Approval of signing and ratification of Bilateral Investment Treaty between India and UAE

1. Approval of signing and ratification of Bilateral Investment Treaty between India and UAE

The signing and ratification of the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a significant development that will help strengthen economic ties between the two countries. This treaty is expected to boost investor confidence and increase foreign direct investment (FDI) flows and overseas direct investment (ODI) opportunities. 

Some key benefits of the India-UAE BIT:

- It will provide greater legal protection and security to investments made by investors from both countries. The treaty has provisions to protect investments from expropriation, nationalization and ensures fair and equitable treatment. 

- The treaty provides mechanisms for dispute resolution through arbitration. This will make investors more confident of recourse in case of disputes.

- It expands the scope for Overseas Direct Investment by Indian companies in the UAE. The treaty provisions on National Treatment and Most Favoured Nation treatment will ensure Indian investors are not discriminated against.

- For UAE investors, the treaty opens up key sectors of the Indian economy such as construction, infrastructure, manufacturing etc. The treaty will encourage diversification of the UAE's investment portfolio beyond natural resources.

- The BIT will likely boost FDI inflows from UAE to India. The UAE is currently India's third largest trading partner and accounts for over $11 billion in FDI into India. The treaty provides the framework for increasing these investment linkages.

- The treaty also enables joint collaboration opportunities between companies from both countries in terms of partnerships, joint ventures etc. This can help build investor networks and share best practices.

While the BIT sets the broad framework, the governments of both countries will have to work towards improving the investment climate through supportive policies, ease of doing business reforms, tax reforms etc. The BIT provides the foundation but actual investment flows will depend on domestic regulations and conditions. Nonetheless, the treaty is a big positive for investment ties between India and the UAE.

2. Approval of extension of Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund

The Cabinet approval for the extension of the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) for another 5 years will give a boost to livestock development in India. The key aspects are:

- The AHIDF provides medium to long term loans for investment in infrastructure for animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries sectors. The loan ranges from ₹10 lakhs to ₹100 crores with interest subvention of 3% for dairy and poultry farms and 5% for others.

- The Fund has an outlay of ₹15,000 crores, with contribution by NABARD, farm credit institutions and aplicants. 2% interest subvention is borne by the government. 

- In the last 2 years since its launch, the AHIDF has leveraged investment of ₹12,500 crores. With the extension, it aims to leverage ₹50,000 crores investment in 5 years.

- The AHIDF supports private investors, individual entrepreneurs, producer companies, cooperatives, startups etc. It will help attract more investment in processing, value addition and marketing infrastructure.

- It will boost infrastructure like cold chain, supply chain, laboratories, modern abattoirs, food parks, wheat straw based BioCNG plants etc. This will help reduce wastage, ensure quality and drive efficiency.

- The AHIDF will support dairy infrastructure like bulk milk coolers, chilling infrastructure, testing labs etc. This will benefit milk producers through remunerative prices. 

- Fisheries will benefit through infrastructure like fish processing, storages, distribution chains and fishing harbours that can help minimize post-harvest losses and add value.

- The extension of AHIDF will promote capital formation in livestock, improve productivity through better infrastructure and motivate farmers through income security. It will give a boost to the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan in this sector.

3. Extension of sugar subsidy scheme under PDS

The government's approval to extend the sugar subsidy scheme for Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households by another two years will provide continued relief to the poorest families and have wider socio-economic benefits:

- The scheme provides ₹18.5 per kg subsidy on sugar distributed via the Public Distribution System to over 2.5 crore AAY families. This provides free sugar at ₹13 per kg.

- The scheme was launched in 2018 initially for 2 years and has now been extended till September 2023 due to its positive impact.

- It provides targeted relief to the poorest households who are beneficiaries under the AAY scheme for subsidized foodgrains. 

- Sugar provides 'empty calories' and the subsidy improves energy availability in their diet, crucial for nutrition security. This helps alleviate malnutrition especially in children and women. 

- The subsidy also encourages AAY families to use their sugar quota, improving uptake of PDS provisions. Better nutrition can improve productivity, learning outcomes and health.

- It provides income support to poor households by reducing household expenditure on sugar. This enables spending on other essentials.

- For sugar industry, it provides relief from surplus stocks build up, improves cash flows and ensures timely cane payment to farmers. Industry has benefited from buffer stock liquidation.

- Enhanced sugar offtake improves capacity utilization in sugar mills aiding financial viability. This protects livelihoods of sugarcane farmers and workers employed by mills.

- The scheme links agriculture to nutrition security and also promotes food processing industry by way of sugar value addition in the form of jaggery, sweets etc. This generates rural employment.

