India is understood to have told Pakistan that it is ready to lift the ban on cotton exports if the latter resumes its onion exports through rail and land routes. Official sources in the Commerce Ministry said this was conveyed to Islamabad by the External Affairs Ministry. “The Indian side has conveyed to the Pakistani counterparts that it was ready to revisit the cotton export ban and ceiling issues, if the...

Onion hubs were raided across the country today and officials claimed prices tumbled Rs 5-10 as a result of the income-tax department’s action a day after the Centre urged states to counter hoarding. Calcutta’s Sealdah wholesale mart and Asansol were among the places in Bengal that saw the swoops. Similar action was seen in several towns in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had written to...

With the prices of most of the vegetables soaring, the Income Tax sleuths on Friday carried out massive raids on the offices and godowns of the wholesale traders in onion and garlic in major cities and towns of Gujarat. The outcome of the raids that started in the morning was not immediately known, but informed sources said the idea was to check whether the wholesalers were unduly holding stocks to take...

Top economic advisor in the finance ministry on Wednesday blamed cartels among traders for the skyrocketing prices of onion. “There are forms of implicit cartels working among the traders that block the movement of new entry, the appearance of new players,” chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu said while explaining the reasons behind the onion price rise. The price of the vegetable, which is ruling at Rs 60 per kg, went up...

Since 1947, successive governments have missed innumerable opportunities to put the country on the path of sustained, inclusive growth. Time and again, quixotic ideology has led to meaningless debates, antediluvian policy and inexplicable strangulation of capacity buildup in both physical and social infrastructure. Even today, while the gap between current and projected national demand and supply is well acknowledged, the government continues to drag its feet in creating the policy...