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Onion price soars to Rs 80/kg despite normal supply

August 14, 2013

Onion_priceNew Delhi, Aug 14: Much to the discomfort of consumers, onion prices today touched Rs 80 per kg in most retail markets in the national capital despite normal supply in the wholesale markets.

Wholesale price of onion have increased by Rs five to Rs 50-55 per kg in Azadpur mandi, according to the Onion Merchant Traders Association.

Onion supply to the city, which comes from Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, is normal at 12,000 quintals in Azadpur, Asia's largest wholesale market, it added.

At Mother Dairy outlets, onions are being sold at Rs 55-60 per kg, while local vendors are selling it at 70-80 per kg depending upon the quality and location.

Onion Merchant Traders Association President Surendra Budhiraj attributed the rise in wholesale price of onion in Delhi to increase in prices of the bulb crop in Maharashtra, the country's largest onion producing state.

At Lasalgaon in Nashik, prices rose slightly to Rs 46 per kg today from Rs 45 a kg even as supplies remained normal, National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF) Director R P Gupta said.

Prices are expected to cool down in the first week of September once supplies from onion Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka increases, he added.

India has exported 6.39 lakh tonnes during April-July period of this fiscal compared with 6.94 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period. Production stood at 16.6 million tonnes in 2012-13.

At the Kolkata market, onion prices jumped to Rs 70 a kg for the best quality in retail markets, keeping pace with the national trend.

The official wholesale price of onions in markets in the metropolis has crossed Rs 2000 per bag (40 kg) or Rs 50 a kg and as a result the retail price of the best quality of the vegetable is hovering at Rs 65-70 a kg, traders said.

"The wholesale onion price which was Rs 15 a kg during the same time last year has spurted unexpectedly to Rs 50 a kg this year," trader and adviser to state agri-marketing department Shibu Malakar said.

"Based on the current trend, prices will remain firm unless there is a ban on onion export," he said.

Rain and production shortfall has been blamed for rise in price of onion. West Bengal is a key consumer of onion.

Traders said wholesale supply to the market in the city shrank by 50 per cent from states which supplied it.

Malakar said there was little the state government could do on the price unless it decided to sell directly to consumers at a subsidised price.

Consumers will have to bear till September end when the Kharif onion would hit the market.

He also said there was no major report of hoarding of the perishable commodity so far.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

Mumbai, Aug 6: Former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan said on Thursday that overly focusing on what sovereign rating agencies think can take one's eyes off what needs to be done for the economy.

"It is also important to convince both domestic and international investors that after the crisis associated with the pandemic is over, we will return to fiscal responsibility over the medium term, and the government should do more to convince them of that," Rajan told the Global Markets Forum.

India was placed under one of the strictest lockdowns in the world in late March for more than two months to stem the spread of the coronavirus, but cases have continued to rise steadily since the government eased restrictions in June, stymieing hopes of an economic recovery.

The government has announced several initiatives to help the poor and small- and medium-size businesses, but actual cash outgo from the government's measures has been estimated at just about 1% of GDP.

Several attribute the fiscal prudence to fear of a downgrade after Moody's cut India's rating and outlook in early June followed closely by a change in outlook from Fitch.

The central bank on its part too has reduced the key lending rate by 115 basis points on top of the 135 bps last year and is widely expected to cut rates by another 25 bps later on Thursday.

"The RBI and government have certainly been cooperating, but it seems like it is elsewhere, the ball is in the government's court to do more," Rajan said.

He said the RBI needs to focus on whether credit is reaching the stressed areas of the economy and also if the viable firms were able to access credit and not the unviable ones.

"And I think that's where it has to focus its attentions, because resources, as you well know, are limited in India today."

Recently analysts, however, have cited the growing possibility the RBI may prefer to pause and cut rates only at its October meeting.

Government officials too have suggested the possibility of any more fiscal stimulus being announced, would only come in the second half of the fiscal year, once a recovery has taken root and coronavirus cases have peaked.

"What India should focus on at this point is protecting its economic capabilities, so that when it has dealt with the virus it can go resume activity in a reasonable way. That should be the focus," Rajan said.

"And if it does that, there is no reason why the rating agencies will not see that as an appropriate policy".

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News Network
February 22,2020

Feb 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to accompany US President Donald Trump and his family members during their visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra on Monday, official sources said.

The US President will arrive in Ahmedabad at around noon on February 24 for a less that 36-hour visit to India. He will be accompanied by a high-level delegation including First Lady Melania Trump, the President's daughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and a galaxy of top US officials.

After attending an event at Ahmedabad, the Trumps will travel to Agra on Monday afternoon to visit the Taj Mahal before arriving at the national capital for the main leg of the visit.

When asked about reports that Modi may accompany Trump to Agra, official sources said there was no such plan.

They said the visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra by the US President and his family members will afford them the opportunity to view the historical monument suitably. Therefore, no official engagements or presence of senior dignitaries from the Indian side is envisaged there, the sources said.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Kashmir, Jan 9: US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster along with envoys from 15 other countries arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, the first visit by diplomats since the abrogation of the erstwhile state's special status in August last year.

The Delhi-based envoys arrived in Srinagar by a special chartered flight at Srinagar's technical airport where top officials from the newly carved out union territory received them, officials said.

Later in the day, they would be going to Jammu, the winter capital of the newly created Union Territory, for an overnight stay. They will meet Lt Governor G C Murmu as well as civil society members, they said.

Besides the US, the delegation will include diplomats from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, Maldives, South Korea, Morocco, and Nigeria, among others.

Brazil's envoy Andre Aranha Correa do Lago was also scheduled to visit Jammu and Kashmir. However, he backed out because of his preoccupation here, the officials said on Wednesday.

Envoys from the European Union (EU) countries are understood to have conveyed that they will visit the union territory on a different date and are also believed to have stressed on meeting the three former chief ministers -- Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti -- who are under detention.

Officials said envoys of several countries had requested the government for a visit to Kashmir to get a first-hand account of the situation in the Valley following the August 5 decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 and bifurcate it into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

This is the second visit of a foreign delegation to Jammu and Kashmir since August 5. Earlier, Delhi-based think tank International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, a Delhi-based think tank took 23 EU MPs on a two-day visit to assess the situation in the union territory.

The government had distanced itself from the visit with Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy informing Parliament that the European parliamentarians were on a "private visit".

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