As part of continuing trade talks with Washington, India is considering eliminating import levies on US liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and ethane. According to media reports, this move is intended to increase fuel imports from the US and is consistent with India’s plan to remove import duties on US liquefied natural gas (LNG). Butane, propane, and ethane—all necessary for the production of petrochemicals and cooking gas—are currently subject to a 2.5% import tariff. India bought 18.5 million metric tonnes of LPG, mostly from the Middle East, for $10.4 billion in the fiscal year 2023–2024. With 65,000 barrels per day last year, India is now the second-largest importer of US ethane after China. However, due to restricted ship availability, storage, and processing capacity, logistical problems make it difficult to increase US ethane imports. Energy Aspects analyst Cheryl Liu pointed out that it will be difficult for the US to boost ethane shipments to India. It is because India appears to have already maximised its usage of ethane as a feedstock due to advantageous present margins. The main purchaser of ethane, Reliance Industries, a significant participant in India’s petrochemical industry, highlights the difficulties in growing this trade.
India Aims to Broaden its Bilateral Trade with US
India’s intentions are a part of a larger trade pact that aims to offset a $45.7 billion trade surplus that now favours India by increasing bilateral trade with the US to $500 billion by 2030. Officials from the finance and commerce ministries will make the final judgement on these duty reductions. Logistical issues continue to be a major obstacle to increasing US ethane imports in the near future, notwithstanding the possible economic advantages. Washington and New Delhi agreed in February to work together on the first phase of a trade deal that is anticipated to be completed by the end of this year. In addition to resolving India’s $45.7 billion trade imbalance, the objective is to increase bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. Sources inside the Indian government claim that representatives from the finance and commerce ministries would ultimately decide whether to lower tariffs.
LPG Import the Right Choice for India
Given that India imports over 60% of its LPG needs, the import scenario offers a simpler opportunity for the country. In terms of logistics, it is easier to increase LPG imports than ethane, according to Prashant Vashisth, vice president of Moody’s affiliate ICRA. This approach supports India’s objective of negotiating advantageous economic terms with the US while securing a steady energy supply. India keeps looking for the best ways to strike a compromise between its trade goals and its energy import requirements as trade negotiations move forward. The conversations reveal a calculated desire to increase economic relations with the United States while diversifying energy sources.
A financial market is looked upon by both investors as well as traders to gain an advantage by the means of sharing and buying financial assets with utmost security. The financial market broadly classifies the terms that stand for a marketplace where bonds, currencies, and equity are traded off. The financial market serves as a connecting link between investors and collectors by joining them with capital. The two different aspects of taking part in the financial market are Investors and traders. Investors look out for the opportunity to invest in an eligible place, whereas traders lookout to trade their part with increased value. The basic definition and other useful details about both parts are shared below.
Investing vs Trading: Investing is done for a longer duration with minimal risk to gain average profit. Whereas, Trading is done within a limited period involving higher risk and profit.
Investment
Investment is defined as putting money into financial schemes, shares, and properties to achieve higher profit. It can also be considered as purchasing an item with the thought of selling it in the future to gain an extra from its increased value. In other language investing means allocating money with the expectations of some benefits or returns in the future. The return can either be counted as a benefit or can turn into a loss. Investors generally expect more return from riskier investments. If a low risk or low investment is made, the return is also generally low i.e. Low investment gives low profit.
Things to consider before investing
Risk
Risk is an essential point to consider before investing. Every investment is prone to some level of risk. There can be a high chance of losing some of the whole investing amounts before its outcome.
Every person gives a different response to ‘risk’, and the best reaction is noted from previous similar experiences encountered. Most investors or consultants suggest that you should exit a financial investment when the investment value is scrapped to 80%.
Return
There are two types of returns on financial investments, Assured Returns and Variable Returns.
Assured and variable returns are now replaced by Least Volatile and Highly Volatile returns. The least volatile financial investment includes parts like debt instruments and small saving schemes. Whereas, Equity, Gold, and real estate are counted under Highly Volatile investments. The only ‘risk’ free return is a fixed deposit return. Investors should decide the percentage of exposure in the Least and Highly Volatile investment.
Taxation
Taxation is the most important point of financial investments. Taxation benefits can be reversed under specified conditions. The Short Term Capital Gains (STCG) for an investment period under three years are taxed at the individual slab rate, but the Long Term Capital Gains (LTCG) are taxed at 20% plus surcharge and cess with indexation.
Income and source of income are also important in investment. Salary may be a more stable source of income than self-employed or businessmen persons. Families with more sources of income can be more secure compared to single-income source families. The double income family saves more and more saving means more investment.
