While companies have not launched too many products in rural areas of late, easy financing has helped push up demand.
Each bottle of pickle that leaves FarmDidi, headed to a consumer, has a little kahani behind it -- it's linked to the tale of a life, the life of a simple, striving village woman who created it, and that's what gives Manjari Sharma satisfaction and happiness.
Leading FMCG firms reported a nearly two-fold increase in the share of quick commerce within their total e-commerce sales, and this surge is anticipated to continue, said a joint report by Deloitte and industry body FICCI. Quick Commerce, also known as hyperlocal delivery, is now reaching around 35 per cent of online sales and has become a preferred channel for urban consumers. "About 18 per cent of consumers prefer purchasing food and beverage items from Q-commerce channels.
The delegation also interacted with the workers and told them not to believe in rumours and fake videos.
But the atmosphere is now conducive for the Mahayuti to continue in power in Maharashtra thanks to the government's people-centric schemes, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is giving promises that it cannot execute, he said.
Rahul Gandhi, along with a dozen Congress leaders, had met the prime minister on Wednesday to demand that the scheme, which guarantees 100 days employment to each rural household, be extended to the entire country.
In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday underlined the need for collaboration between the Centre and states to take up the next-generation reforms covering land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship. As far as revenue share goes, the government has projected to give about 32.5 per cent of central taxes to states during FY25, against the 15th Finance Commission's recommendation of 41 per cent, according to the Union Budget estimate.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the actual spending under the scheme in the fiscal year ending March 31 "would be highest".
United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Friday favoured an approach of welfare and development to defeat left-wing extremism and insurgency and bring back youth involved in it back to the democratic mainstream.
'If you look at the average age of all our candidates, you will notice that their average age is between 35 and 40. It is a kind of revolution that the MNS is bringing in Maharashtra.'
RRBs were formed under an Act to provide credit to small farmers, agricultural labourers and businesses in rural areas.
Maharashtra recorded a voter turnout of 58.22 per cent till 5 pm on Wednesday in the elections to the 288-member state legislative assembly, with Gadchiroli district logging more than 69 per cent voting, poll officials said.
Coming down heavily on the Chhattisgarh government for removing an elected woman sarpanch of a remote village for 'unjustified reasons', the Supreme Court on Monday observed the state wanted the village head to go with a 'begging bowl before a babu (bureaucrat)'.
'After Om's untimely demise, he would call us every Sunday for the next two years to ask, "How are you doing my dear? How's the young fella?"'
In May, Satpal Singh, who runs a dairy business with three buffaloes in Jewar, near Noida, was worried about the steep spike in input costs. Singh said dry fodder rates, which cost Rs 1,500-2000 per tractor trolley last year, were quoting at Rs 4,500-5,000. The price of other cattle feed ingredients (that include mustard meal and similar mixes) had also gone up from Rs 2,000 per quintal to Rs 3,100-3,200 per quintal.
If growth reverts to the pre-Covid level, a lot of people may have to temper their rosy optimism, points out Debashis Basu.
Free provision of food, cash transfers, and jobs in villages see enhanced flow of funds despite a precipitous fall in revenue. Till May, defence spend was nearly 30 per cent less than the previous year.
The juggernaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which triumphed in three of the four east and north-eastern states that went for assembly bypolls on Saturday, was halted yet again in West Bengal where Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress registered a six-on-six clean sweep.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget proposals lay out a comprehensive road map for transforming India into a developed nation, focusing on key priorities that aim to generate ample opportunities for all citizens in "Viksit Bharat". It sets the stage for sustained economic growth, social development, and technological advancement.
At least five people were killed in separate rain-related incidents on Tuesday in Bengaluru, which has been reeling under incessant rains for the past three days causing widespread flooding in several residential areas and turning roads into virtual rivers.
This is the fourth such recruitment drive proposed to be undertaken by the Narendra Modi government which had in 2018 initiated lateral entry.
'There is a deep stigma or taboo attached to COVID-19 in rural areas.' 'People don't want to test because they fear social exclusion.' 'Even those who test positive may not reveal and not follow the quarantine protocol.'
A freebie once granted can hardly be discontinued. All that can happen is to substitute it with a bigger freebie, notes A K Bhattacharya.
The rural BPO centre will be established by the Tata Business Support Services -- the BPO wing and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons -- in partnership with Tata Steel Rural Development Society -- a corporate NGO managed by the Tata Group for the last 60 years. To start with, it is expected to employ around 200 people. Sources close to the development said the company has already recruited the first batch of the executives for the BPO unit.
This survey also shows how things have moved forward since the last large-scale sample survey conducted by NSSO in 2012-13
MS had written that seeds of the green revolution were first sown in the fields of CRRI through the indica-japonica rice crosses, and decided that the plant type should be tailored to be functionally responsive to external application of fertilisers.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies on Tuesday welcomed the Union Budget and said it focussed on youth, farmers, women, and has 'substantial allocations' for Maharashtra, but the opposition slammed the annual financial statement, claiming it neglected the western state and only seeks to please the saffron outfit's partners in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.
President Kalam was talking to students of the Government Higher Secondary School in Eintkhedi, near Bhopal, on the future of rural development
Atishi will have a brief tenure in office as assembly elections in the national capital are due in February.
The government will provide Rs 11.11 lakh crore for capital expenditure for 2024-25 and introduce viability gap funding to spur private investment in infrastructure, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. Presenting the Union Budget for FY2024-25, she said that the government will endeavour to maintain strong fiscal support for infrastructure over the next five years, in conjunction with imperatives of other priorities and fiscal consolidation.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday commended Indian financial sector regulators for doing a "world-class job" and bringing greater transparency into the system. Underlining that she is not against questioning or critiquing regulators, Sitharaman said there is a need to be "extremely conscious" about contributions made by them as well. Speaking at the Financial Express Best Banks Awards, the finance minister said, "I strongly recommend that facts are taken on board before we discuss anything to do with the regulators, strictly speaking."
The July-September quarter (Q2) results for 2024-25 (FY25) from the largest listed consumer electrical solutions companies, Havells India and Polycab India, followed similar trends, demonstrating robust revenue growth while falling short of profitability expectations. Both companies witnessed overall growth in the 16-30 per cent range, but margins declined by 130-290 basis points (bps) year-on-year (Y-o-Y). Although brokerages are bullish on long-term prospects and have raised revenue projections, earnings forecasts have been revised downward due to margin pressures.
The transferred officers included 22 IAS, 79 IPS, 45 Bihar Administrative Service officers
Tamil Nadu's Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has reacted to Andhra Pradesh counterpart Pawan Kalyan's out-of-turn taunts with a one-liner, 'Let's wait', and thereby hangs a tale, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Maharashtra government on Wednesday decided to acquire the iconic Air India building at Nariman Point in Mumbai for Rs 1,601 crore. The decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet in Mumbai. The meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, also decided to waive off around Rs 250 crore unrealised income and interest on the property, an official said.
'When there are no good roads and no buses plying to villages, your spending on development is skewed.'
'Efforts are on to make the data readily available so that it proves useful for policymakers.'
'Given our turbulent neighbourhood, the prime minister is likely to emphasise on democratic dividend as the reason behind India's continuous prosperity.'
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