-Livemint.com Clearly, there is much more to GDP data than aggregate estimates. The National Statistical Office (NSO) released estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter of this fiscal year on 30 November. Based on these, India’s GDP in the July-September quarter increased by 6.3% compared to last year, whereas the gross value added (GVA) during the same period increased by 5.6%; the manufacturing sector witnessed a contraction of 4.3%....

-Financial Express Higher sowing augurs well for bountiful wheat and oilseed production The resilience of India’s agricultural sector has been a positive factor in the India growth story. During the ongoing rabi season, the average area sown for wheat is up by 25%, to 25.5 million hectares as of December 9, from a year earlier. Area under oilseeds, too, is at record levels. All of this augurs well for bumper rabi crops...

There is some respite expected for India in terms of prices of imported commodities. This may ease the depletion of its foreign exchange reserves. The country has faced a widening of its merchandise trade deficit from US$ -17.91 billion to US$ -26.91 billion between October 2021 and October 2022. The commodity price data provided by the World Bank in December 2022 (termed as The Pink Sheet) shows that energy prices plummeted by...

-The Tribune The agency-wise share indicates that agricultural credit dispensation in the country is heavily dependent on commercial banks and points towards the poor credit delivery capability of cooperative banks and regional rural banks. THE availability of finance is a key driver of progress in any sector. In the case of agriculture, access to adequate credit assumes vital significance since most of the agriculturists are small or marginal farmers. It has been...

-Hindustan Times Farm policymaking slowed down after the repeal of three laws in 2021. But the climate crisis, geopolitical instability and inflation have exacerbated the urgency for reforms In November 2021, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi repealed three contentious farm laws in a dramatic turnaround. The entire episode — from the passage of the laws, the protests that followed and the turnaround — had stalled national agriculture policymaking. Yet, as this column...