Mexico
(Source : Embassy of India, Mexico City)

India was the guest of honor country in International Cervantino Festival 2018, which was appreciated as one of the best in several years. The buzzword significantly helps in putting India on the minds of business community as well. The sponsoring opportunity also helped the Indian companies reach Mexican public.

Malawi
(Source : High Commission of India, Lilongwe)

Top Ten Imports from India to Malawi (2017)

The main imports of Malawi from India are pharmaceuticals. Malawi as of 2017 imported 61% of its pharmaceuticals from India compared to the previous year’s 55%. The scope for more market share of the pharmaceuticals is still there in Malawi. The other products include printed books, articles of iron and steel, plastic and articles thereof and electrical machinery. Below is the list of top 10 imports from India to Malawi in 2017.

Peru
(Source : Embassy of India, Lima)

Foreign Trade: How are Peru`s agreements advancing in 2019?

With 21 commercial agreements in force, Peru had its second year of consecutive growth of commercial exchanges, which totaled to US $ 91 billion in 2018, according to the Chamber of Commerce of Lima (CCL). By 2019, three commercial agreements could enter into force for Peru and thus modify the landscape of exporters, importers and, in general, of Peruvian businessmen.

Agreements under negotiation

Peru is in the process of negotiating five trade agreements, which are the DOHA Development Program - World Trade Organization; the TISA; and the FTAs with El Salvador, Turkey and India. Of these agreements, says the expert of the CCL, the TISA stands out as the agreement that allows the exchange of services, unlike most agreements, which are based on the exchange of products; the agreement with Turkey does not register advances and that of El Salvador offers a small market to Peru. The most striking and complicated, without a doubt, is the FTA with India, which will continue to be negotiated in 2019.

(Source: Gestion Newspaper)

Peru defends the denomination of "Pisco" in the Republic of India (La Republica 10.01.19)- After nine years of litigation the Appeals Council of Intellectual Property of India recognized the exclusive rights of Peru over the denomination of Pisco. On November 29, the Council of Intellectual Property Appeals of the Republic of India (IPAB for its acronym in English) declared the appeal filed by Peru to be well founded and recognized the exclusive rights over the Pisco Denomination of Origin, registering it favor of Peru as a Geographical Indication. Likewise, it declared unfounded the opposition formulated by the Association of Producers of Pisco A.G., of Chile.

Venezuela
(Source : Embassy of India, Caracas)

Indian Crypto Exchange sees strong demand in Venezuela: According to an article published on News.bitcoin, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, which is now live in 45 countries, has informed through a spokesperson that it is “seeing immense enthusiasm and buyer activity in Venezuela and that Venezuelans are looking more at the longer-term yield of bitcoin”.  The article informs that the Indian cryptocurrency exchange “Instashift” was launched in February 2018 and began to roll out service in a slew of countries in November 2018, offering support for 45 fiat currencies. A spokesperson for the exchange told media that: “Presently, in the 45 countries we have launched [in], we are seeing immense enthusiasm and buyer activity in Venezuela … Venezuelan users were on a buying spree”. “We partnered with a few good local sellers,” the spokesperson said, confirming that his exchange plans to add “another 45 countries by April 2019.” Other than Venezuela, “We see demand from Panama, Thailand, Nigeria, Romania, Cameroon, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and Ukraine,” he detailed. The 45 countries that Instashift is reportedly live in are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Republic of Congo, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, UAE, Uganda, Ukraine, the U.K., the U.S., Venezuela and Vietnam. The spokesperson claims “As we are a pure peer-to-peer exchange with an instant coin conversion feature, there is no specific licensing for it at the moment”. The spokesperson has elaborated, “Venezuelans, in general, are of the thought that cryptocurrency is a safe haven to keep their store of value rather than keeping it in their own currency where inflation is peaking at the top”. Furthermore, he described to the reporter that “awareness amongst the crypto-communities” in many of the 45 countries “is quite low” compared to Venezuela as Venezuelans can buy and sell over 120 coins on the Instashift platform. In addition to purchasing cryptocurrencies with the sovereign bolivar, the spokesperson pointed out that “it’s interesting to note they are using US Dollars as well,” elaborating “They are buying only BTC at the moment … [we] have not yet found any user seeking altcoins … [our] volume in Venezuela has been roughly growing 5-7% daily”.

Venezuela issues decree regarding the payment of cryptocurrency and foreign fiat tax: As per a media report, on 07 January 2019, the Government of Venezuela published a decree detailing the process of tax payment with regards to cryptocurrencies and foreign fiat currency. The decree No. 3719 published in the Official Gazette No. 6420, includes an explanation of the framework as well as the reasons for the new law that have been described as an economic emergency. According to the decree, all Venezuelans who have had any dealings in cryptocurrency or in foreign currency are required to report their income and pay taxes in the currency in which the dealings took place rather than Venezuela’s official currency, the Bolivar. There are some exemptions to this rule as those whose dealings are with the Caracas Stock Exchange, are exempted as well as those who deal in the export of goods traded by public institutions. The SUDEBAN, Venezuela’s banking sector regulator, will issue another set of guidelines for banks and financial institutions to ensure their compliance with the decree. The SENIAT, Venezuela’s tax authority, will issue guidelines to citizens on how to report their income and taxes. Penalties for non-compliance have already been defined and enforcement is to be carried out by the Venezuelan Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Venezuelan National Assembly request foreign countries to freeze Maduro-linked accounts: According to media reports, Venezuela’s opposition-run National Assembly, approved a measure asking dozens of foreign governments to freeze the bank accounts controlled by the administration of President Nicolas Maduro.