Knowledge of finance
Investors should know financial aspects before starting with the basic process. As blind investment is suicidal. Hence, taking advice from knowledgeable persons and experienced people is the best way to start followed by a few searches on the web.
Points to remember for successful Investment
Make a financial plan
Before making any investments, one needs to be fully aware of the financial background and the expectations from it. There is no guarantee of getting benefits from each investment. Few investments can turn into tremendous victory whereas some can prevail as a failure. It’s very essential to make a financial plan before starting with investment planning.
Taking risks.
Besides all investments, there is some sort of risks. Risks like losing all or some amount of money can also occur and some similar situations can also prevail. However, the higher the risk, the higher returning benefits. Hence, it is essential to consider all risk factors before investing.
Avoid fraud investments
Some investments use high publicity news to give assurance of more profit. Before trusting such options, it is more recommended to get an additional inquiry done from related persons.
Always maintain an emergency fund
Always put some savings outside the investment to cover an emergency. Emergencies can be situations like loss of investing amount and its notable profit. At those moments, emergency funds can come in handy.
Being up to date about financial assets plays an important role in investments. Keeping an eye on the current financial investment assets makes the investment better. As for those lagging in being up to date can cause them great misfortune of losing their investing amount due to inappropriate knowledge.
Trade
Trade involves the purchasing and selling of goods and services with compensation paid by a buyer to a seller. Trading refers to the exchange of securities through sale and purchase. On the other hand, we can say that trading is buying, selling, or exchanging assets. The financial market consists of the trading of securities such as shares, currencies, commodities, and derivatives. The trading market aims to make a profit by buying at a lower price and selling at a higher price within a short period. A trader can be anyone from an individual investor to a global institution. We can trade directly or with the help of a broker.
Things to consider before trading
Risk
Trading is riskier than investing. Market risk is the major risk of trading and is out of anyone’s control. Market risk is bound to rise or fall, but knowing the risks and making a market plan could save you from losing your money.
Profit
Trading is more profitable than investment. Trading provides one with the option of earning extra credits without any set limits. Indian stock market is one of the highest liquidity markets where people can make any amount of money. Profit depends on the purchase and sale of desired stock. We can say the profit depends upon the stock market value.
Points to remember for having a successful trading
Keep an eye on the market
Trading wholly depends on the basic propaganda of the market, i.e. demand and supply. Before trading, one must learn the basics of the stock market by keeping an eye on financial news, the price range of stocks, and taking up a course on the stock market are all excellent ways to become an efficient trader. Online stock trading simulators help to learn online trading efficiently and accurately.
Make a plan
To become successful in financial goals, it is better to make a strategic plan. Since the trading is riskier, advance decisions should be made on options like the last limit of investing, eligible loss amount, etc. The practice is the golden key to becoming a successful online trader.
Trading is all about knowing the market and how the market is changing. As a trader, one needs to be fully confident in their strategies. Most of the profits can be earned through a personalized strategy applied at the perfect time instead of going ahead with the option of following others’ plans in trade.
Holding the stocks
One can buy stocks and hold them for better profit. The holding of socks may help them with more profit because of the long-term purchase of high-quality stock at a low price when their demands go up. However, it is always applicable to some amount of risk due to the involvement of uncertainty.
Investing vs Trading
Now the most important question is, which one is better? Investment or trading? It is very difficult to choose which one is better because investment and trading are two different aspects of finance. However, the guide shared above can help one determine a better option. If someone wants to take no risks or low risks and avoid volatility, investing is better for you. You will get an 8% to 10% return annually. Investment means short-term wins and can get fewer several losses. If someone is more of a risk-taker and would like the chance to earn money in a short time, trading is considered the best option for them. Trading can be a thrilling way to earn quick money and may also lead to big losses.
Conclusion
Investing stands for buying any stock or product to create wealth. Trading means purchasing and selling products to make profits. Both the methods give a similar output of generating profit. However, they both vary in their processes ad risk factors. Investing is typically for those looking out to create wealth within some interval of time and trading is generally for those looking out to generate profit in less amount of time.
FAQs
what is meant by financial investment?
Financial Investments stands for the fixed amount sided to gain some percentage from it at the speculated interval of time.
Which are online platforms available for investing?
Some of the online platforms for investing are eToroeToro, Fidelity Investments, E*Trade, etc.
In every business school, you will learn that the primary objective of a business is to make money. However, no one signifies the right method to make a profit. Well, in greed to make more money, some people start to follow unethical ways. There can be thousands of unethical ways, one such way is to steal a competitor’s plan or idea and present it to the world, as their own. There are numerous big and small corporate houses present in history, that had stolen their competitor’s ideas. Due to this malpractice by the corporate houses, the term espionage evolved. If you are wondering, what exactly ‘corporate espionage’ means, then let’s get familiar with the term first.
