EUROPE | April 2020|Issue 3 | India speeding up FTA talks with Switzerland, Norway, Iceland

Message From SESEI

Greeting from Project SESEI !!!

Dear Readers,

On behalf of Project SESEI and its stakeholders, I pray and wish for safety and good health for all of you. I am hopeful that normalcy will return soon. However, it would be vacuous not to acknowledge the post Covid-19, impacts which the world economy will witness. Covid-19 has already changed the way we work and live. This scenario will further give impetus to more use of technology, innovations, IoT big data and Artificial Intelligence will play a big role in the times to come.

Keeping this in view the Union Commerce and Industry Ministry has decided to extend the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 by 31st March 2021 and continue relief under various export promotion schemes. India and EU/EFTA countries recently interacted on crucial issues of IPR, rule of origin, services.

Indian Government is also taking necessary action and planning a new law to safeguard foreign investment by speeding up dispute resolution, aiming to attract more capital from overseas to boost stuttering domestic growth. In a 40-page initial draft, India's finance ministry has proposed appointing a mediator and setting up fast-track courts to settle disputes between investors and the government.

New emerging technologies, Artificial Intelligence, digitization of services and connected society are some of the foremost objectives established by the Government of India under their National Digital Telecom Policy 2019. The ongoing Covid -19 is becoming a key learning in creating a more connected society through digital means and IoT & Machine to Machine are playing a big role. The union cabinet has already approved a budget sanctions for Digital India with a cost of Rs 113,000 crore (14 Billion Euro).

Government thik tank “Niti Ayog” is taking proactive measures and has joined hands with Industry association - NASSCOM to launch an AI based Modules implementation for students in Indian schools. The AI based Module has been introduced with an objective to empower students to innovate and create valuable solutions benefiting societies at large. Niti Aayog is also developing a national data and analytics platform (NDAP) to make all government data accessible to stakeholders in a user-friendly manner. The data available on the platform, across sectors should be coherent to support analysis and dissemination. The NDAP will host multiple datasets, present them coherently and provide visualization and analytics tools.

Creation of 5G ecosystem and propagation of the 5G services is a foremost objective for Ministry of Communications. It has agreed to allow all telecom service providers for conducting trials of super-fast speed 5G networks. The roadmap and vision established in the 5G Vision document is with a view that India will no longer be behind the technology curve following the timely launch of fifth-generation or 5G networks.

Under the automotive section, setting up of electric charging stations and electrical vehicles take precedence. Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) which is the world's largest public Energy Service Company is playing an important role. It has ramped up its capital expenditure to set up around 10,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the next two to three years and also floated a tender to procure 1,000 electric cars with a driving range over 180 km on a pan-India basis. Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) is working towards framing performance criteria and efficiency parameters that can help battery swapping in EVs. It is expected that standards and parameters for EV batteries will soon be finalized to be adhered by all battery manufacturers.

Augmenting the production of smart electricity meters due to growing demand will be met by the Government of India by establishing manufacturing base for smart meters. Government has also announced special fund under the Make in India scheme to strengthen local manufacturing of mobile devices and components. The “Make in India” programme has also awakened government of India and the Indian industry to align with global standards for products and services. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has said that the quality of the final product cannot be compromised as it is the deciding factor of industry's competitiveness in the Global market.

Many other important and interesting updates and developments have been captured in this third edition of our “SESEI Newsletter Europe”, concerning various government initiatives, policies, market updates, policy & regulatory decisions and standards development activities as being carried out in India around our project priority sectors.

I would like to conclude by praying for safety and good health for everyone. Happy Reading

Warm regards,
Dinesh Chand Sharma
Seconded European Standardization Expert in India (SESEI)