An online poll conducted by Ultra News with 1,200 respondents indicated continued strong support for incumbent prime minister Narendra Modi compared to challenger Rahul Gandhi of the Indian National Congress. The poll reached out to around 21,400 people on Facebook, out of which around 6% indicated their choice one way or the other (see below). […]
Jain Irrigation Systems, the country’s largest provider of drip irrigation and related equipment, said the budget for 2018-19 is likely to boost farmer incomes and benefit agricultural industries. It listed nine specific provisions in the budget that will have a benign effect on farmer incomes and spending, with the extension of minimum support price regime […]
The pace of bad industrial debt written off by public sector banks in India increased substantially this year, according to RBI data. In the first six months of the financial year (April to September), public sector banks wrote off 36,510 cr of bad industrial debt, compared to only 2,369 cr of agricultural debt. If the […]
Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, said telecom was the first of his big bet, and he will now use his resources to solve problems in three other difficult areas — agriculture, education and healthcare. Speaking at the HT Leadership Summit, Ambani said his primary motivation was not to make money. “Money has never meant much […]
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd said it has agreed to license technology and the brand from Belgium-based agricultural equipment maker Dewulf to make potato planting machinery in India. Dewulf is the world’s leading full-liner in potato and root crop machinery and has three manufacturing locations in Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands and Romania. “With the ever increasing […]
Ruchi Soya Industries said global private equity player Devonshire Capital will buy 51% of the company and 100% of certain of its ‘branded packaged oils distribution business’. The money will be substantially utilized for payment to all lenders over a period of time, it said. Devonshire will pay Rs 4,000 cr for the branded packaged […]
Despite a decent monsoon season, water levels at storage facilities in India continues to be below those of last year as well as the 10-year average. Of particular concern is the situation in South India, only 39% of the total capacity of the reservoirs has been filled so far. Usually, the number should have been […]
Escorts, which makes Farmtrac and Powertrac tractors in India, launched several new models today, including what it called India’s first Electric & Hydrostatic concept tractor as well as high-end models with cabins and tier 4 emission norms compliant CRDi engines. These will be exported to the United States, Europe, Latin America, Africa and ASEAN countries. […]
The write-off of farm loans in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra seems to be encouraging farmers in other states to stop paying back their farm loans to make sure that they will get the benefits of any farm loan waiver program in their state. This has led to a sharp increase in farm loan defaults for […]
Ratings agency Fitch said the string of farm loan waivers announced by various Indian states could impact the financial profile of the country as a whole. The agency, however, did not directly say that the moves could lead to a downgrade in India’s credit rating, which would increase the cost of borrowing for both government […]
Faced with the prospect of lower-than-expected production of sugar in the ongoing season due to drought, the government has imposed stock curbs on dealers to prevent speculation and hoarding, the food and consumer affairs ministry said today. “With the objective of keeping the sugar prices at reasonable level and to ensure smooth supply of sugar […]
The spraying of urea, the most widely consumed fertilizer in India, with Neem oil is helping to increase the output of crops by about 10% on average, according to statistics produced by the food and agricultural ministry. The ministry found a 5.8% increase in paddy yield after the use of sprayed urea and increase of […]
Mahindra & Mahindra´s agri solutions company Mahindra Univeg Pvt Ltd. said it has invested in Merakisan PVt. Ltd., an agri e-commerce start-up. Mahindra Univeg Pvt Ltd. is a 60:40 joint venture between Mahindra Agri Solutions Ltd. and and Belgium based Univeg (Greenyard Foods). It focuses on developing fresh fruit supply chain in India and imports […]
NaanDanJain Irrigation Ltd., a producer and provider of tailor-made irrigation solutions company, said it entered into an agreement worth 18.7 million Euros with Ministry of Agriculture and National Development, Eritrea, for the supply and installation of solar-powered drip irrigation systems. NaanDanJain irrigation Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Jain irrigation and is head quartered […]
Escorts, one of India’s agri-machinery manufacturing company, reported a growth of 55% in its tractor sales to 3,722 units for the month of August, said the company. Exports grew by 17% to 55 units for the August month whereas the domestic market saw a growth of 55.7% to 3,667 units, added the company. The tractor […]
Government agencies- National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Fedration (NAFED) and Food Corporation of India (FCI) been asked to start procurement of “moong” in Karnataka immediately at minimum support price as new crop has started to arrive, said the government. They also have been directed to submit state-wise road map of procurement of new crop of pulses directly […]
Boards of UPL Limited and Advanta Limited — two companies engaged in agriculture-related business — approved a merger of the two companies in a share swap deal. According to the deal, each Advanta shareholder owning one equity share of the company will get 1 UPL share, plus 3 optionally redeemable convertible preference shares of par […]
With retail inflation inching up contrary to expectations of downward movement, it is time to keep to eye on onion prices which may increase further by 10-15 per cent in the rainy season, according to an ASSOCHAM paper. While onion is selling at Rs 1800-2500 per quintal in different wholesale mandis, the retail vendors are […]
Rating agency ICRA said the normalization of monsoon has increased the probability of GDP growth in India rising to 7.4-7.6% this year as well as that of an interest rate cut during the October-December quarter of this year. “Following bouts of unseasonal rainfall in the pre-monsoon period, the surplus monsoon rainfall in June 2015 has […]
Terming the progress in monsoon rains as a positive trend, minister of state for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Mr Y.S. Chowdary today sought to allay concerns over forecast of deficient monsoon rains at an ASSOCHAM event held in New Delhi. “Monsoon is in a positive trend, there is no need to have any […]
