IIM-Ahmedabad study favours continuation of fertilizer subsidy with better targeting and rationing

Even as the union government has estimated country's subsidy burden touching 2.4 per cent of the GDP this financial year, a recent study by management experts believe that removal of fertilizer subsidy would make farming unprofitable in many states and therefore its removal would not be in the interest of farming community.

High cost, dull market and strict green norms add to mining industry's woes

Slow growth pace in the mining sector is hurting mineral processing units in Gujarat. At least 500 small and medium mineral processing units have curtailed their operations by half over the past three months and some more are likely to follow suit as high cost of operations and dull market conditions add to industry woes.

In a bid to encourage renewable energy sources of power generation in India, the union ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) is looking at setting up a company for biomass-based power generation and promotion on the lines of Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).

The proposed company would focus on promotion and generation of biomass-based power and execute projects in the country. "We are focusing to promote biomass-based power generation in the country.

After cement industry, CCI to deliver order on tyre companies soon

After having acted tough on cement companies for cartelisation, Competition Commission of India (CCI) has taken up a suo-moto inquiry against milk retailing players. The milk retailers were alleged to have indulged into price cartelisation by making frequent price rise in a short span of time. The competition watchdog has decided to take an inquiry on its own to decide if the milk companies and cooperatives operational in the country are guilty of cartelisation or not.

With low output prices, farmers shifting to other crops MSP rise not enough to check this trend, say suppliers

Lower cotton prices have prompted cotton seed making companies to be ready for a dent in their sales this year. Most of these fear seed demand would drop 12-15 per cent nationally, as more and more farmers have started switching from cotton to maize, groundnut and guar instead. They are pessimistic on a recovery in demand even after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) revised the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for cotton today,

Though the south-west monsoon has been normal in many parts of the country, barring a few, farmers have raised concerns about high prices of pesticides and agro-chemicals, which may rise further.

Cotton, groundnut sowing likely to be affected if the clouds don