The central government claims that allowing foreign direct investment into India’s retail sector will benefit small farmers, expand employment and lower food inflation. What has been the experience in India with organised retail so far and what has been the global experience with FDI? Sukhpal Singh (sukhpal@iegindia.org) is currently at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi. After being under relentless attack for a week, the United Progressiv Alliance government was forced to...

-The Economic Times   India's food inflation eased to a four-month low in the week to 19 November as vegetables, cereals and eggs turned cheaper. The decline in the reading for the fourth consecutive week came as a respite to the government struggling to recover from a string of recent bad tidings.  Data released by the commerce and industry ministry on Thursday showed the wholesale price index for food articles rose 8% year-on-year,...

-The Hindu   MSSRF signs MoU with Marg Limited Food inflation could not be tackled in a generic way but has to be broken down and examined commodity by commodity, said M.S. Swaminathan, agricultural scientist. After signing MoU with Marg Limited on a partnership to provide knowledge connectivity to empower rural communities, Prof. Swaminathan said it was the price of vegetables, pulses, oil seeds, potatoes, Onions and fruits that were climbing up and not...

Sivadasan's five-acre farm used to be a solitary patch in Kerala's Palakkad district, with bitter gourd, cucumber, cow peas and lady's finger growing amid a landscape dotted with paddy fields and plantations of rubber and spices.  Just five years later, more than 1.45 lakh farmers in the southern state have joined Sivadasan and started growing vegetables, reflecting a palpable shift sweeping across the Indian countryside.  "Vegetables are always more profitable than paddy,"...

-The Business Standard   After lingering tantalisingly close to 10 per cent for about a month-and-a-half, food inflation climbed to double digits for the week ended October 8, signalling that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may continue with its tight monetary stance in its policy review later this month despite the economy showing signs of a slowdown in growth. As protein-based items turned dearer, wholesale price-based annual food inflation rose by a whopping...