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Kharif foodgrain production to surpass last year numbers: Agri Secretary

The Dollar Business Bureau Agriculture Secretary Shobhana K Pattanayak said on Saturday that the foodgrain production in the ongoing kharif season 2017-18 is expected to exceed last year's record output of 138.04 million tonnes on account of higher sowing area and good monsoon.  Till now, more than 80% of the sowing of kharif crops such as pulses, paddy, cotton, oilseeds, jute and sugarcane, has been completed and the sowing will continue in some regions until next month, he told PTI.  Crop area of around 19 lakh hectare across the country has been impacted by floods and farmers are expected to take up other crops in the season once the water goes down, Pattanayak said. He also expressed concerns about poor rainfall in ...

Goyal suggests PPP model to step up Indias mineral exploration

The Dollar Business Bureau Mineral exploration in the country is presently constrained due to lack of participation from the private sector, said Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines Piyush Goyal, and suggested a public private partnership (PPP) model to provide a fillip to the mineral exploration activity. “The time is ripe to reflect on where we had gone wrong”, the Minister said while addressing a conference on ‘Indian Mining Industry 2030 - Way Forward’, organised jointly by FICCI and Ministry of Mines on Tuesday. He suggested setting up of a committee that consists of young mining aspirants for developing a position paper to expedite exploration activities. “This committee should look at innovative ways to bring down the time of actual operation of mine after it ...

India-Lanka discuss FTAs, investments for enhanced trade

Sai Nikesh | The Dollar Business India and Sri Lanka on Thursday, discussed various economic issues towards addressing trade imbalance and enhancement of economic cooperation between the two countries. In a Commerce Secretary level interaction that was held as a third round of discussion, followed by the one in June 2013 in Colombo and the other in January 2014, both the sides discussed key issues like India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA), non-tariff barriers, upgrading of economic engagement including investments and services, among others related to bilateral trade. Both the sides also agreed upon the expansion of bilateral trade by utilizing the optimal opportunities and resources available with the two economies. The Indian side reiterated its commitment saying the ...

Growing dependence on bulk drugs affecting India: Minister

 The Dollar Business Bureau The Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers Ananth Kumar on Wednesday called for the incentivisation of the Bulk Drugs sector so as to take on the challenges from cheap imports. Referring to the sector as a backbone of the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry, the Minister said, “Over-dependence on imports from one country for bulk drugs is detrimental to the country’s interest and hence, paradigm shift is necessary.” Speaking at the launch ceremony of “2015 – Year of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients”, the Minister said that the decisions to be taken by the Ministry will make India self-sufficient in the Bulk Drugs sector. In this regard, he informed that the government has set up the Katoch ...