-PTI IMD has forecast better than normal Southwest Monsoon for the year With pulses inflation high at 34%, a better monsoon would reduce price pressure in lentils and in turn food inflation, a latest report has said. Southwest Monsoon rains were lower by 16% as on yesterday. While June could still end with a marginal deficit, if rainfall remains adequate as forecast in July and August, it could provide much-needed support for growth...

-Business Standard FY10 was a drought year with a monsoon rainfall deficiency of 22 per cent of the 50-year average, resulting in a seven per cent dip in the total foodgrains production. But, that did not dampen the consumer sentiment as the auto sector grew by 26 per cent, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) 25 per cent and the consumer durables sector by 21 per cent. The momentum continued the following year,...

-The Economic Times MUMBAI: The splotch of red ink on bank balance sheets is set to become bigger as a new scandal in the form of disappearing food stocks in Punjab godowns threatens to burn a Rs 12,000-crore hole in their books and embarrass the Parkash Singh Badal administration. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has ordered all banks with exposure to the Punjab government's food borrowing programme to provide for potential...

-Business Standard Many good ideas for agricultural reform should be in the Budget Shoring up the rural economy that has been crippled because of two successive droughts is clearly a major focus of the upcoming Budget. This is imperative also to revive rural demand for goods and services to stimulate overall economic growth. But how Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will seek to achieve this feat is hard to predict, though what he...

-Business Standard Govt should revamp agricultural marketing to increase farmers' earnings and amend land-leasing laws Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has met farm sector representatives for pre-Budget consultations at a time Indian agriculture is passing through a bad patch - especially because of two years of consecutive drought. Predictably, therefore, most participants pitched for more credit on soft terms, higher minimum support prices (MSP) for crops and the expansion of irrigation facilities to...