Morning Brief: Trade Deficit At Five-Month Low Despite Mounting Oil Pressure; Deported Rohingya Reach Home In Myanmar, Receive Identity Cards; And More

Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news brief for today.

Trade Deficit At Five-Month Low Despite Mounting Oil Pressure

Despite rising oil prices and negative growth in merchandise exports, India’s trade deficit reduced to 13.98 billion in September. This is the lowest it has been in the last five months, Mint reported. According to the daily, India’s exports came down 2.15 per cent in September while imports grew 10.45 per cent in dollar terms. However, due to depreciation in the rupee, exports and imports expanded at 9.65 per cent and 23.78 per cent, respectively, in terms of INR.

According to Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan, a dip was observed in exports of merchandise as there was an abnormally high growth of 26 per cent in this segment last year. He called it a temporary phenomenon. He also defended the decision to raise customs duty on some items, saying India has raised the rates well within the permissible limits prescribed by the World Trade Organization and said the move can’t be termed protectionist.

Deported Rohingya Reach Home In Myanmar, Receive Identification Cards

The seven Rohingya men deported by India to Myanmar have reached their homes in Rakhine’s Kyauktaw, the Indian Express has reported. According to the daily, the men have been given identity cards by the local authorities through which they can apply for the country’s citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Act. Myanmar does not recognise Rohingya as its citizens.

Talking to the Indian Express, one of the seven men said that they were treated well by the Myanmar authorities. “They bought us food along the way, there was no problem. We came in a government car,” he said. The men revealed that they had left Myanmar in 2012, before the alleged communal clashes in the region started, with an agent from the Indian state of Mizoram. The agent, one of them said, had promised to find jobs for them in the Middle East.

Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Dies At 65

Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975, has died aged 65. He was suffering from a disease commonly known as Hodgkin's lymphoma. He had announced earlier this month that the disease, which he had been treated for in 2009, had started to resurface. He had left Microsoft following his first diagnosis of Hodgkin's disease in 1983, which he defeated.

In his memoir Idea Man, published in 2011, he said he had overheard Gates and Steve Ballmer secretly plotting to reduce his ownership stake in Microsoft in 1982. This damaged the relationship between the two. He remained on the board until 2000. As an avid sports fan, Allen owned the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team and the Seattle Seahawks National Football League team.

Modi And Xi To Meet In Argentina On Sidelines Of G-20 Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Xinping will meet on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Argentina next month. China’s Ambassador to India, Luo Zhaohui, revealed this on Monday while speaking at the inauguration of the first Joint India-China training programme for Afghan diplomats. This will be the fourth meeting between the two leaders.

Modi and Xi held a two-day informal summit in Wuhan in April, met on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in June and the sidelines of the BRISC Summit in South Africa’s Johannesburg in July. A number of high-profile Chines officials have also visited India this year. China’s state counsellor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit India in December.

WPI Inflation Rises To 5.13 Per Cent In September

According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Wholesale Price Inflation (WPI) increased to 5.13 per cent in September from 4.53 per cent in August. WPI was nearly 3.1 per cent in September in September 2017. The Economic Times has reported that inflation in paddy, milk and oilseeds came down while that in cereals, wheat and potato grew by 5.54 per cent, 8.87 per cent and 80.13 per cent, respectively. Retail inflation grew 3.77 per cent in September.

Inflation in manufactured products, which account for 65 per cent weight in the WPI, was at 4.22 per cent. Fuel and power inflation grew 16.65 per cent. WPI was recorded 4.78 per cent in May, 5.68 per cent in June and 5.27 per cent in July

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We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Have a great day ahead!