-The Economic Times MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India has revised the definition of priority sector to include corporates engaged in agriculture and allied activities, and amended the limits for certain categories. In a circular issued to commercial banks on Wednesday, the RBI has clarified that loans to corporates, including companies formed by individual farmers, partnership firms and co-operatives of farmers directly engaged in agriculture and allied activities, will now be considered...

-The Indian Express The export-import policy for farm products needs to be consistent and predictable Sal seeds are obtained from Orissa-based tribals for money that would not compensate them for even the cost of a bus ride to the state capital Bhubaneswar. The produce is, however, valuable as it is converted to sal seed butter, used in Europe by the chocolate industry. But one of the world’s fastest-growing chocolate markets, India, does...

-The Business Standard If Mr Vadra had to count his friends in the real estate business, they would be Corporation Bank, the Haryana government and DLF  Robert Vadra, who is at the centre of a controversy over his property dealings with realty giant DLF and others, began investing in real estate five years ago, in 2007-08. He was already a wealthy man by then, not a struggling businessman who could scrape only...

-Mainstream Weekly Intense and motivated propaganda, powerful national and international diplomatic pressure, verging on pure and simple arms-twisting of the kind the Third World has been facing for decades by means of the active role of the econo-mic hit-men in the policy establishments, huge cash-back lobbying, both in India and abroad, blunt attempts to bamboozle the persons holding key positions in India’s policy establishment through a combination of hissing and kissing...

-Outlook To protect BPL families from possible price rise, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today gave its approval for selling imported pulses and edible oil at subsidised rates through ration shops. The CCEA also approved an outlay of Rs 884 crore for computerisation of public distribution system (PDS) that is aimed at, among other things, elimination of bogus ration cards. Announcing the decisions, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, "The CCEA today...