The dictionary meaning of corporate espionage, “Attempting to obtain trade secrets by dishonest means, as by telephone- or computer-tapping, infiltration of a competitor’s workforce, etc.“
In the layman’s language, we can say that corporate espionage means spying on your competitor to gather their secret business information. There can be different means to spy, like tapping phone calls or hacking computer systems or even bribing their past and current employees to get competitor’s future roadmap. This practice is done by almost every corporate establishment, the only difference is that some got caught in time and some just don’t, instead they become rich on another person’s idea. So, today we are going to focus on the former one and will talk about corporate espionage by 6 top companies.
In 2001, P&G admitted that they launched a spy mission for their core competitor Unilever to gather some inside scoop. Their cunning corporate espionage plan, which P&G referred to as an “unfortunate incident,” included going through Unilever’s trash in search of documents, although if Unilever habitually throws away full documents entitled “Super Secret Product Information That Will Crush P&G” their days as an industry leader are numbered. Later when the matters were disclosed in front of Unilever, then both the companies came to a mutual understanding and P&G swore not to use any gathered information. Thus the matter was mutually solved by both companies.
Cadence Design Systems Vs Avant
In the early 90′s the Avant, one of the biggest software companies in silicon valley at that time, had stolen code from a rival company, Cadence Design Systems. This became more than a simple case of unscrupulous business practices when prosecutors filed charges and, in 2001, Avant! was ordered to pay $182 million in restitution plus interest and fees, for a total of $200 million. The case got very hick at the time and Avant paid $200 million to settle the case and received the civil case in return. This marked a record for corporate espionage cases during that decade.
Opel Vs Volkswagen
Every employee is precious to the company and Opel faced the biggest shock of the time when their chief of production moved to rival Volkswagen and was followed by not one, not two, but seven other executives. The executives didn’t go alone but also took away all confidential documents along with them. Imagine the condition of the Opel. Opel fought a long legal battle with Volkswagen but in the end, Volkswagen agreed to pay General Motors, the parent company of Opel, $100 million and place an order for over $1 billion’s worth of car parts. Volkswagen still refused to apologize, though, showing that even multinational car companies can be as stubborn as 5-year-old children and can undertake corporate espionage dishonestly.
IBM Vs Hitachi
It’s a bit old case of corporate espionage, but the importance of the case in the computer world is enormous. In 1981, Hitachi mysteriously came into possession of an almost full set of IBM’s Adirondack Workbooks. As a matter of fact, the document contained IBM design documents full of IBM technical secrets and was prominently marked FOR INTERNAL IBM USE ONLY didn’t prompt Hitachi to return them. The technical staff of the IBM and FBI went through nail cracking investigation to find the culprit. After the arrest of numerous IBM officers, the culprits got caught and Hitachi settled out of court and paid $300 million to IBM.
Avery Dennison Corp Vs Pin Yen Yang (Four Pillars)
Pin Yen Yang, President of Four Pillars, a Taiwanese company that makes and sells pressure-sensitive products, and his daughter Hwei Chen Yang, were arrested and charged with a smorgasbord of offences related to industrial espionage against Avery Dennison Corp, a major US adhesives company. They were arrested for paying $1,50,000 to one of the Avery Dennison employees and which caused a loss of $10,000. That was indeed sticky.
Waymo Vs Uber
Waymo filed a complaint against self-driving truck startup Otto and its parent company Uber for patent infringement and stealing trade secrets. Anthony Levandowski was an employee at Waymo and Waymo accused Levandowski of using a flash drive to steal 14,000 files (designs, blueprints, and testing documentation) containing highly confidential information before his resignation. Otto was founded by Levandowski. Otto and Uber are using key parts of Waymo’s self-driving technology, specifically related to its light detection and ranging radar.
Conclusion
The business is indeed a dirty game or we can say some selfish people made it dirty. Some people have a viewpoint that with the copyright act and other security tools, corporate espionage has been reduced but no one can be sure of it. All these corporate espionage tales are to alert all aspiring entrepreneurs so that they know the depth of the upcoming danger. It is better to practice healthy and fair business activities, as there is plenty of room for all of us in this corporate world.
FAQs
Is corporate espionage illegal?
Corporate Espionage is an illegal as well as an unethical practice.
What is Corporate Espionage?
Corporate Espionage is gathering secret information about the different companies by dishonest means.
What are the types of Corporate espionage?
There are different types of corporate espionage and they are:
