document.writeln("

India, Pak trade talks: Air, shipping, financial and market sectors revisited
New Delhi: India and Pakistan on Tuesday have decided to rework their civil aviation and shipping agreements. Both sides have also agreed for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Pakistan stock market watchdog.

At the end of the commerce secretary-level trade talks official sources said that there was some forward movement on improving air and sea links for which fresh civil aviation and shipping agreements would be entered into. According to the officials technical groups from both sides will be meeting next month to thrash out fresh agreements.

With a view to enhance cooperation in various financial sector and capital markets, apart from a likely MoU between the market watch dogs of the two countries, the two sides have also decided to enhance cooperation in the banking sector as well as provide insurance support for exporters to boost trade.

On the issue of opening up the Wagah-Attari land route on permanent basis, both sides felt that infra-structural bottlenecks had to be addressed before that it could be opened up.

But sources said both sides are working out the road map for the Joint Study Group on trade. The sub group on customs and trade facilitation and non-tariff barriers would meet in September to chalk out future course.

New Delhi also gave a fresh list of items it wants Pakistan to add on to the positive list, which Islamabad said would be looked into when the list is reviewed. Pakistan last week lifted ban on sugar import from India in the wake of rising domestic prices.
Back to News Review index page  

India, Mauritius to expedite work on economic cooperation agreement
New Delhi: India and Mauritius have decided to expedite work on formulating a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) to strengthen bilateral economic and commercial ties.

The decision was taken during the first round of talks on CECPA between the secretary-level empowered committees of the two sides yesterday.

According to a joint statement issued after the meeting, it was decided to formulate a CECPA in an expeditious manner to strengthen cooperation in economic and commercial fields. The pact would lay down the road map and modalities for encouraging Indian investments in Mauritius and joint India-Mauritius investments in the region.

A study commissioned by the Mauritius government with the EXIM Bank of India has identified several areas of investment by the Indian corporate sector. These include tourism, health, education and knowledge, financial services and ICT.
Back to News Review index page  

July additions for mobile subscribers up 4.36 per cent
New Delhi: India's cellular phone services, the world's fastest growing market, has added 2.5 million new users in July, taking the total number of customers to 60.4 million.

According to the Cellular Operators' Association, which represents nine carriers offering mobile services based on the GSM standard, 1.954 million customers signed up for services for the month. Overall, GSM carriers had 46.874 million customers at the end of July, up 4.35 percent over June.

According to the Cellular Operators' Association, traditionally July shows weak demand because of widespread rains; hence the growth is all the more heartening.

India's top mobile services firm, Bharti Tele-Ventures, added 533,218 GSM users, taking its customer base to 12.789 million subscribers. State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam, the second-ranked GSM player added 494,469 subscribers in July.

Hutchison Essar Telecom, the Indian wireless operation of Hong Kong's Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd., added 494,469 mobile users last month and its user base stood at 8.844 million customers.

The association representing CDMA operators said these firms signed up 535,330 new users in the past month, taking their combined user base to 12.341 million customers. Bombay-based Reliance Infocomm accounted for the bulk of the new CDMA additions, attracting 360,110 customers, raising its mobile user base to 10.647 million.
Back to News Review index page