'Trump Won't Be Able To Save Israel': Iran Army Chief's Chilling Warning
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has made it clear that India will not sign Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) under pressure or to meet arbitrary deadlines. Speaking at the 16th International Toy Biz Exhibition, he emphasized that India negotiates trade deals based solely on mutual benefit, fairness, and national interest. Talks are ongoing with the EU, New Zealand, Oman, Chile, and others. While progress was made in Washington, India is firm on resolving key issues in agriculture and auto sectors. Goyal also announced a new scheme to boost domestic toy manufacturing. Meanwhile, India has formally notified the WTO of its plan to impose retaliatory tariffs on selected US goods in response to America's recent 25% duty hike on cars and auto parts. Watch this space as India asserts its sovereignty on trade terms, with a focus on self-reliance and fair play in global markets.#piyushgoyal #india #unitedstates #indiaustradedeal #freetradeagreement #ustariff #indiantradepolicy #ftaindia #usindianegotiations #wtoresponse #toymanufacturing #makeinindia #indianeconomy #automobiletariff #aatmanirbharbharat #toi #toibharat #bharat #trending #breakingnews #indianews
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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Panchkula to get 8 new banquet halls for weddings, other celebrations
Panchkula: There is good news for the residents of Panchkula who have a wedding in the family in the near future. They will no longer need to go to Zirakpur to host the ceremony as the municipal corporation is constructing eight new banquet halls across the city and surrounding villages. These are expected to be ready by the end of this year. Making the announcement Sunday, mayor Kulbhushan Goyal said this will significantly reduce the financial burden on residents, and also ensure that the revenue remains within Haryana. He said the new banquet halls are coming up in sectors 12, 20, 21, 25, 26, MDC Sector 5, and a few villages, namely Alipur, Nangal, Sukhdarshanpur, and Toka. Each hall will be able to accommodate about 700 people and will include special rooms for the bride and groom, along with a modern kitchen and pantry areas. At present, except for the Red Bishop, Panchkula lacks large banquet halls. Residents are forced to book expensive venues in Zirakpur and Dera Bassi, which costs them anything between Rs 5-Rs10 lakh per event, excluding tent, decoration, and catering charges. The mayor emphasised that such events also lead to loss of revenue for Haryana as the funds go to Punjab. Goyal said, "The Sector 15 community centre has already been rebuilt and is hosting events. Construction is also ongoing at the Sector 10 community centre, with facilities for 600 guests, besides sports areas, and additional rooms. Though the construction of the Sector 7 community centre remains stalled, it is expected to resume soon."
Economic Times
2 hours ago
- Economic Times
Digital rules? Not EU's way
Digital Rules? Not EU's Way Madrid: In 2024, Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) released a draft ex-ante digital competition law, following the lead of the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA). But does India need a new law that is an inspiration from a dubious DMA or is existing competition law enough?India's Competition Act 2002-especially in the wake of significant amendments made in 2023-offers a flexible and comprehensive framework to address anticompetitive conduct in the digital economy. It also includes sections that cover such core digital concerns as deep discounting, bundling, self-preferencing, exclusive tie-ups and the misuse of data by dominant platforms- without automatically prejudging whether such conduct is anti-competitive. CCI has also demonstrated that it can apply these provisions, as it did when it imposed penalties on Google for anticompetitive conduct in the Android ecosystem and Play Store policies. More recently, Meta and WhatsApp were fined for unfair data-sharing conditions imposed on users. CCI's scrutiny of MakeMyTrip, Flipkart and Uber demonstrates its ability to engage with platform-specific issues under existing legal mandate. While some jurisdictions have opted for 'ex-ante' digital competition laws-such as DMA-India would be wise to avoid this path. Ex-ante regimes often rely on absolute prohibitions and structural presumptions, which may inadvertently suppress innovative or pro-competitive conduct because it involves scale or the blueprint for many ex-ante digital competition rules, has been criticised by competition experts like OECD's Frederic Jenny for rigidity and potential to hinder innovation in fast-moving markets. Indeed, DMA has produced dubious outcomes in the has taken note. The draft Digital Competition Bill (DCB) 2024 proposed ex-ante obligations for 'systemically significant digital enterprises', drawing inspiration from foreign frameworks like DMA. But it was met with concern from industry and legal experts, who warned that such sweeping, pre-emptive rules risked stifling innovation and overregulating a still-developing digital economy. That proposal was put on the backburner, a prudent pause that underscores the need to pursue a tailored, evidence-based approach rather than adopt a one-size-fits-all regulatory model. Indeed, India's experience offers an alternative. In the landmark v. Google case, CCI displayed regulatory restraint, carefully weighing the need to preserve innovation. That decision reflected a more sophisticated understanding of digital markets, where conduct must be judged in context, rather than employing broad regulatory prohibitions that ignore efficiencies and procompetitive benefits. Furthermore, CCI has shown flexibility in defining relevant markets in digital cases, such as in Snapdeal and Meru v. Uber, where evolving business models required novel interpretations. Despite effectiveness of this legal framework, enforcement delays remain a significant concern. In CCI v. SAIL case, the Supreme Court highlighted the need for time-bound proceedings to ensure meaningful remedies and deterrence. The ability to enforce the law swiftly and decisively is what will ultimately determine the regime's than replicating foreign models, India should prioritise improving how its current system functions. This means faster case resolution, better resources for CCI and development of sector-specific guidelines that retain flexibility while offering