the Times of India reported.

The move is aimed at widening the government's crackdown on black money and will help RBI establish a money trail to investigate money laundering cases and operations of shell companies.

The new platform will allow RBI to record all non-cash transactions and share them on a need-to-know basis, a senior government officer told the newspaper.

"It is not going to be available on tap but will be shared based on a specific request," the officer was quoted as saying.

The RBI has reportedly held preliminary discussions on the matter after the finance ministry, income tax department and some investigating agencies deliberated on it in order to widen their scope of cracking down on shell companies and money laundering.

It is not clear whether the proposed tool will be sufficient to help investigating agencies track transactions meant to siphon off money. Tracking all transactions related to an entity and its key functionaries may be difficult in the current setup, officials told the paper.

Also read — What are shell companies? All you need to know

The government feels that a trail of transactions is crucial to get rid of shell companies. Theoretically, shell companies are companies without active business operations or significant assets. They can be set up by business people for both legitimate and illegitimate purposes.

These entities may route funds through a maze of companies and earn a commission for it.

As of now, the Financial Intelligence Unit tracks suspicious transactions and all cash transactions of over Rs 10 lakh.