Trade

Goyal stressed the importance of restoring trust in the WTO's ability to deliver and ensuring adherence to decisions made within the organization. He emphasized the need for a functional appellate body to address disputes effectively, advocating for a resolution mechanism that upholds the rules of fair trade.

November witnessed a substantial decrease in gold imports, nearly halving to $3.45 billion from October's $7.2 billion, and a 22% reduction in oil imports, totaling $13.71 billion due to falling crude prices. Electronic goods imports also notably dropped by around 17% to $6.49 billion.

The pronounced escalation in global crude oil prices significantly contributed to the upswing in the nation's import bill.

The country’s merchandise exports declined by 2.6 per cent to $34.47 billion compared to the same month last year, while the imports were valued at $53.84 billion in September.

The official trade figures compiled by the Commerce Ministry show that merchandise exports stood at $34.48 billion in August up from $32.25 billion in July. However, imports during August were also higher at $58.64 billion compared to $52.92 billion in the previous month.

A joint statement issued during the state visit of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to India on September 11, said that while praising the growth achieved in trade between the two friendly countries, both sides stressed the importance of continuing joint work to enhance and diversify bilateral trade.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fined the banks for being unable to produce those “off-channel” employee communications going back to at least 2019. The SEC charged 11 firms for widespread and longstanding failures by the firms and their employees to maintain and preserve electronic communications.

Merchandise exports in June was at $32.97 billion, while imports were $53.10 billion during the same month. During May, merchandise exports were $34.98 billion, while imports were at $57.10 billion. India's exports were down owing to slowdown in major economies of the world, commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal told media persons. 

Although Bitcoin topped over $30,400 on April 18, reaching the highest level since early June, its monthly gain was only 3 per cent, way down from 21 per cent in March and much less than gains usually seen in the fourth month of the year, according to data by BitcoinCasinos.com.