US-China trade war opportunity for Indian commerce: Jaitley
New Delhi, Sep 28 : The ongoing US-China trade war may have created current instability in the global economy, but will gradually open up opportunities for India to expand as a bigger trading and manufacturing base, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.
Addressing the annual session here of the PHD Chamber of Commerce via video conference, Jaitley said that despite rising global oil prices also posing a challenge for the domestic economy, the future holds promising opportunities for India's growth story.
"The trade war initially created instability, but eventually may open up greater markets. They will open up India as a bigger trading and manufacturing base and, therefore, we must closely watch the situation as to when the challenge turns into an opportunity," Jaitley said.
The ongoing trade war between the US and China further escalated this week as the two economic powerhouses slapped each other with the largest rounds of tariffs yet, unleashing punitive duties now on roughly half of their traded goods.
President Donald Trump's new 10 per cent tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods went into effect on Monday, spanning thousands of products, including food seasonings, baseball gloves, network routers and industrial machinery parts.
It immediately prompted Beijing to respond with tariffs on $60 billion of American goods. Neither country showed signs of backing down and there are no further trade talks scheduled to resolve the dispute.
The latest global trade protectionist measures, along with high crude oil prices, put the Indian rupee on a downward spiral this month, dragging it down to a record low of 72.98 against the US dollar on September 18.
On the impact of rising crude oil prices, Jaitley said: "Notwithstanding these challenges, I'm quite certain that in the days and years to come, there are great opportunities for India in order to grow."
Petrol and diesel prices have been daily climbing record levels for nearly a month now. While petrol in Mumbai is over Rs 90 per litre, in Delhi it has gone upwards of an all-time high of Rs 83.
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41 lakh illicit liquor seized, 1.84 lakh arrested in major drive: K'taka Minister tells Assembly
Belagavi (Karnataka) (PTI): The Karnataka Excise Department has conducted a statewide crackdown on illegal liquor trade over the last two years, resulting in arrests and seizures of alcohol, Karnataka Excise Minister R B Timmapur said on Tuesday.
As many as 1,09,017 people were arrested, and seizures included 13.66 lakh litres of liquor and 27.19 lakh litres of beer, he said in a written reply to a starred question by Harihar BJP MLA B P Harish in the Karnataka Assembly.
The Minister said the enforcement drive covered the financial year 2023–24, 2024–25 up to June, and 2025–26 from July to October, targeting unauthorised liquor manufacture, storage, sale and transportation across the State.
"During this period, statewide enforcement drives resulted in a total of 1,84,570 raids against illegal liquor sales,” Timmapur said.
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He noted that 9,179 non-bailable cases and 91,968 bailable and compoundable cases under Section 15(A) of the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, were registered during the same period.
According to him, there have been no reports indicating that students have become addicted to alcohol due to illegal liquor sales.
The sale of alcohol to minors is strictly prohibited under the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, and the department has issued periodic instructions to initiate legal action against violators, with strict enforcement and investigation measures in place, the Minister said.
Excise officials are carrying out regular road and night patrols, collecting intelligence, monitoring habitual offenders and conducting raids to identify illicit distillation units, unauthorised liquor outlets and spurious liquor manufacturing centres, he said, adding the department is also enforcing the law to prevent the production, storage, sale and transport of spurious, non-duty-paid and unauthorised liquor.
Regular patrols are being conducted on national and state highways, with suspicious vehicles being subjected to checks.
At the district level, standing committee meetings are held under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioners, and joint operations are carried out with the police and forest departments to curb excise-related offences.
The department is also conducting awareness programmes through Gram Sabhas and in schools and colleges to educate the public and students about the physical, mental and social health hazards associated with alcohol addiction and substance abuse, Timmapur added.
