2026

The commerce ministry on Thursday held consultations with exporters to address disruptions in shipping, port operations and packaging arising from the ongoing West Asia crisis, PTI reported.Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal chaired two meetings attended by Shipping Secretary Vijay Kumar, export promotion councils (EPCs), commodity boards, shipping lines, ports and exporters.Officials said the discussions focused on…

The US economy grew at a sluggish 0.5% annual pace in the October–December quarter, lower than earlier estimates, as a prolonged government shutdown weighed on activity, AP reported.The Commerce Department revised down its estimate of fourth-quarter GDP growth from 0.7% to 0.5%, marking a sharp slowdown from 4.4% growth in the July–September period and 3.8%…