Come June 2009 and the country may have its granaries overflowing with wheat and rice.
Companies attribute declining sales to the lack of demand from the automobile, real estate and consumer durables sectors, which are facing rising inventory levels that have choked cash flows.
The company has invested about Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) for resuming production at the Modinagar plant near Meerut. The earlier tie-up with Continental, which is the world's fourth-largest tyre producing company, had lapsed after the closure of the plant in 2001. Labour unrest and litigations had led to the closure of the unit then.
Realisation due to a strengthening dollar exceeds the losses inflicted by export duty hike.
The government has given up plans to build grain reserves abroad finding it difficult to do so in view of the high food prices internationally. It had assigned four public sector undertaking companies to explore the possibility of building a 2-3 million tonne (mt) grain reserve to facilitate economical import during a domestic shortage and avoid extravagant imports.
Wheat, rice and edible oil prices have begun moving down from their past highs, as farmers continue to expand area under these crops in response to high prices. Speculators worldwide are now betting on falling prices.
The wholesale price index based inflation rose to 12.44 per cent for the week ended August 2. Wheat has a weight of 1.38 per cent in the index. The department of economic affairs and the department of food and public distribution are in favour of selling 4 million tonnes wheat.
Top steel producers like SAIL, Tata Steel, JSW and Essar have decided to maintain status quo on steel prices even as the three-month price freeze ends today. Industry sources said they have decided to keep prices on hold as of now since inflation is ruling at a 13-year high of 11.98 per cent and any increase would aggravate the situation.
Companies may maintain status quo on low monsoon demand, capacity addition.
A committee of secretaries is considering a Rs 4,000-crore (Rs 40 billion) market intervention fund to provide states interest-free loans to augment foodgrain and edible oil availability, among other items. The money will enable states to intervene in the market by buying and distributing essential items to economically weaker families that are eligible for government assistance.
ITC, Godrej Agrovet, DCM Shriram and other companies expanding in rural areas may eclipse the growth of their urban counterparts, including Reliance Fresh and the Future Group-owned Food Bazaar chain, helped by higher farm income that is spurring a boom in sales of fast moving consumer goods, consumer durables and apparel.
The introduction of 10 per cent mandatory blending of ethanol with petrol is unlikely to happen from this October, as decided by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in October 2007.
For many years now, the Congress and its allies have not had any noteworthy representation from the area. The loan-waiver package may not improve things in the next general elections in 2009, Business Standard found out in an extensive tour of the area. Most farmers said they did not find it worthwhile to go to a bank for loan because the process was too cumbersome.
Demand payment of sugarcane arrears, company says there are no dues.
"No airline is making money in India because they are selling below cost. The country is seeing a 25 per cent annual growth rate in air passenger traffic, but some slowdown is also expected. These are some of the pains when markets open up," said John Leahy, chief operating officer (customers), Airbus. Leahy, however, declined to offer details.
The crude oil rally will impact prices of aviation turbine fuel, which forms 30 per cent of the operating cost for an airline. The company incurred a loss of $23.1 million during the October-December quarter of FY08. This was against a net profit of $9 million during the corresponding quarter of 2006-07.
The sharp depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar over the last four weeks has neutralised the impact of recent import duty cuts aimed at lowering prices of commodities like edible oil, metallurgical coke and newsprint.
The procurement has already touched 19.8 million tonnes and government agencies continue to procure 200,000-250,000 tonnes daily.
Cement companies' latest quarterly performance shows that they have begun to feel the pinch of the government's anti-inflationary measures. The latest price cut of 1.5 to 3 per cent at the government's persuasion and a decision to hold prices for the next three months could impact earnings even more.
Liquor companies are set to raise prices, thanks to the hike in the cost of molasses, a by-product of sugar used to make potable alcohol. "Alcohol prices may rise as much as 20 per cent due to lower molasses production," said Abhishek Khaitan, managing director, Radico Khaitan, the country's second largest liquor producer.
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