India's annual food inflation based on wholesale prices rose to 17.4% for the week ended January 16 from 16.81% the week before, according to official statistics released on Thursday. Essential items continued to rule firm, with potatoes dearer by 57.56% over the past 52 weeks, pulses up 46.87%, and vegetables costlier by 10.5%. But prices of onions declined 1.69%. The limited data on the wholesale index released by the commerce...

It is presumed that the industrial development in Bihar is hampered by lack of investments. Is it because of 'unproductive' government policies or an unpredictable law and order situation? And how to increase the flow of investment in the state? In order to find out answers to all such questions and debate these issues, Business Standard Hindi recently organised a roundtable in Patna. The seminar was attended by various small...

As far as natural resources like minerals, land and water are concerned, Jharkhand is among the richest States of India. Yet, its people are among the poorest. Mind you, almost 30 per cent of them are tribal. Out of the total population of 288.46 lakhs, 223.1 lakhs live in rural areas and only 65.36 lakhs are urban dwellers. Even a cursory glance is sufficient to convince that most of the...

India, a traditional rice exporter, will import the grain for the first time in 20 years to meet a projected shortfall of the crop hit by drought and floods, the government said on Wednesday. “We started rice season, that is from October 2009, with almost six million tonnes of surplus ... Still there is a projection that there is some shortfall of Kharif crops. So to make it up, we...

The philosophy of self-aggrandisement defies social logic. Seven leading banks in the United States of America had last year incurred an aggregate loss of $82 billion; the chief executive officers of these banks nonetheless claimed and collected annual bonus to the extent of $38 billion. The economy might lie in ruins; that did not distract sharks from zooming in on their prey. Our corporate sector has shaped itself in the...