Government-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) may witness a 52% jump in losses on account of selling fuel below cost at state-mandated prices to Rs.2 trillion in the next financial year, said R.S. Butola, chairman, Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC), the nation’s largest fuel retailer. Such an increase will impact the financials of government-owned OMCs such as IOC, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL), which currently register...
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Food Security bill: Rs 1.15 lakh cr more needed to raise farm output
-PTI An additional investment of Rs 1,15,660 crore would be required to revitalise the agriculture sector and boost production to meet the foodgrains demand under the proposed Food law, Parliament was informed today. "To effectively implement the proposed Food Security Act, it is estimated that there should be an additional production of about 70-75 million tonnes of foodgrains," Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat said in a written reply to Lok...
More »Petrol consumption may decelerate in FY12 by Amrit Raj
The growth rate of petrol consumption is set to fall below 5% in the current fiscal, the first time in five years. Meanwhile, the consumption of diesel continues to grow at 7%, adding to the losses of the oil marketing companies on account of subsidies. In India, diesel is subsidized while petrol is not, and the price difference has led to more buyers opting for vehicles driven by the cheaper fuel. According...
More »A simple proposal on food security
-The Hindu Dr. Manmohan Singh Prime Minister of India March 12, 2012 Dear Prime Minister, We welcome the tabling of a National Food Security Bill in the Lok Sabha as an important step towards the elimination of hunger and undernutrition in India. However, we feel that the Bill in its current form has some serious shortcomings. We are writing to propose a simpler and more effective framework for the Public Distribution System (PDS), which requires...
More »Food bill to cover just 66% of India's hungry by Subodh Varma
With 230 million people under-nourished, the country awaits some comprehensive policy intervention from the government to tackle this haunting crisis. One of the most logical measures would be to provide a fixed amount of foodgrain to all citizens. But wouldn't the costs be enormous, ask sceptics? The Center for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA), a Delhi-based think tank, crunched all the numbers and came up with the answer. It would take...
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