Sea food exports grow by 23% to $5.78 billion in 2016-17

NEW DELHI: India's sea food exports rose by over 23 per cent to $5.78 billion in 2016-17 on account of increasing demand of frozen shrimp and fish in global markets. The commerce ministry said that in volume terms, the exports increased to 11,34,948 tonnes in the last fiscal as compared to 9,45,892 tonnes in 2015-16.

"Riding on a robust demand for its frozen shrimp and frozen fish in international markets, India exported 11,34,948 tonnes of seafood worth an all time high of USD 5.78 billion (Rs 37, 870.90 crore) in 2016-17," the ministry said in a statement.

It said the US and South East Asia continue to be the major importers, while the demand from the European Union (EU) grew substantially during the last fiscal.

"Frozen shrimp maintained its position as the top item of export, accounting for 38.28 per cent in quantity and 64.50 per cent of the total earnings in dollar terms," the ministry added. Shrimp exports increased by 16.21 per cent in volume terms and 20.33 per cent in dollar terms.

"Frozen Fish was the second largest export item, accounting for a share of 26.15 per cent in quantity and 11.64 per cent in dollar earnings, registering a growth of 26.92 per cent in terms of value," it said. The US accounts for 29.98 per cent of India's total sea food exports.

"Diversification of aquaculture species, sustained measures to ensure quality, and increase in infrastructure facilities for production of value added products were largely responsible for India's positive growth in exports of seafood," the ministry said quoting Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Besides, frozen shrimp and fish, India's other major seafood product was frozen squid. NEW DELHI: Export of oilmeals, used as animal feed, has gone up by 69 per cent to 97,871 tonnes during May due to better price parity in the global market, an industry body SEA said today.

Though exports are showing an improvement in percentage terms, they are still lower when compared to the earlier years, it said in a statement.

Oilmeals shipments stood at 57,954 tonnes in May 2016.

"In last two months, the export of oilmeals improved as compared to the previous year due to good monsoon, better oilseeds production and price parity," Mumbai-based Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said.

During April-may period of this fiscal, 3,015,69 tonnes was exported as against 1,71,932 tonnes in the year-ago period, it said.

It may be also noted that India faced drought years during 2014-15 and 2015-16, which led to lower production of oilseeds, affecting export of oilmeals to a lowest level.

Of the total exports undertaken during May 2017, shipments to Europe and other countries increased to 1,27,548 tonnes from 3,989 tonnes in the year-ago.

Oilmeals exports to South East Asian countries also rose to 1,66,127 tonnes from 1,58,080 tonnes, but the shipments to Middle East fell to 7,894 tonnes from 9,861 tonnes in the said period, the data showed. NEW DELHI: T Venkatasubramanian, belonging to Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (Irsme)assumed office as the Chief Vigilance Officer of NLC India Ltd, on Tuesday at Neyveli. He started his career in Southern Railway.

He is a Mechanical Engineer with Diploma in Business Management and worked in various capacities in Trivandram, Erode, Trichy, Mysore, etc. He also worked as General Manager in Centre for Railway Information System, looking after computerised ticketing for railways and other such Enterprise IT Systems over Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka for more than 4 years. NEW DELHI: State-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) is awaiting a response from the Mozambique government for exploration rights for new prospective coal blocks in the African country. "A request has been made to government of Mozambique for allocation of exploration rights of new prospective blocks but no response has been received till date," according to Coal Ministry's Annual Report 2016-17.

Coal India Africana Limitada (CIAL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CIL was granted prospecting licenses for two coal blocks, covering a total area of 224 sq km by the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Government of Mozambique.

The mineability study report revealed that the coal blocks were techno-economically not viable for commercial mining, it said.

The report was considered by the CIL board which approved complete surrendering of the prospecting licenses.

The government of Mozambique accepted the application for relinquishment of the said licenses, it added.

The final Geological Report (GR) of the two allocated coal blocks in Mozambique were prepared based on the outcome of the exploration programme carried out in the period from 2012 to 2014.

"Based on the findings of the exploration programme, a total of 170 sq km (approx) where even the topmost coaly horizon was not found up to the depth of 500 m was surrendered," it said.

The government of Mozambique issued prospecting licenses for remaining 54 sq km area, valid up to August 6, 2019. NEW DELHI: To facilitate small businessmen, traders, shopkeepers and public at large, ICAI GST Sahayata Desks have been made operational by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India on pro bono basis at all major cities. GST Sahayata Desks will be made operational at approximately 200 locations through 5 Regional Councils, 163 Branches and 48 CPE Chapters of ICAI. The Sahayata Desks will be operational from May 28 to September 30 at pan India level.

ICAI president Nilesh S Vikamsey said, “The GST will replace multiple taxes system in a single taxation system. Implementation of GST would be a win-win situation for all the three stakeholders viz government, businessman and consumers.”