05.12.2016

GDP data show rising discrepancies GDP rose 7.3% in Q2, slightly higher than 7.1% in Q1

Discrepancies rose by Rs 41,205 crore whereas GDPexpanded by a little over Rs 2 lakh crore in the second quarter year-on-year. In the first quarter, the respective figures were Rs 25,471 crore and Rs 1.93 lakh crore.

GDP rose 7.3 per cent in the second quarter, slightly higher than 7.1 per cent in the first quarter.

Discrepancies in the national accounts arise because data on the demand side is not actual data but it is derived from certain ratios. The actual data is supply- side – agriculture, industry and services. Adding indirect product taxes and subtracting give GDP data. Discrepancies emerge on the demand side and not on the supply side of the data.

Chief statistician T C A Anant said: “I don’t have all accounts data... I have to provide for errors and omissions as the two sets of numbers are different. Production is actual data. On the demand side, at this stage, we make projection based on rates and ratios and output of certain segments based on the previous year’s estimates.”

Growth pangs of GDP

In the absence of the full accounting data, there would always be scope for statistical error, he noted.

The actual data come 18 months down the line from the close of a financial year.

The problem could be rectified to an extent after the Central Statistics Office comes out with a supply use table (SUT). However, there is a lag of release in this table. The office has released SUT till 2014-15 and the work on 2014-15 is under progress.

“Once the flow of SUT annually becomes more stable, it may be possible for somebody to look at it more carefully and work out a mechanism of incorporating that understanding into the current computation as well,” said Anant.

At the moment, it is the last piece of information in the national accounts puzzle, he said, adding the reason why SUT takes so long to compute is that disaggregated information on which they are based comes after a lag.

SUTs are like the input-output matrix but cover more data than the latter. These would cover both services and manufacturing, unlike the input-output matrix, which covers only factory production. The supply table describes the supply of goods and services, which are either produced in the domestic industry or imported. The use table shows where and how goods and services are used in the economy.

However, SUTs could be used for annual accounts and not for quarterly numbers, former chief statistician Pronab Sen said.

He said it is foolhardy to use SUTs for quarterly estimates even as some countries such as Australia and Canada do so.

In quarterly data, it is important not to hide discrepancies, he said.

Discrepancies have been on the rise and their growth contributed to one-fifth of the gross domestic product expansion in the second quarter of the current financial year against 13 per cent in the previous quarter.

Mahindra Agri picks 60% stake in Dutch fruit distribution company

Mahindra Agri Solutions has acquired 60 per cent stake in the Netherlands- based global fruit distribution company OFD Holding BV for about 36 crore (€5 million).

OFD Holding owns Origin Fruit Direct, Origin Direct Asia and Origin Fruit Services South America, which are based out of the Netherlands, China and Chile, respectively.

Ashok Sharma, Managing Director, Mahindra Agri Solutions, said the acquisition takes the company closer to becoming a significant global player in grapes and is in line with Mahindra’s long term vision of Delivering FarmTech prosperity.

The deal gives Mahindra an opportunity to tap new markets in Europe and China and strengthen its existing customer base.

Corné van de Klundert, Managing Director, OFD Holding BV, said the deal will strengthen its position as an integrated supply chain company.

India has emerged a major supplier of grapes to Europe. The deal is expected to benefit both the companies — Origin Fruits with their strong distribution channel will open up global markets for the Indian farmers and Mahindra will contribute through its strong farmer connect, said Mahindra in statement.

Origin Fruit Direct and Mahindra have a supplier-customer relationship which will be further be strengthened to address the market needs. This acquisition gives access to large sourcing base for both the companies across , South American countries and South Africa and distribution base in Europe (accounting for 24 per cent of global imports of grapes) and China (fastest growing importer with 31 per cent CAGR). OFD Holding BV, which owns Origin Fruit Direct (based out of the Netherlands), Origin Direct Asia (China), and Origin Fruit Services South America (Chile) registered revenue of about €71 million in the year ended October 2016.

