- India, UK reaffirm FTA commitment at Strategic Dialogue
- India and Britain reaffirmed their commitment to conclude a mutually beneficial free trade agreement at the annual UK India strategic dialogue.
- The two sides reflected on the good progress made on the 2030 roadmap.
- The key areas where the UK and India have worked together includes collaborating on the world’s first malaria vaccine.
- Free Trade Agreement is a pact between two or more nations to reduce barriers to imports and exports among them. Under a free trade policy, goods and services can be bought and sold across international borders with little or no government tariffs, quotas, subsidies, or prohibitions to inhibit their exchange.
2. Airbus helicopters, SIDBI sign MoU for helicopter financing
- Airbus helicopters and small industries development Bank of India signed a memorandum of understanding for financing purchase of Airbus helicopters in India.
- Both of them would identify potential civil helicopter operators in India interesting in financing solutions for purchasing the helicopters.
- Airbus would provide technical and helicopter industry knowledge and SIDBI would be responsible for Evaluating the prospects and financing them exclusively for Airbus.
- SIDBI is a statutory body, established through an Act of Parliament in 1990. SIDBI is the primary financial institution in charge of promoting, financing, and developing the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector and coordinating the actions of other institutions involved in related activities.
3. Supreme Court agrees to waive telcos’ interest on I-T views on licence fee
- The Supreme Court has given a major relief for telecom service providers by waving off interest due on income tax arising from a judgement which held that telecom licence fee should be treated as entirely capital in nature.
- The telecom service providers said that payment of the tax demand was itself a heavy burden and they urged the court to at least wave the interest payable on the tax for the period.
- The 1999 new telecom policy had stipulated that a Licensee would be required to pay a one time entry fee and additionally a licence fee on a percentage share of gross revenue.
- The New Telecom Policy, 1999 was formulated on the basis of the report of Group on Telecommunication. The Government, constituted a high level Group on Telecommunication (GoT) to review the existing telecom policy i.e., the National Telecom Policy, 1994.
4. ICMR distances itself from BHU’s study on Covaxin
- The Indian Council of medical research has distanced itself from a Banaras Hindu University study for incorrectly associating it with an observational study on the side effects of Covid 19 vaccine Covaxin.
- The ICMR said that the research paper was poorly designed with critical flaws.
- The university noted that it has taken note of study in connection with Covaxin after-effects and a series of reactions in that regard.
- Covaxin was developed by Bharat Biotech, Hyderabad in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Institute of Virology, Pune. It is an inactivated vaccine which is developed by inactivating (killing) the live microorganisms that cause the disease.
5. India China consumption comparison
- India surpassed China to become the world’s most populous country last year. China also recorded a negative population growth rate for the first time in six decades.
- Both the countries have a large consumer base. As per the purchasing power parity consumer is anyone who spends more than $12 a day.
- While the private final consumption expenditure contributes more than 58% to India’s gdp it contributes only 38% to China’s economy.
- While the percentage for India is steadily increasing the same for China has been on a decline.
- India’s consumption expenditure is characterised by higher spending on food and clothing along with footwear and transport and low spending on education and recreation and health care which is typical of an underdeveloped or developing market.
- In PPP terms, China’s PFCE is approximately 1.5 times that of India. To put this in context, China’s GDP (PPP) is approximately 2.5 times of India’s. The relative gap between China
ONE LINER
- Minister Anbil Mahesh informed about the sharing of Educational Programs between Tamil Nadu – Denmark
- Cyclone Remal in making low pressure areas forms over Bay of Bengal a name suggested by the country of Oman.