clarity. Moreover, continuous training and upskilling of enforcement personnel are essential. That's why the proposed Digital Markets and Data Unit within CCI is a welcome development, as it promises to bring much-needed technical expertise and sector-specific knowledge to bear on increasingly complex pace of technological change in the digital economy exceeds the ability of prescriptive rules to remain relevant. A principles-based, evidence-driven regulatory approach-such as the one embodied in the Competition Act-is far better suited to this 2023 amendments bolstered this framework by introducing a deal value threshold for merger scrutiny, a voluntary settlement and commitment mechanism, and significantly higher penalties. Together, these amendments serve to equip CCI with modern tools to regulate proactively without becoming focus should now shift to building institutional capacity, streamlining procedures and ensuring timely enforcement. These improvements will ensure that Indian markets remain healthy, efficient and a global climate of regulatory overreach, India's approach should continue to remain principled and pragmatic: grounded in a refusal to legislate prematurely and a commitment to strengthen an already sound framework rooted in economic analysis that has served it well across sectors as varied as telecom, cement, pharmaceuticals and aviation. 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Economic Times
2 hours ago
- Economic Times
The world is now better positioned to call Trump's bluff as allies and markets push back
In less than 48 hours, we'll know the answer (in bits and pieces) to the 'will-he-won't-he' question that's engaged world capitals and kept the global economy on edge for close to 90 days. For the past three months or so, Donald Trump has kept the world guessing. On July 3, he told reporters his administration would start sending out letters the following day, setting unilateral tariff rates, ranging from 'maybe 60 or 70% tariffs to 10 and 20% tariffs', that countries would have to pay from August 1. According to the latest reports, these letters are now slated to go out on Monday. 'No,' said Trump early last week, when asked if the July deadline was cast in stone. 'We can do whatever we want.' Therein lies the problem. For all the column inches that have been written about how the sun is about to set on the US economy, the reality is that Trump can do pretty much whatever he wants. He will be able to do so as long as the US dollar remains the international reserve currency. The 90-day period was supposed to see a 'flurry of trade deals'. 'Ninety deals in 90 days' was Trump's proud boast. What we have, instead, is a handful of limited trade deals with Britain and China and, more recently, a one-sided deal with Vietnam. To be sure, there are many deals in the works, including with India and the EU. But what is clear is that contrary to Trump's boast that countries would beat a line to his door to sign on the dotted line, it's not going to be a cakewalk for the US. For one, Trump is on a much weaker wicket, both domestically and internationally, than in April when he announced reciprocal tariffs (a 10% baseline tax on imports with effect from April 5, plus country-specific higher tariffs with effect from April 9). Then, he was still in the early days of his presidency. His domestic support base was intact. Since then, we've seen fissures emerge, even within the Republican Party, as seen by the pushback to his One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which is slated to hugely increase the budget deficit and add $2.4 tn to the national debt. True, the bill has been passed. But Trump had to expend a great deal of political capital to get it through. His once-trusted lieutenant, Elon Musk, has parted company with him and has come out openly against it, threatening to form an alternative party. Opposition from universities, especially Ivy League institutions, and the public has grown, as evidenced by recent street protests in California. On the monetary policy front, despite Trump throwing the choicest of unsavoury epithets at fellow Republican and Fed chair Jerome Powell-even telling him to step down-the latter has not lowered interest rates. US growth is lower (the economy contracted 0.5% in the first quarter) and inflation is higher than the target 2%. The dollar witnessed its longest monthly slide since 2017, ending June with its worst first-half performance in four decades. Courts, especially lower courts, have thrown out many of his diktats, though the Supreme Court has given him a reprieve on some. All told, the harsh reality is that Trump has repeatedly been rebuffed-not only by critics from within and outside his party but, more importantly, by financial markets. His decision to allow a breather on tariffs was largely, if not entirely, the result of pushback from global bond markets that threatened to upend financial the trade front, friends and foes alike are finding their voice. Whether it is Emmanuel Macron, who bluntly described tariffs as a form of 'blackmail' rather than instruments to rebalance trade-a far cry from Trump's description of tariffs as the most beautiful word in the dictionary-or others who are more circumspect. Sure, there is a limit to how far US trade partners can flex their muscles. Mark Carney's initial tough talk did not last long. Canada has since dropped the tax on US tech giants under pressure from the US. Globally, growth has slowed. Both IMF and World Bank have lowered their global growth estimates. 'The global economy is at a crossroads. Trade disruptions threaten to reshape the economic landscape,' says Hyun Song Shin, economic adviser, BIS, writing in this paper. In one of the biggest ironies, equity markets are soaring. After a 15% decline in April, US stocks have rallied, hitting all-time highs-riding on (premature?) signs of progress in US trade talks and hopes the Fed will cut interest rates. The Sensex, too, shows no sign of fatigue (or realism?).In all this, the Indian economy seems to be in fine fettle. It is naive, however, to assume that we-or the global economy-will sail along merrily despite headwinds posed by slowing growth in the world's two largest economies, the US and China. But we are nowhere near a recession-nor are we facing the kind of crisis witnessed during Covid or the 2008 financial hold on to your seats. The roller-coaster ride is not over. The good news, however, is that we're unlikely to fall off, regardless of what Trump unleashes on the tariff front in the coming days.