Bengal ploughs on despite demonetization

State’s farmers were already prepared for rabi season; sowing in full swing

Abdur Khuddush (50) of Palsit in Burdwan, is stressed. He was late in harvesting kharif paddy and is now sowing potato, over a week behind schedule. The delay had nothing to do with demonetisation, as he was able to draw 50,000 using his Kisan credit card.

The real culprit was the climate. West Bengal and its adjacent States witnessed heavy but untimely rainfall late in October. Since wet paddy fetches a low price, harvesting was delayed, as was potato sowing. “You cannot sow potato on wet soil,” Khuddush told BusinessLine.

Indeed, this has been the standard response from farmers across Burdwan and Hooghly districts, the largest contributors of the State’s rice and potato output. Nationally, West Bengal ranks second in both categories.

The farm sector was able to cope with the sudden cash squeeze, partly due to general preparedness and partly through informal arrangements. Seeds, for example, are stocked in advance. Lenient credit from fertiliser, pesticide and seed dealers also helped. Farmers’ cooperatives, many of which also sell agri inputs, adjusted purchases against loans.

Subrata Ghosh, General Manager, HPM Chemicals and Fertilisers, reported a 40 per cent rise in pesticide sales in Bengal in November against the same month last year.

Labour affected

But cash was an issue in paying labour, for harvesting paddy and sowing rabi crops. The problem was overcome through with arrangements. Wages are paid both in cash ( 200-250 a day) and paddy (2 kg per person a day).

Those in dire need got priority for cash disbursals. Most labourers took their paddy and decided to wait for cash. The paddy was bartered for essentials.

While farmers in Hooghly and Burdwan denied any major impact from demonetisation, Suvasish Pal, one of the largest fertiliser distributors in Malda district, reported a 20 per cent drop in sales in November. However, he said, sales have picked up in December. “There is now adequate flow of 100 and 2,000 notes,” he said.

Kuldip Maity, Managing Director and CEO of Village Financial Services, a microfinance institution, confirmed that there has been a significant rise in rural liquidity in Bengal over the last week.

Ghosh of HPM is expecting potato cultivation to increase as farmers got a good price last year.

Bankers come forward to help farmers open accounts

In order to encourage cashless transactions following the demonetisation of high value currency notes, several banks came together to encourage farmers, traders, and hamalis (porters) open bank accounts at the agricultural marketyard in town on Monday.

Following the directions of Collector Sarfaraz Ahmed, the State Bank of India, State Bank of Hyderabad, Andhra Bank, and Indian Overseas Bank came forward to open bank accounts for the farming community and labourers working at the marketyard. The bankers collected their Aadhaar card and photographs for the same.

They also erected posters and signboards informing the people about the importance of opening bank accounts for cashless transactions. The bank account opening mela would continue till December 9.

A bank official said that they would be educating farmers about how to use ATMs and debit cards. The bankers were conducting a similar mela at Jammikunta marketyard as well.

Horticorp giving farmers a raw deal: auditors

The auditors found that Horticorp procured a bulk of its vegetables directly from farmers in Palakkad and Idukki.

The produce was transferred to Horticorp outlets in other districts “as sales and by adding a margin with the procurement price”. The outlets then sold the vegetables to the public by adding their own high margins. Consequently, the Horticrop “earned an overall margin varying from 50.77 per cent to 241.11 per cent”. For instance, Horticorp procured snake gourd from farmers in Palakkad for Rs.9 per kg. In Thiruvananthapuram, the firm sold the produce for Rs.30.70 a kg.

The Corporation earned a 341 per cent profit in the transaction. The farmer received only “29.31 paisa of each rupee paid by the public,” auditors said.

