Current Affairs - Economy & Infrastructure

India broke into the top 10 list of agricultural produce exporters in 2019 with a sizeable share in the export of rice, cotton, soya beans and meat, according to a World Trade Organization (WTO) report on the trends in world agricultural trade in the past 25 years.

• In 2019, Mexico and India, with 3.4% and 3.1% share in global agri exports, respectively, replaced Malaysia (7th) and New Zealand (9th) as the largest exporters, while the US, which topped the list in 1995 (22.2%), was overtaken by the European Union in 2019 (16.1%).
• The US’s share fell to 13.8% in 2019.
• Brazil maintained its ranking as the third largest exporter, increasing its share from 4.8% in 1995 to 7.8% in 2019.
• China climbed from the sixth spot in 1995 (4%) to fourth in 2019 (5.4%).
• Rice: In 2019, India (33%) overtook Thailand (20%) to top the list, while Vietnam (12%) overtook the US to the third spot. The top rice exporters in 1995 included Thailand (38%), India (26%) and the US (19%). The top 10 exporters accounted for more than 96% of exports in both 1995 and 2019.
• Cotton: India is the third-largest cotton exporter (7.6%) and the fourth-largest importer (10%) in 2019.
• Soya Beans: In the largest traded agri product, soya beans, India (0.1%) has a meagre share, but was ranked ninth in the world.
• Meat: In the “meat and edible meat offal" category, India was ranked eighth in the world with a 4% share in global trade. While India was the seventh-largest wheat and meslin exporter in 1995, it does not feature in the top 10 list in 2019.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) recently commemorated 6 years of the three transformative Urban Missions:

1. Smart Cities Mission (SCM)
2. Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and
3. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U)

Achievements

• Under PMAY-U, 1.12 crore houses sanctioned and over 83 lakh houses grounded. 16 lakh families benefitted from PMAY-U’s Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS). Government investment under PMAY-U created around 246 lakh jobs.
• Under AMRUT Mission, so far 105 lakh house-hold water tap connections and 78 lakh sewer/ sepatage connections provided. 88 lakh streetlights replaced with energy efficient LED lights leading to energy savings of 193 crore units. 84.6 lakh tons carbon footprint reduced through various initiatives under AMRUT.
• Under Smart Cities Mission, 70 cities have developed and operationalised Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs). 310 Smart Road projects, 57 Smart Solar Projects and 101 Smart Water Projects completed.

India’s banana exports grew both in terms of volume as well as value from 1.34 lakh metric tonne valued at Rs 413 crore in 2018-19 to 1.95 lakh metric tonne valued at Rs 660 crore in 2019-20. During 2020-21 (April-February), India has exported banana worth of 1.91 lakh tonne valued at Rs 619 crore.

India is the world's leading producer of bananas with a share of around 25% in total output. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh contribute more than 70% of the country's banana production.

According to the World Investment Report 2021 released by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), India was the fifth-largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in the world in 2020.

• The country received USD 64 billion FDI in 2020, which is an increase of 27 per cent, over USD 51 billion inflows in 2019.
• The United States remained the largest recipient of FDI, although, the FDI inflow to the country decreased by 40 per cent, to $156 billion, in 2020. China was the second-largest recipient with USD 149 billion FDI.

The MSME sector is an important sector of the Indian economy.

• As per the Central Statistics Office, Ministry of Statistics & PI, share of MSME Gross Value Added (GVA) in All India Gross Domestic Product at current prices (2011-12) for the year 2018-19 and 2019-20 were 30.5% and 30.0% respectively.
• The share of the MSME manufacturing in All India manufacturing gross value output during the year 2018-19 and 2019-20 were 36.9% and 36.9% respectively.
• As per the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, the share of export of specified MSME related products to All India exports during 2019-20 and 2020-21 was 49.8% and 49.5% respectively.
• As per 73rd Round of NSS Report on Unincorporated Non-Agricultural Enterprises' (July 2015- June 2016) conducted by Ministry of Statistics & PI, estimated number of workers in MSME sector was 11.10 crore.
• Under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), the estimated employment generated (number of persons) in micro enterprises during the year 2020-21 and 2021-22 (as on 01.07.2021) are 5.95 lakh and 1.19 lakh respectively.