India has much to be proud of and celebrate. But there is also much that is wrong, much that looks dangerous. Employment, current account deficit, rural distress, agricultural productivity are all in deep crisis, points out Shekhar Gupta.
"If the Doha Round does not materialise that would not be on account of the US agricultural subsidies ... major emerging economies (India and Brazil) are not coming up with enough market access, especially in non-agricultural areas such as services including financial services," US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who will be visiting India shortly said.
The Met department blamed the malfunctioning of sensors kept at the Automated Weather Station for the gaffe.
Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday said the country's sugar output in the current season could exceed 16 million tonnes (MT) on the back of improved yields in key growing states.
Away from the distraction of its new high-profile politics, Wayanad's worries seemed very down to earth, discovers Shyam G Menon.
Nearly a third of an average Indian citizen's consumption budget is spent on food.
According to the first advance estimates of crop production for 2007-08 report that was released on Wednesday, India can expect record production in maize, oybean, cotton and sugarcane crops.
Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies are expected to see muted topline growth, with uneven spread of the monsoon impacting demand. Rural demand recovery, too, remains elusive in the July-September quarter. Brokerages expect volumes to remain steady in the quarter on a sequential basis.
The Gross Value Added (GVA) in agriculture and allied activities is projected to clock its best growth in FY23 during the October-to-December quarter, at 3.7 per cent, on the back of a strong kharif harvest, according to the second advance estimates of national income. In the third quarter of FY22, GVA in the sector was 2.3 per cent at constant prices. At current prices, the growth in the third quarter of this financial year is projected at 8.6 per cent, which is almost at the same level in the corresponding quarter of FY22.
The National Council of Applied Economic Research, which had forecast the country's economy to grow by 8.5 per cent in 2007-08, has raised projection to 8.9 per cent on improved performance of agriculture and services sectors.In case of industry, although the investment climate continues to be strong, the slower growth of exports may be a dampening factor, but retained the growth in industrial sector unchanged at 9%.
India's economy grew 7.6 per cent in the September quarter of this fiscal and remained the fastest-growing large economy, mainly due to better performance by manufacturing, mining and services sectors, the government data showed on Thursday. The gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 6.2 per cent in the July-September quarter of 2022-23. India remained the fastest-growing major economy, as China posted a 4.9 per cent growth in July-September 2023.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a Rs 11.11 lakh crore spending on infrastructure and vowed to continue reforms as she resisted resorting to populist measures in Modi government's last Budget before general elections, instead choosing to stay on the path of cutting deficit while bolstering measures for focus groups.
'Its people are either victims of corruption or witnesses to it.'
Given the gap between budgetary allocation and use, a parliamentary standing committee has asked the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (Ayush) to take steps to prevent underutilisation of funds under the National Ayush Mission (NAM) scheme. According to the data, the ministry was allocated Rs 1,200 crore for the mission in the Budgetary Estimate (BE) for FY24. The Revised Estimate (RE) for the year fell to Rs 815 crore, of which Rs 589 crore, or 74 per cent, has been spent till January.
The apex biz chamber said that there is an urgent need to make contract farming legal.
Inflation may touch the six per cent-mark by the end of this fiscal due to surging food prices and decline in agricultural output, research firm Dun & Bradstreet said.
Farmers have been availing crop loans upto Rs 300,000 at 7%.
Even as Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is eyeing a decline in inflation to 5-6 per cent by the year end, Planning Commission member Dr Narendra Jadhav said only a good monsoon and augmentation of agriculture production could help achieve the target.
If more commodities which have seen a sharp rise in MSP are to be procured, such as pulses, oilseed and cereals, there could be a storage problem. Also, if state-owned Cotton Corporation of India joins in, this problem will aggravate.
'Higher valuation remains the only spoiler for equities.'
Production in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh are likely to be higher this year.
India has been at the forefront of efforts at the UN to push for urgent long-pending reform of the Security Council, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member.
There are a number of problems that plague the implementation of MGNREGA, including corruption, administrative paralysis and other hardy perennials. Massive amounts of funds on this scheme remained unspent in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
In the past two decades, the country's economic growth slipped below five per cent in only three years - in 1997-98, 2000-01 and 2002-03.
India needs a second green revolution along with the next generation of reforms with a view to make agriculture more climate-resistant and environmentally sustainable, said an RBI article on farm sector challenges. Observing that Indian agriculture has exhibited remarkable resilience during the COVID-19 period, the article said "new emerging challenges warrant a second green revolution along with next-generation reforms". Despite the success in terms of production that has ensured food security in the country, food inflation and its volatility remain a challenge, which requires supply-side interventions such as higher public investment, storage infrastructure and promotion of food processing, said the article titled 'Indian Agriculture: Achievements and Challenges'.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Tuesday said that poor monsoon will adversely impact farm production and trim economic growth.
Indian growth in the rest of this fiscal year and next will be propelled by robust domestic consumption as consumer confidence improves, and by investment, including large increases in government capital expenditure, according to the Asian Development Outlook September 2023. "As slowing exports could foment headwinds for the economy, and erratic rainfall patterns are likely to undermine agricultural output, the growth forecast for FY2023 is revised down marginally to 6.3 per cent," ADB said.
Having created businesses ranging from world's largest single-location oil refining complex to nation's largest mobile network operators in just few years, billionaire Mukesh Ambani says his group Reliance Industries Ltd will never be complacent and will grow to be among the top 10 business conglomerates of the world. Addressing employees on Reliance Family Day - the birthday of the group's founder Dhirubhai Ambani, he said Reliance is now aiming to consolidate a place among global leaders in digital data platforms and AI adoption. "Today, the domestic and global environments for business are changing very fast.
'The slaughter and handling of infected poultry poses the greatest risks,' says FAO official Dr Samuel Jutzi.
G-24 grouping comprises 24 developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
India is set to experience extreme heat during the April to June period, with the central and western peninsular parts expected to face the worst impact, the IMD said on Monday as the country prepares for seven-phase general elections from April 19.
Thackeray had addressed the audience as his deshbhakt and deshpremi brothers and sisters" instead of the traditional invocation of "Hindu brothers and sisters" at the Shivaji Park gathering in Mumbai.
The Tamil Nadu Irrigated Agriculture Modernisation and Water-Bodies Restoration and Management Project is designed to modernise irrigation systems covering over 600,000 hectares in 63 selected sub-basins throughout the state.
"President of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa is still in the country, I made a mistake in the (BBC) interview," Speaker Abeywardena told ANI in a telephone call.
The minister also exuded confidence that India would be able to sustain 20 per cent export growth in the current fiscal.
President Pratibha Patil nominated Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan as the doyen of governors to discharge responsibilities and conduct the three-day conference of governors starting October 29 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
