India has ‘very strongly’ raised H-1B issue with US, says Suresh Prabhu

India has “very strongly” raised the issue of H-1B and L1 visas with the US, Union minister Suresh Prabhu said on Saturday, asserting that the American economy will find it difficult to cope with the reality as it has been immensely benefited by Indian IT professionals.

The US has tightened the norms for issuing the most sought-after H-1B and L1 visas in line with the Trump administration’s goal to protect American workers from discrimination and replacement by foreign labour.
In a new directive, the Trump administration this week made it more difficult for the renewal of H-1B and L1, popular among Indian IT professionals, saying that the burden of proof lies on the applicant even when an extension is sought.

Under the current US rules, Indian IT professionals working in the US on H-1B visas do not get back their hard- earned contribution to Social Security, which runs into at least more than US $1 billion per annum.
“We raised very strongly the issue of Indian professionals and H-1B and L1 visa issues,” Prabhu said after the first US-India bilateral Trade Policy Forum (TPF) under the Trump administration which was also attended by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

“We explained to them that we are not raising this issue because Indians will find it difficult to come, because US economy itself will find it difficult to cope with the reality because the US has immensely benefited by IT professionals penetrating into the market by offering services that has improved their productivity,” Prabhu said.
Batting for Indian IT companies, he also strongly raised the issue of totalisation.

“I hope they will look into the issue,” Prabhu said, as he pointed out towards the issue of mismatch between US visa and US social security regimes, wherein Indian professionals making social security contributions do not receive their due benefits upon their return to India.

US agricultural export have grown 250 per cent: Official

WASHINGTON: American agricultural products have experienced a whopping 250 per cent growth in its exports to India in the last decade, a senior US official has said.
US Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney made the remarks ahead of his five-day visit to India starting Monday.
"US agricultural exports to India have grown nearly 250 per cent over the past decade, but the country's barriers impede exports of many of our products," he said.
McKinney is leading an agribusiness trade mission to India from October 30 to November 3 with stops in New Delhi and Mumbai.
On his first international trip in this position, he will head a delegation of approximately 50 business, trade association and state government leaders who are seeking to grow US agricultural exports to the world's second-most- populous country.
"On this trip, I look forward to not only promoting US farm and food products, but also to meeting with my Indian government counterparts to build relationships and address key trade policy issues in an effort to improve American access to this important market," McKinney said.

US agricultural exports to India totaled nearly USD 1.3 billion in 2016, with tree nuts, cotton, pulses, fresh and processed fruits, and prepared foods accounting for more than 80 percent of those exports.
India is also a major market for US ethanol exports.
The United States is India's top ethanol supplier, with sales totaling nearly USD 176 million in 2016.

Oil imports: India readies to play hardball with suppliers over pricing

New Delhi: After telling Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) members on Sunday that India has other options to buy oil at competitive prices, New Delhi is set to play hardball with its traditional suppliers from the Middle East on pricing.

India is reworking its import strategy by stepping up the share of short-term contracts to take advantage of the bear market and is exploring long-term supply deals at discounted price with its newest oil trade partner, the US, the re-entry of which in global oil markets last year has stepped up competition among suppliers.

“The economics of oil is very dynamic. We have some long-term contracts with the Middle East (suppliers) which we will continue with. Wherever we get competitive prices, we will buy. Price is very sensitive to us,” oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at a press conference.

In the medium term, India’s negotiating power on oil will get extra muscle when its under-construction liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals will start meeting part of its energy requirement in transportation, power generation and in fertilizer production. Two LNG terminals of 5 million tonnes each are coming up at Ennore in Chennai and at Dhamra in Odisha.
The likely expansion of the electric vehicle industry too is expected to give India extra negotiation power in its oil trade.

Pradhan had last Sunday told Sanusi Mohammed Barkindo, the visiting secretary general of Opec, that New Delhi has other buying options, an oil ministry statement said on that day.

Pradhan’s message to the 14-member producers’ grouping urging “responsible pricing” came after the first shipment of US crude reached Indian Oil Corp. Ltd’s Paradeep refinery on 2 October at a $2 per barrel discount compared to Dubai crude. Opec accounts for 86% of crude oil, 75% of gas and 95% of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) that India imports.

It is economics that is driving purchase decisions as a discount of $2 a barrel could bring huge gains, said an Indian Oil Corp. official on condition of anonymity.

“Whatever can be saved in the price of crude, automatically goes to the refiner’s bottom line as crude accounts for the biggest cost in refining business,” said the official. Indian state-owned refiners have already placed a cumulative order 7.85 million barrels from the US.
The entry of the US in the oil exports market has increased competition among suppliers, said Richard Joswick, managing director-oil group, PIRA Energy, a forecasting and analytics unit of S&P Global Platts.

“The US entering the global crude export market, along with the surging growth in US shale oil production, will result in one of the largest changes in oil trade in many years. In a few years time, the US gross exports should hit 3 million barrels per day or more. That would put it ahead of most of the Opec countries,” said Joswick.

Experts also said that a persistent oversupply situation has rendered crude oil a buyer’s market, curtailing the ability of Opec members to influence pricing by adjusting supplies. Recent efforts of cutting output by Opec has also failed to prop up prices as US shale producers are continuously adding more output to the market.

Rahul Prithiani, director of Crisil Research, said that countries like India, China and Japan have raised their imports of US crude in recent months.

China imported an average of 100,000 barrels of crude a day from the US during the first five months of 2017, 10 times the level for the same period last year, increasing its share of US imports to 2% from 0.1% last year, said Prithiani. In the same period, the share of Chinese oil imports from Middle East has declined to 41% from about 47%.“With more competition in the market and weak demand growth, pricing will be competitive which is great for buyers like India,” he said.

Commerce Ministry extends window for raw sugar export to US till October

NEW DELHI: The commerce ministry has extended the last date of raw sugar export to the US under tariff rate quota (TRQ) till October 31.
TRQ is a quota for a volume of exports that enter the US at relatively low tariffs. Once the quota is reached, a higher tariff kicks in on additional imports.
"The last date of export of raw sugar to the US under TRQ quota for the US fiscal year 2017 (October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017) has been extended till October 31 this year," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has said in a public notice.
India enjoys import duty-free sugar exports to the US for up to 10,000 tonnes annually under preferential quota arrangement.
India, the world's second-biggest producer and the largest consumer of sugar, has a preferential quota arrangement for sugar export with the European Union as well.

Sugar Exports India