Raju Narayana Swamy, Principal Secretary, Agriculture, told The Hindu that anomaly would be rectified. Farmers in Marayur and Kanthallur sold their vegetables mainly to middle men in Tamil Nadu from who they had taken advance money for cultivation. The government would declare major vegetable growing areas as “special agriculture zones.” Horticorp would buy the entire produce without grading. An effective cold chain to preserve produce would be established soon. Steps have been initiated to insulate farmers from agents who also double as loan sharks.

Nada effect brings little relief to farmers in Chittoor

The Agriculture Department had distributed 400 quintal of groundnut seeds to farmers this season.

CHITTOOR: The rain under the influence of the Nada cyclone in Chittoor district has brought little relief to farmers, particularly the groundnut growers, in the western mandals. Though the two-day spell ending Saturday night recorded an average rainfall of 22 mm in the district, the tail-end areas are still facing a deficit. The rainfall was considerably felt in the eastern mandals in Nagari, Srikalahasti and Satyavedu Assembly constituencies due to the proximity to the Bay of Bengal while the western side witnessed slight to moderate drizzling. In Madanapalle division, the farmers are worried about the prospects of the rabi season ahead.

Joint Director (Agriculture) N. Vijay Kumar said that even a single drop of rain would be of great use to Chittoor district which is witnessing a "deficit" rainfall. “As against the regular sowing of groundnut in over 45,000 hectares in the district, the present area of cultivation of this important crop fell to a meagre 5,000 hectares. We are pinning hopes on the north-east spell expected soon," he said.

The Agriculture Department had distributed 400 quintal of groundnut seeds to farmers this season.

KCR’s adopted village to be developed into model solar village

In order to tap sources of renewable energy and protect nature from pollution, the administration, in association with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), has decided to develop Chinna Mulkanoor village of Chigurumamidi mandal into a model solar village.

Chinna Mulkanoor was adopted by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. The district administration and NABARD have decided to take up a pilot project in this village in a phased manner.

In a press note here on Sunday, NABARD assistant general manager R. Ravi Babu said the proposed model solar village would be implemented in three phases. In the first phase, the streets would be lit with solar lighting. The New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of AP Limited (NEDCAP) was identified as the implementing agency, while NABARD would grant financial support for solar street lighting.

In the second phase, the villagers would be encouraged to take up solar lighting at home with the help of a bank loan from the Grameena Bank (TGB) and avail the capital investment subsidy of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) routed through NABARD.

In the third phase, biogas units would be developed for the benefit of dairy farmers in convergence mode through the District Water Management Agency and NEDCAP.

Soil day celebrations at Kanakakunnu Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan will inaugurate the event which will be attended by Minister of Agriculture V.S. Sunil Kumar.

CM PinarayiVijayan

Thiruvananthapuram: The state soil survey and conservation department will conclude its massive soil awareness day campaigns being held as a part of World Soil Day on Monday. A kit containing samples of all types of soil in India will be given away to farmers and children at a special event Kanakakunnu palace. Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan will inaugurate the event which will be attended by Minister of Agriculture V.S. Sunil Kumar. A variety of programmes, including exhibition and seminars on soil, will be conducted. Various department-level study reports on soil-related issues at Mangalapuram in Thiruvananthapuram, Mukkunnoor in Ernakulam, Pooyappally in Kollam, Mannar in Alappuzha and Aymanam in Kottayam will be submitted. Further, a special soil day postal stamp will launched. Every year, World Soil Day is celebrated on December 5 under the aegis of UN Food and Agricultural Organisation. The day coincides with the birthday of BhumibolAdulyadej, the King of Thailand, who worked to raise awareness on soil across the globe. “The vegetation and life on the planet is dependent on soil. Our industries also heavily depend on soil. We plan to raise awareness about the importance of soil on the day,” said Justin Mohan, director of soil survey and conservation department. Thiruvananthapuram relishes banana fete One of the star attractions of this stall is their Karpooravalli Banana aka Udayam banana which is a high yielding variety.

