Total to buy 37% stake in Adani Gas for $600 mn to expand India footprint

Source: Business Standard, Oct 14, 2019

French energy giant Total SA is spending $600 million to expand its presence in one of the world’s fastest growing natural gas markets.

Total agreed to purchase a 37.4 per cent stake in India’s Adani Gas Ltd., a distributor of the fuel that is developing import terminals and a national chain of vehicle-filling outlets. Total said in a statement that the acquisition will cost about $600 million taking into account its divestment in another Indian LNG terminal earlier this year.

The deal will give Total access to India’s natural gas market and support its drive to become one of the world’s top LNG players. India’s annual LNG demand will hit 28 million tons by 2023, making it the world’s fourth largest importer of the fuel, according to BloombergNEF.

India, China private sector inks 129 MoUs ahead of Modi-Xi Jinping meet

Source: Business Standard, Oct 11, 2019

New Delhi: A day ahead of the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, 129 memoranda of understanding were signed between the private sector of both the countries for exports of various products such as chemicals, plastics, pharma, and fertiliser.

At Ficci’s India-China Meeting and Signing Ceremony, Zhu Xiaohong, counsellor, Embassy of China, said the imbalance in trade in goods between the countries has been one of the factors troubling economic cooperation.

“To make it clear, China has never deliberately pursued trade surplus. China is fully aware that balanced trade is sustainable and beneficial to both sides,” she said.

India has time and again raised the issue of widening trade deficit with China, which stood at over $50 billion in 2018-19. It has also raised concerns that domestic sectors like information technology, agri, and pharma do not get fair market access in China.

The counsellor added that China’s trade surplus with India reduced by 1.6 per cent to $37.9 billion during the first eight months of 2019.

Gujarat government inks MoU to set up China Industrial Park at Dholera

Source: Financial Express, Oct 01, 2019

With the Aim of attracting investments and generate new job opportunities in the state, the Gujarat government has signed an MoU with the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (CASME) to set up a China Industrial Park at the Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR). The MoU is estimated to attract Rs 10,500-crore investment by Chinese SME units in pollution-free, high-tech areas and create 15,000 direct and indirect jobs at local level.

The MoU was signed between CASME Investment Management group vice-president Vendong Chi and chief minister’s principal secretary and principal secretary for industries MK Das. It is the follow-up action of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Gujarat in 2014 and the visit of a high-level delegation from Gujarat to China in 2015.

India, US fail to seal trade deal over differences on import duties

Source: Business Standard, Sept 26, 2019

New Delhi: Differences over reduction in import duties on high-value US smartphones and gadgets have held up efforts by India and the US to finalise a trade package, said officials.

However, both sides have continued to discuss issues and trade negotiators are hoping for a breakthrough by Thursday, they added. “Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, along with Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan and other trade department officials, are in the US,” said the officials.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have a number of bilateral meetings on Thursday, one of which may see him sit with US President Donald Trump again. Addressing the press on Tuesday, Trump had promised a trade deal with India “very soon”, with a larger deal down the line. However, Modi has not commented so far.

Ongoing global uncertainties dampen M&A deal activity in August: Report

Source: The Economic Times, Sept 25, 2019

NEW DELHI: Corporate India’s merger and acquisition activity moderated in August with 23 deals worth USD 845 million, the second lowest monthly deal volume till date amid ongoing global uncertainties, says a report.

According to Grant Thornton’s monthly M&A Dealtracker, the prevailing economic uncertainties resulted in August recording 36 per cent decline in terms of number of deals and 49 per cent fall in value terms.

In August 2018, there were 36 deals worth USD 1,660 million.

“Owing to global trade tensions and failure to record big ticket deals during August 2018, cross-border values fell by over five times. However, on the positive side, the domestic M&A values recorded a 55 per cent increase over August 2018 on the back of encouraging measures and easing reforms,” Pankaj Chopda, director at Grant Thornton India LLP said.

Trade deal with India soon: Donald Trump

Source: The Economic Times, Sept 25, 2019

New Delhi: India and the US will soon have a trade deal to be followed by a bigger agreement later, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, suggesting that the two nations may be close to resolving current disputes.

“We are doing very well. I think very soon we will have a trade deal. We will have a larger deal later on,” Trump said during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after their bilateral meeting in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

External Affairs minister S Jaishankar and commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal were also present during the meeting.

India, UAE discuss areas of cooperation to strengthen economic ties

Source: Financial Express, Sept 23, 2019

India and the UAE have discussed areas of cooperation in various sectors, including civil aviation and financial, to strengthen economic ties between the two countries. It was discussed during the meeting of the UAE-India High Level Joint Task Force on Investments on Sunday in Abu Dhabi. A joint statement issued after the meeting said that in the context of the air services agreement and the memorandum of understanding, with the Emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ras-Al-Khaimah and Sharjah, both sides discussed the implementation of these bilateral agreements.

“They further agreed that pending issues, interests and concerns expressed by both sides be taken up for mutual benefit of the carriers and civil aviation sectors of the two countries,” it said.

To increase the confidence of the business communities of the two countries, both sides stressed the importance of the bilateral judicial cooperation through the recognition and enforceability of court judgment in civil and commercial cases and arbitration awards in each other’s country. Growth opportunities for Indian banks, asset managers and technology companies at Abu Dhabi Global Market were also deliberated upon, it added.