List of major items by their import bills last year ( In Billion $)

[sehwag1830]

1 petroleum, crude & products 148.54
2 gold 55.9
3 electronic goods 33.27
4 perls prcus semiprcs stones 32.63
5 machry excpt elec & electronic 29.81
6 coal,coke & briquittes etc. 17.187
7 metalifers ores & metal scrap 13.438
8 organic chemicals 13.28
9 other commodities 11.19
10 transport equipments 10.89
11 iron & steel 10.9
12 fertilezers manufactured 10.0812
13 vegetable oils fixed (edible) 9.537
14 project goods 8.51
15 artfcl resns,plstc matrls,etc. 7.353
16 silver 5.802

 

[Yusuf]

Point being?

 

[sehwag1830]

Nothing. I wanted to discuss India's trade performance . Things which we can increase in export or decrease in import.

 

[Yusuf]

One, many of the products from china require extra duty. My dad is in the business of selling stainless steel valves manufactured in Ahmedabad. We have Chini ones now flooding the market at cheap prices. The owner of the Ahmedabad company of whom my dad is a dealer was in Bangalore yesterday and I asked him to approach the government may be via NaMo to get dumping duty on Chinese valves. There are thousands of other products like this.

Still its a very small percentage of our major imports Oil and Gold. Increasing duty on gold will take us back to the gold smuggling days.

 

[sehwag1830]

Funny things is India's coal, coke import bill is higher than Coal India's annual revenue . This means that cost of domestic coal is 30% of International price.
Perhaps the reason we don't get investment in minings .

 

[Yusuf]

Quality of Indian coal is not good.

 

[ejazr]

Source? It would be a good idea to compare exports as well.

In any case, Oil and gold need to be reduced and one way to do them is to make it more costly for the end users. That is rationalise fuel prices and rationliase duties on gold imports.

The Coal issue is more to do with the govt. controlled coal industry rather than expensive coal in India. If Coal mining was properly privatised and mines auctioned like spectrum on a cyclical basis, then coal output would increase and GoI can actually end up making money overall.

 

[sehwag1830]

Quality of Indian coal is not good.

I know that. But still 30% of international price is very less.

 

[sehwag1830]

Source? It would be a good idea to compare exports as well.

In any case, Oil and gold need to be reduced and one way to do them is to make it more costly for the end users. That is rationalise fuel prices and rationliase duties on gold imports.

The Coal issue is more to do with the govt. controlled coal industry rather than expensive coal in India. If Coal mining was properly privatised and mines auctioned like spectrum on a cyclical basis, then coal output would increase and GoI can actually end up making money overall.

Indian commerce site.

 

[lcatejas]

1 petroleum, crude & products 148.54
2 gold 55.9
3 electronic goods 33.27
4 perls prcus semiprcs stones 32.63
5 machry excpt elec & electronic 29.81
6 coal,coke & briquittes etc. 17.187
7 metalifers ores & metal scrap 13.438
8 organic chemicals 13.28
9 other commodities 11.19
10 transport equipments 10.89
11 iron & steel 10.9
12 fertilezers manufactured 10.0812
13 vegetable oils fixed (edible) 9.537
14 project goods 8.51
15 artfcl resns,plstc matrls,etc. 7.353
16 silver 5.802

Sonia Gandhi from Italy costs us Trillions of $

 

[ejazr]

Indian commerce site.

care to share the link? It would surely have other info as well.

 

[Yusuf]

Source? It would be a good idea to compare exports as well.

In any case, Oil and gold need to be reduced and one way to do them is to make it more costly for the end users. That is rationalise fuel prices and rationliase duties on gold imports.

The Coal issue is more to do with the govt. controlled coal industry rather than expensive coal in India. If Coal mining was properly privatised and mines auctioned like spectrum on a cyclical basis, then coal output would increase and GoI can actually end up making money overall.

Like I said earlier, raising duty on gold is not a good option. It will only lead to smuggling as it was from 60s to 80s.

 

[sehwag1830]

care to share the link? It would surely have other info as well.

System on Foreign Trade Performance Analysis (FTPA)

 

[Yusuf]

The oil and gold imports are equal to the rest in the list.

I went to buy ear rings for my daughter the other day. Chatting up with the jeweler, he said sahab, these days the demand for jewelry is very less. Everyone is asking for coins and biscuits. Jitna bhi rate badhne do, log sona lena nahi chhodenge. In fact, the consumption has only increased despite the high prices.

 

[skumar7777]

care to share the link? It would surely have other info as well.

You can also refer to the Economic Survey UNION BUDGET & ECONOMIC SURVEY.

 

[skumar7777]

The oil and gold imports are equal to the rest in the list.

I went to buy ear rings for my daughter the other day. Chatting up with the jeweler, he said sahab, these days the demand for jewelry is very less. Everyone is asking for coins and biscuits. Jitna bhi rate badhne do, log sona lena nahi chhodenge. In fact, the consumption has only increased despite the high prices.

History tells us that the price of gold increases during times of crisis and that is what many people are perceiving nowadays what with the US dollar as the reserve currency, euro zone breaking up, bank runs etc.

Usually people do not track the quantity of gold they have (I am talking about men here, my wife would be able to tell that to the last gram) and psychologically, if you cannot quantify, it is difficult to say whether it is excess or shortfall. Moreover, in traditional Indian families, gold remains the gift of choice during marriages amongst close relatives. My mother would know exactly how much someone gave during my marriage and I am expected to return the same, if not more, back and dare I ask my wife when it comes to returning?