Cover Story
- Conglomerates as well as smaller players backed by dollops of private equity are investing big bucks in processing food and taking it to the consumer.
- Advising governments on how best to beef up food security and combat food inflation is what keeps Ashok Gulati, Director, Asia, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), busy these days.
- A clutch of entrepreneurs wants to set up refrigeration facilities in India - and prevent colossal food wastage in the bargain.
- More than legal contracts, it's companies' contact with farmers that's the name of the game.
- By helping farmers till their land, Coromandel International has created a new revenue stream.
- Low processing levels underscore the huge potential in value-added foods.
- Ethiopia emerges as the new land of hope for Indian agri-business.
- A high-cost structure and intense competition make flower exports wither.
- Cultivating rice via drip irrigation can save plenty of water, but it has to be commercially viable first.
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From the editor
India is a land of plenty. It is also a land of plenty of waste. If you suffer Malthusian nightmares of the Great Unfed Billions, think of the food we produce that we don't even consume.
Returning after a career break?
Be explicit about the reasons with your potential employers. Here is a take on people, places and products doing the rounds these days.
The Lehman Roulette
Vicky Ward has written a thriller on how the rot set in and destroyed an icon, says Josey Puliyenthuruthel.
TV Redefined
High definition is the new boy in TV town and BT recommends that you invest in an HDTV set-top box.
Before you invest
If you are window-shopping for a Ulip, here are some of the essentials you should consider.
Icing on the cake
The IRDA guidelines will make Ulips cheaper and better while retaining their inherent benefits.
Hiring at an 18-month high
Infrastructure, manufacturing and telecom sectors are on a roll, reveals a BT-TeamLease survey.
Middleweight Champs
Multinationals are closing in on Big Pharma, but there are enough mid-size stars as well. After a successful outing in China, some of the world's biggest skincare brands are hoping for an encore in India. Sikkim is making sports betting legal in India for the first time but the odds of the multi-billion dollar business spreading to other states are slim. DTH firms in India sight profits as they find themselves on the cusp of what promises to be the world's biggest market for satellite-based TV services.
'Microfinance players must innovate, recall social goals'
The sector's rapid growth has not meant that the financially excluded are better off.
The Zen of positioning
India's No. 1 carmaker Maruti has proved marketing purists wrong by successfully managing multiple brands in similar price points.
The last milers
A few nimble players are furiously delivering financial services to a widely dispersed population and are making money - one customer at a time.
Foreign empires, Indian leaders
As India Inc. spreads abroad, it is sending its home-grown talent to take charge.
How to manage the food economy
Since the Green Revolution, there haven't been too many breakthroughs in Indian agriculture, barring BT cotton; however, the spread of best-in-class agricultural practices can be of help.
Shield the economic recovery
RBI should maintain a benign interest environment despite inflation, argues Samiran Chakraborty. The UPA government plans to migrate to a new pricing regime for kerosene and LPG as well, not just petrol and diesel. HDFC, the largest player in the home loan business, has revived teaser rates although Chairman Deepak Parekh had earlier dismissed such schemes as marketing gimmicks. A computer monitor that does a lot more and Audi's small SUV goes local. A week after tying the knot with fiancee Sakshi Rawat, India's cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni inked a blockbuster Rs 210 crore ($46 million) deal with talent management company Rhiti Sports Management, which will now manage all his endorsements. Here is what leaders said the in last fortnight. The biggest deals in the past 30 days. Spain's soccer World Cup triumph may just have come as a shot in the arm for its troubled economy. Last fortnight, a solarpowered aircraft, Solar Impulse, completed a pioneering 24-hour nonstop flight and landed safely at an airbase near Berne, the Swiss capital.