The subsidy will be credited to bank accounts of farmers against cane price dues and are compliant with WTO norms. This will benefit millions of farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
The dichotomy between richer and poorer states is largely in consonance with the diversity in state level disease burden in the country.
The slowdown in sowing is mainly because of the delayed onset of the southwest monsoon and its slow progress in June.
However, the areas under paddy - the biggest cereal grown during the kharif season - continue to be less than last year, mainly due to delayed onset of rains and also on account of shift towards the more lucrative maize.
Recent data from market analytics firm Nielsen shows that the rural market in the country's 630,000-odd villages is pulling down the overall FMCG business.
Credit to priority sectors as well as small and medium industries will be discussed to find ways to accelerate economic growth.
Officials said good rain in August - though it might not improve acreages much for most crops except urad, moong, and paddy - would help in improving yields in the crops already planted.
Low rain coupled with the fact that maize prices in the open market have surged from around Rs 15-16 a kg to almost Rs 25 this year have forced farmers to turn to this crop.
Maharashtra and Delhi lead the pack of states in terms of absolute number, with 142,425 and 125,937 closed companies, respectively.
Till July 26, kharif crops have been sown in around 68.87 million hectares, which is 6.43 per cent lower than the area covered during the same period last year.
Revenue foregone on account of corporation tax exemptions is estimated to grow by 16 per cent in 2018-19 (FY19) versus 8.7 per cent in the previous year and 12 per cent in 2016-17, show the Budget documents.
The high-level panel also asked the government to work towards re-orienting subsidies in a targeted manner from the crop sector to the non-crop sector and redesign the electronic National Agriculture Market.
The groups, including those associated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's parent organisation the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, have also threatened a big nationwide agitation if growth of illegal GM crops isn't checked.
Nirmala Sitharaman has designed the revenue mix in such a way that while Centre's share in taxes would grow a massive 25 per cent, states' share would grow a dismal 6 per cent.
Consumption of petrol and diesel will contribute more than half of the Centre's exclusive share in GST in FY20, reports Abhishek Waghmare
A well-established tax system would have a predictable buoyancy - how fast the collections grow as a proportion to the growth of the economy. But that is not the case with GST. It is still undergoing substantial changes as the government responds to structural as well as administrative glitches.
The committee has been tasked to come up with policy measures to boost agriculture exports, raise growth in food processing, attract investments in modern market infrastructure, value chains and logistics.
Till June 30, the southwest monsoon was 33 per cent lower than normal, which is among the worst in the last five years, with 28 of the 36 meteorological divisions recording deficient rain.
Around 40 per cent of the country is staring at drought-like conditions ahead of the monsoon as water levels have receded sharply.
It would involve constructing over 125,000 kilometres of roads and would form part of the third phase of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.