[Economy Lecture] (Contid.) Foreign Trade Policy 2015, MEIS-SEIS, GIFT City, Chinese Forex Reserve & Undervalued Yuan

1. Prologue
2. L6/P4: Foreign trade policy 2015: product-wise strategy
3. L6/P5: Foreign trade policy 2015: schemes & reforms
4. L6/P6: BoP-Capital Account: QE/FT, Fed Rate cut, Rate Hike
5. L6/P7: Forex Reserve of China and Undervalued Yuan
6. L6/P8: GIFT City and international financial Service centre (IFSC)

Prologue

• On 8^th May 2015, I conducted the session on “Foreign Trade Policy” subpart- product wise strategy, duty scrip schemes, & other issues mentioned in Economic survey chapter on Balance of payment.
• Total 2:30 hours, split into five parts.
• PowerPoint of the lecture, available at mediafire.com/folder/2bb433i58hp2v/General_Studies_Mrunal
• Medium of instruction- Hindi.
• English version not possible for the moment, because I’m required to teach at this batch, in Hindi/Gujarati only. Besides, same content is available in English-text articles or English PPTs on the site.

L6/P4: Foreign trade policy 2015: product-wise strategy

1. Recap of the previous lecture on foreign trade policy targets, regional trade agreements etc.
2. How to boost agriculture exports? Organic farming and plantation crops
3. Issues related to export of textile, gems and jewellery, mining, MSME industry, engineering goods.
4. What is Project export? How does it help in soft diplomacy and reducing trade deficit?
5. defense sector: FDI limits, arguments in favour and against increasing foreign direct investment in defence sector of India
6. ICT, Electronics, other services: issues and challenges in export
7. Sidetopic science and technology developments:
8. BRCA Gene Patenting and Angelina Jolie
9. legalization of three parent baby in united kingdom, Eugenics and genetic engineering for social engineering
10. Patent vs Generics: The case of Novartis (Glivec) and Bayer (Nexvar)
11. Issues and challenges faced by Indian pharmaceutical industry and remedies through trace and track policy 2015.
12. Measures for promotion of brand India

Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/bAMMnSK6pDI

L6/P5: Foreign trade policy 2015: schemes & reforms

1. What is the difference between anti-dumping duty and countervailing duty (CVD)?
2. What is Duty scrip? How does it help in boosting exports?
3. Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS).
4. Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS)
5. reforms in border transport and inspection
6. reforms through e-governance: digital locker for exporters and importers, E-BRC certificate
7. export status holders scheme and its benefits
8. WTO Bali summit and trade facilitation agreement (TFA)
9. export infrastructure: special economic zones (SEZ), export oriented units (EOU), Electronics and biotechnology Parks- their issues and reforms
10. Towns of export excellence (TEE): meaning and provisions under FTP-2015?
11. ASIDE: Assistance to States for Developing Export Infrastructure and Allied Activities. Why the budgetary allocation for the scheme has been reduced?

Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/cjp5ZhRt4wc

L6/P6: BoP-Capital Account: QE/FT, Fed Rate cut, Rate Hike

1. Classification between FDI and FII as per Arvind Mayaram Committee
2. elimination of FDI-FII difference in budget 2015
3. foreign direct investment limits various sectors of India
4. what is foreign investment promotion board (FIPB): its composition and jurisdiction
5. external debt of India: rankings for prelims MCQs
6. Quantitative easing and Fed tapering: meaning, impact on Indian economy, measures taken to stabilise foreign exchange rate of Indian rupee.
7. Fed Rate Cut and Rate Hike: how does it affect Indian economy?
8. Mock Question for Mains: 1^st world’s low-interest rate policies and quantitative easing, are unleashing financial turmoil on emerging-market economies. Discuss in context of India.

Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/MXzhzYaAB_0

L6/P7: Forex Reserve of China and Undervalued Yuan

1. How does China’s Mercantile policy and labour abuse help getting trade surplus?
2. How does China keep its yuan undervalued?
3. How did China buildup large forex reserve nearly $ 4 trillion?
4. What are the advantages and challenges in maintaining a large forex reserve?
5. Economic survey has recommended India to build a forex reserve worth 750 billion to $ 1 trillion through current account surplus- how can we do that?
6. How can large forex is a help us in soft diplomacy and project exports?

Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/L2jlHiyjT5Q

L6/P8: GIFT City and international financial Service centre (IFSC)

1. Case study: Dubai International financial sector- facilities offered
2. Gift City: ownership, location, salient features
3. SEBI provisions for opening stock exchange in gift city, guidelines for hedge funds and mutual funds
4. RBI’s guidelines for IFSC Banking Units: can they accept retail customers, rupee deposits? Are CRR, SLR applicable to them?
5. What are the legal challenges in building GIFT as an international financial service centre (IFSC)? The issue of full capital account convertibility
6. Mock Questions for Mains: Vibrant financial markets are critical to a country’s GDP growth. Examine the importance of proposed GIFT city in this regard, & discuss challenges in its setup.

Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/wflo82HCe0A

Visit youtube.com/user/TheMrunalPatel For more lectures on UPSC General Studies.