Tomato prices are up through the roof. Retail prices are in the range of Rs 120-150 per kilogram in most mandis across India, making the household vegetable more expensive than petrol. Prices, which at the beginning of the year were in the range of Rs. 25 a kg, have increased by an order of between 500-600 percent. What does the data show? The National Horticultural Board is a body under the...
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El Nino: How the climate pattern may prolong food inflation
Deutsche Welle/The Telegraph El Nino, a natural climate phenomenon that alters global weather patterns, has officially returned after four years, threatening to exacerbate already elevated food inflation. Growing warnings about El Nino have already helped coffee, sugar and cocoa prices to rise sharply in recent weeks, Germany's biggest private lender, Deutsche Bank, said in a research note last week. Other food commodities are expected to follow as harvests get impacted by severe...
More »Real Wages Declined for Rural Indians in 2022, a Year When the Economy Somewhat Recovered
The year 2022 was supposed to mark the recovery of the Indian economy from the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns of the preceding two years. However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February pushed up prices of food, fuel and fertilizer worldwide. In India consumer price inflation, which had declined to under 5 percent in the September-November period of 2021, has steadily increased, staying above 6 percent throughout 2022. What happened to rural incomes in 2022? An...
More »Costly wheat and the cloud over our daily bread - Sayantan Bera
Wheat prices have stayed stubborny high in India, despite several steps by the government including an export ban and announcing open market prices. - Mint Official figures show that daily retail wheat flour (atta) prices as on 1 February were 22% higher year on year, while wholesale prices were 31% higher. Wheat prices have been inching up through 2022 after a heat wave cut production and pushed the government to ban exports...
More »Indian banks gave more home loans than agricultural credit
In each of the last three years – from 2020 through 2022 – Indian banks lent more money to retail customers purchasing homes than they did to farmers. In fiscal year (FY)2021-22 commercial banks gaveRs. 17.54 lakh crore worth of housing loans, while agriculture and allied activities got Rs. 15.16 lakh crore. That is nearly 14 percent less. In FY 2021 and FY 2020 – one of which saw a...
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