(Photo: Pixabay)

Thiruvananthapuram: When there was a demand for an alternative to maida, there was a surge in the use of wheat in all food sectors. But now, the National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) in Tiruchirapalli under the Indian Council of Agriculture Research has come up with a wide variety of products from banana like noodles, pasta, fig, fruit and nut, ladoo, chocolate and peda. This stall is one of the attractions at Vaiga 2016- - Value Addition for Income Generation in Agriculture, international workshop and exhibition on agro processing and value addition at Sooryakanthi grounds at Kanakakunnu Palace. One of the star attractions of this stall is their Karpooravalli Banana aka Udayam banana which is a high yielding variety. But the sugar content is between 22 – 24 percent which is on the higher side. The biotechnology wing under the agriculture department functioning at Kazhakkoottam in Thiruvananthapuram has developed the same Udayambanana which weighs 45 kilo. In fact, the free sample of banana fig has been a huge attraction at the NRCB's stall. N. Marimuthu, senior technical assistant at the NRCB told DC that they were in Kerala to market their products as they were not doing roaring business in their home town. “We are pushing ourselves to have a special marketing scene across Kerala. A package of equipment for the minimal processing of banana’s central core was developed by ICAR – CIAE, regional centre in Coimbatore, in collaboration with the NRCB in Tiruchirapalli”, said Marimuthu. Most households shy away from making value-added products from banana as it is cumbersome to do it with bare hands. This is where ICAR has come up with several agro machinery products that include slicing, dicing, fibre removing units as well as surface water remover, juicer/grinder and juice squeezer. Meanwhile, Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan will inaugurate the concluding session on Monday. Handful of nuts a day may cut heart disease, cancer risk An average of at least 20 grammes of nut consumption was also associated with a reduced risk of dying from respiratory disease.

Even though nuts are quite high in fat, they are also high in fibre and protein. (Photo: Pixabay)

London: Eating at least 20 grammes of nuts a day - equivalent to a handful - may lower the risk of heart disease, cancer and premature death, new research has claimed. The analysis of all current studies on nut consumption and disease risk showed that 20 grammes daily can cut people's risk of coronary heart disease by nearly 30 per cent, cancer by 15 per cent, and premature death by 22 per cent. An average of at least 20 grammes of nut consumption was also associated with a reduced risk of dying from respiratory disease by about a half, and diabetes by nearly 40 per cent, researchers said. Scientists from Imperial College London and Norwegian University of Science and Technology analysed 29 published studies from around the world that involved up to 819,000 participants, including more than 12,000 cases of coronary heart disease, 9,000 cases of stroke, 18,000 cases of cardiovascular disease and cancer and over 85,000 deaths. While there was some variation between the populations that were studied, such as between men and women, people living in different regions, or those with different risk factors, the researchers found that nut consumption was associated with reduction in disease risk across most of them. "In nutritional studies, so far much of the research has been on the big killers such as heart diseases, stroke and cancer, but now we are starting to see data for other diseases," said DagfinnAune from the School of Public Health at Imperial. "We found a consistent reduction in risk across many different diseases, which is a strong indication that there is a real underlying relationship between nut consumption and different health outcomes. It is quite a substantial effect for such a small amount of food," said Aune. The study included all kinds of tree nuts, such as hazel nuts and walnuts, and also peanuts - which are actually legumes. The results were in general similar whether total nut intake, tree nuts or peanuts were analysed. What makes nuts so potentially beneficial is their nutritional value, researchers said. "Nuts and peanuts are high in fibre, magnesium, and polyunsaturated fats - nutrients that are beneficial for cutting cardiovascular disease risk and which can reduce cholesterol levels," said Aune. "Some nuts, particularly walnuts and pecan nuts are also high in antioxidants, which can fight oxidative stress and possibly reduce cancer risk. "Even though nuts are quite high in fat, they are also high in fibre and protein, and there is some evidence that suggests nuts might actually reduce your risk of obesity over time," she said. The study also found that if people consumed on average more than 20 grammes of nuts per day, there was little evidence of further improvement in health outcomes. The research was published in the journal BMC Medicine.