India set to export record quantity of basmati rice

india-emerging-market

India looks set to export a record quantity of basmati rice in the current fiscal. Last month, the official agency monitoring the export of basmati rice issued 658 registration-cum-allocation certificates (RCAC) to traders, enabling them to export 165,148 tonnes of basmati rice worth $252 million (Rs.10.08 billion). In July last year, by contrast, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) had issued only 412 RCACs for exporting 84,926 tonnes of basmati rice. RCAC is a mandatory official approval traders have to acquire for exporting basmati rice. “There is an ever increasing demand for Indian basmati rice, known for superior quality,” Asit Tripathy, chairman and managing director of APEDA, told. “In terms of quality, Indian basmati is matchless. Our quality monitoring and delivery mechanism are good, giving us an edge in the world market,” he said. Some of the major importers of Indian basmati are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Britain, the US, Yemen, Canada, Iran, Germany, Oman, South Africa, France, Syria, Belgium, Australia and Germany. APEDA data shows Saudi Arabia imported 499,584 tonnes, Kuwait 109,067 tonnes and the UAE 104,998 tonnes of Indian basmati in 2006-07. Though in smaller quantities, Indian basmati has also found takers in Uganda, Angola, Congo, Botswana, Fiji, Ghana, Cameroon, Zambia, Romania, Chile and Suriname. India has around 53 per cent share in the global basmati market, and efforts such as buyer-seller meets, and increasing number of trade delegations abroad are being taken to expand the consumer base. Tripathy said between April and July this year, 3,242 RCACs for the export of 904,317 tonnes of basmati were issued, against 1,666 RCACs for 412,103 tonnes in the last corresponding period. It seems the government’s March 31 decision to increase minimum export price (MEP) for basmati to $1,200 per tonne has not impacted global demand for the commodity. “Almost 90 per cent RACs are honoured. As of now, we do not see any reason for a slowdown in the export of basmati rice,” said Navneesh Sharma, deputy general manager, APEDA. At present, basmati is exported to over 130 countries, and the government hopes to tap the huge markets of China and Mexico in a couple of years. “Efforts are on to enter the market of China and Mexico as well,” said Tripathy. As a trial, India had exported 54 tonnes of basmati to China in 2006-07. APEDA’s assessment says India’s export of basmati is increasing 20-30 percent every year. Exports jumped from 848,919 tonnes to 1.05 million tonnes in 2006-07. India had exported 597,793 tonnes in 1998-99. The government has set a production target of 129 million tonnes of basmati and non-basmati rice by 2011-12 on a growth rate of 3.7 percent along with other food grains.

Currency trading at NSE

NOT A FALSE
START
Currency derivatives trading got off to a curious start on Friday. Even as finance minister P Chidambaram rang the bell, the thread snapped! Finally, the FM had to ring the bell with his hands — not the kind of auspicious start you would have imagined. But in the actual ring, things were much better. Volumes were decent, backed by trade orders from banks and some brokerages.

Every Indian Will Go to mobile by 2012

Every 2nd Indian will go mobile by 2012
With India now adding 8-10 million mobile subscribers every month, up to half the nation’s population—or
one in every two citizens—will own a mobile phone in India by the middle of 2012.
According to Business Monitor International, a renowned London-based research firm, 612 million mobile
subscribers by 2012 will help India clock a mobile teledensity of roughly 51% by 2012. This scorching pace of growth is unlikely to falter unless the sector faces unforeseen policy disasters or if India’s operators fail to roll out their networks.
International Telecom Union’s (ITU) projections are in the same range.India is already the world’s second largest mobile market, behind China’s 500 plus million mobile subscriber base.
Increasing incomes, changing lifestyles and lower cost of technology are allowing more and more Indians to ride the telecom wave. The new numbers overtake earlier estimates, including from UBS, Citigroup and Credit Suisse,predicting a mobile population of 400-450 million by March 2010. Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers have been more even conservative, betting on a base of just 400 million by 2010.
However, India will reach this milestone in 2009 itself. India’s mobile revolution has been a huge social leveler, with the growing number of users tying a diverse nation in a manner rarely seen before.
Its youth are expected to contribute significantly to these surging numbers. Sir Richard Branson, founder, Virgin Group, which tied up with Tata Teleservices to launch branded services in India recently said, “An exciting market, with over 215 million Indians aged 14-25 years. Over the next three years we expect to be adding 50 million new youth subscribers.’’
While companies like Virgin are currently focused on the urban market, it is clear that the next set of growth will come from B and C category cities as well as rural India. Mobile penetration of this magnitude has the ability to revolutionalize long distance learning and health care quickly reaching some of the most far flung and difficult terrains.
Where mobile content is concerned most analysts agree that, largely on the back of India’s popular film industry,music services will grow very quickly, even if other content related revenue lags behind.
Given that a reasonable part of the population by 2010 will be children below 14 and senior citizens, it seems mobile access among the youth and working classes will be more in the range of 70-80%. In policy terms, government needs to quickly turn its focus on redirecting funds for rural mobile access, manage spectrum efficiently and invite multi-billion dollar investments at a pan-India level to fuel this already scorching telecom growth.