Here's the wonderful thing about the FDI-in-retail debate: never have struggling Indian farmers found so many champions. They've been crawling out of the woodwork. Foreign direct investment in retail may be on hold, but Hillary Clinton can stop worrying about Anand Sharma and Pranab Mukherjee. “How does (Commerce Minister) Sharma view India's current Foreign Direct Investment guidelines? Which sectors does he plan to open further? Why is he reluctant to open multi-brand...
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Bullion dominates futures market, agriculture at 10% by Sidhartha
Policymakers have repeatedly said that commodity futures help farmers hedge their risks. But data from Forward Markets Commission (FMC), the regulator for the business worth Rs 106 lakh crore during April-October, paints a different picture. The share of agricultural trade is just a tad over 10% and within this, food products such as soya oil and chana accounted for less than 7% of the total value. Of course, the government itself...
More »UN official underlines link between food security and climate change
-The United Nations Ensuring global food security while striving to save the Planet from damage are the greatest challenges of this century, a senior United Nations official said today, stressing the need to enable smallholder farmers to become more resilient to climate change and to produce more food in ways that are environmentally sustainable. “There is no trade-off between feeding people and saving our Planet,” said Kanayo F. Nwanze, the President of...
More »New green revolution: Producer companies help farmers reap profits by Nidhi Nath Srinivas
Farmers are joining India Inc in mind, body and spirit. In a quiet revolution underway across the countryside, growers are setting up companies, replete with balance sheets, professional CEOs, board of directors, and income tax returns. By pooling together the land and produce of their shareholders, these companies are signing lucrative deals with large retail chains, food companies and exporters keen to establish reliable supply chains. As many as 200 companies...
More »FDI in retail: Opening up retail will help India's growth, curb inflation, says RBI governor Subbarao
-Reuters India's growth story is still "credible" and the move to open up the economy to global supermarket chains will help growth and control inflation, RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao said on Friday. "It's commendable that government has taken the initiative. Let's hope that it will improve the logistics chain and supply chain management in agriculture," Subbarao said in a speech in Chandigarh. Late Thursday, the government approved 51 percent foreign direct investment in...
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