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After a long hiatus, the Government appears to have worked itself into a renewed frenzy to conclude trade deals with a number of countries notably UK, Australia, UAE, EU and possibly the USA. Given our past experience of negotiating trade deals with ASEAN, Japan and Korea and the last minute withdrawal from the RCEP negotiations, the outcome of the current rounds of FTA being negotiated is anybody’s guess. The dilemma for our policy makers has essentially centred around balancing between domestic policy and electoral compulsions on the one hand and our obligations under WTO and other multilateral/ bilateral engagements on [...]

1. Level playing field While the proposed amendments to aforementioned rules is clearly a welcome development, similar measures are required in the case of large scale off-line retail, both single brand as well as multi-brand. Most of the large scale corporate players in organized retail operate in both the off-line as well as the online segment and the lines of distinction are getting increasingly blurred. Added to this are the millions of small scale retailers in the unorganized sector. While small scale retailers have hitherto operated only on off-line basis, many of them are now coming online, thanks to [...]

1 . Cross-selling [Proposed Rules 3(c) & Sub-Rules 11 & 12 under the heading “Duties of Vendor”]The definition of cross-selling as proposed in Rule 3(c) is as follows:“Cross-selling” means sale of goods or services which are related, adjacent or complimentary to a purchase made by a consumer at a time from any ecommerce entity with an intent to maximise the revenue of such e-commerce entity”.The underlying assumption in cross-selling is that the product being offered as a part of cross-selling is related or adjacent to the main product. For sellers who are engaged in selling a wide or diverse range [...]

The Custom (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020 (CAROTAR) notified by Customs vide notification No. 81/2020 – Customs (N.T.) has caused much consternation in the importer community. These Rules (read with Section 28DA of the Customs Act and Customs circular No. 38/2020)seek to establish a framework for establishing the authenticity of any claim for preferential tariff treatment under any of the extant Free Trade Agreements and prevent the misuse of the same by either the importer or the exporter. It is important to understand that all the FTAs have clearly defined Rules of Origin as [...]

And so the juggernaut rolls on...... RBI issues a circular on 06th August’2020 laying down the resolution framework for dealing with COVID related stress which is further to the moratorium prescribed in March’2020 on interest payments and loan repayments. Circa Feb’2018, RBI comes out with a Prudential Framework for dealing with stressed assets and the same is struck down by the Supreme Court in April’2019 for being ultra vires Section 35AA of the Banking Regulation Act. To address the changed circumstances, the RBI comes out with another Prudential Framework for stressed assets which is a much watered down version [...]

As the economy teeters on the thin dividing line between a prolonged slowdown and recession, the debate continues to rage on whether the problem is structural or cyclical. The US – China trade dispute and the corona virus scare constitute global headwinds which have undoubtedly impacted the Indian economy. External shocks like demonetisation (along with the consequent effects on small business and real estate) and haphazard implementation of GST have also halted the economic momentum. However, these factors can at best be only a partial explanation to the much deeper malaise which lies within. Certain problems that our policymakers [...]