On the occasion of Chinese president Xi Jinping's two-day visit, Indian exporters are looking for a big boost in export of agricultural commodities, especially the ones that have been impacted by the ongoing trade war between the United States and China.
Assembly elections in Maharashtra are scheduled later this month. The farmer protests are likely to affect the results, especially in the onion-growing belt of Nashik.
With auctions unable to proceed, the median onion price declined 17 per cent or Rs 6 a kg to trade at Rs 30 a kg on Monday, with arrivals of around 500 tonnes.
Trade sources believe that tomato supply from Maharashtra has slumped due to incessant rain in the state towards the fag end of the monsoon season, reports Dilip Kumar Jha.
Onion has become costlier by over 33 per cent in the last one week and over 70 per cent in September so far, reports Dilip Kumar Jha.
At Lasalgaon mandi, Asia's largest onion selling market, the onion price jumped Rs 1.50 a kg to Rs 32 a kg, the highest since January last year.
The US is the largest consumer of gems and jewellery in the world contributing nearly 40 per cent of global production. If India can tap the opportunity, its overall exports to the US could jump by 10 per cent to $ 11 billion this year.
Since the Union Budget, gold has become costlier by 8-9 per cent because of a 2.5 per cent increase in import duty to 12.5 per cent and about a 5 per cent depreciation in the rupee.
The crop is currently trading at Rs 22 a kg compared to Rs 12.50 one month ago.
Forecasts of a further rise in bullion prices keep Indians away from selling gold.
Vegetable arrivals at mandis, especially in Maharashtra, have declined by more than 50 per cent since the beginning of the month.
They are now scaling or shutting down their businesses because they can't compete with untaxed grey market gold. India's gold smuggling has increased significantly since the import duty was increased in the Union Budget 2019 in contravention with the broader market expectations of a cut.
Consumers during the quarter sold 37.9 tonnes of old gold, which is the highest quarterly sale after September 2016, when old gold sale, or scrap supply, was 39 tonnes.
Among other things, the company is considering monetising the Global Village tech park located off Mysore Road in Bengaluru, for which private equity major Blackstone was said to have shown interest.
In order to help farmers, the government has increased minimum support price for the last several years. This has made Indian rice uncompetitive for exports.
In his second year at the helm, Infosys CEO & MD Salil Parekh looks optimistic about the company's growth prospects. With stability back in the industry, Parekh, in an interview with Bibhu Ranjan Mishra and Debasis Mohapatra, says turbulence is over and Infosys is on its way to regaining its old glory.
With monsoon rainfall 16% below the long-period average, total sowing area is down by 7% at 56.7 million hectares so far this season.
Deficient rains in west, flooding in north play havoc with crop cycles.
'There's a lot of continuity in terms of basic values and there's also a lot of new thinking based on the generational shift... it's a combination of continuity and change,' says Wipro Chief Executive Officer Abidali Neemuchwala.
With satisfactory progress of monsoon rainfalls prompting farmers to bring in additional area under basmati sowing, prices are set to fall lower going forward.
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