- The subsidy is budget neutral as the food ministry incurs no additional expenditure. The entire subsidy is reimbursed from sugar cess collections.

The extension gives continuity and policy stability. It substantiates the government's commitment to nutrition security and improving the lot of most vulnerable sections. The subsidy scheme has been an inclusive and far-sighted policy intervention.

Here is a continuation of the elaboration on the remaining points:

4. Cabinet approval for the National Technical Textiles Mission

- This mission with an outlay of Rs. 1480 crores will be implemented from 2020-21 to 2023-24. It aims to improve India's competitiveness in technical textiles.

- Technical textiles are functional fabrics used in various industries like agriculture, shipping, railways, defense, roads, water resources etc. 

- The mission will promote innovation, indigenous development and widespread adoption of technical textiles. This will aid growth and investments in this sunrise sector.

- It has four components - research, innovation and development, promotion and market development, education, training and skill development, and export promotion.

- R&D grants will support prototype development, pilot studies and commercialization of new technical textile materials and applications. 

- A National Technical Textiles Resource Centre is proposed for testing facilities and to promote standards. This will aid quality compliance.

- The mission will fund creation of Centers of Excellence for specific technical textile verticals like agrotech, meditech etc. 

- Awareness campaigns, incubator schemes and support for domestic and export promotion will expand the market.

- The mission aims to improve technical education, skill development and training infrastructure. This will create a talent pool for the industry.

- The mission adopts a coherent approach encompassing the entire value chain to unlock the potential of technical textiles in India. It will enable higher indigenous production and exports.

5. Cabinet approval of PLI scheme for IT Hardware

- The Rs. 7350 crore PLI scheme for IT hardware manufacturing will attract global players and incentivize domestic companies.

- It offers a production linked incentive of 1% to 4% on net incremental sales of goods under target segments of IT hardware like laptops, tablets, servers etc.

- The scheme aims to enhance India's manufacturing capabilities and enhance exports to a level of Rs. 3.5 lakh crore by 2025-26.

- It promotes high value production by incentivizing global and domestic players to engage in high value additive manufacturing.

- The scheme will attract large investments, generate employment and enable integration with global value chains.

- It will enhance development of core competencies like specialized materials, components, displays etc. in India.

- The scheme complements other efforts like Phased Manufacturing Programme for cellular mobile phones, electronics manufacturing clusters etc.

- It will supportAtmanibhar Bharat efforts in electronics manufacturing. electronics manufacturing. This strategic sector will see immense growth and domestic value addition.

Here is a conclusion with future projections on how this can promote ties with other countries in 2000 words:

The policy decisions taken by the Indian government highlighted here covering investment, agriculture, nutrition and strategic manufacturing sectors are significant steps that will yield both economic and social benefits. 

The approval of the bilateral investment treaty with the UAE provides a template that can be adopted for similar treaties with other nations. It signals India's willingness to provide fair treatment and protection to foreign investors to encourage two-way investment flows. This can promote India as an attractive investment destination when competing for FDI with Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America. Signing of more BITs with capital exporting nations can bring in fresh investments and overseas partnerships.

The extension of the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund through 2026 unleashes the potential for commercializing livestock and associated industries. It facilitates private investment across the value chain - production, processing, storage, distribution and marketing. The integrated infrastructure created will aid exports and integration with global markets in line with India's export targets. India can showcase this scheme to demonstrate its policy support for agriculture and allied sector investments. This can help position India as a preferred agribusiness investment destination.

The sugar subsidy scheme for the poor highlights India's efforts at balancing industry viability with welfare. The policy vision linking agriculture to nutrition security and bolstering food processing can be projected to aspiring food processing nations. India's expertise in managing the sugar economy and value chain can be offered to sugar producing nations like Brazil, Thailand, Pakistan etc. as a policy model through bilateral cooperation platforms.

Schemes like the PLI for IT hardware manufacturing showcase India's precision targeting of sectors where it is competitive. The incentives for domestic value addition and exports can attract component makers and manufacturers to India. The electronics hardware manufacturing prowess demonstrated can enable India to partner with industrial clusters in Southeast Asia and China serving global electronics brands. Indian manufacturing can integrate with regional and global value chains. 

Overall, the policy decisions reinforce India's manufacturing capabilities, promote commercial agriculture and demonstrate its political commitment to welfare and disadvantaged sections. This augurs well for the economy and also signals an attractive environment for foreign investors. With astute diplomacy, India can leverage these schemes and strategic orientation to build partnerships, share knowledge and attract investment from both public and private stakeholders across the world. The policy initiatives seed the landscape for shaping such partnerships which can accelerate India's progress.