Chandigarh, February 23
Faced with a threat to its food security, a staggering farm economy and loss of area under agriculture, the farming community is hoping for a largesse from the Finance Minister as he readies to present his Budget proposals for the next fiscal on February 26.

Hoping that this Budget will give a fillip to the sector and boost farm productivity through a new impetus on farm and research, farm economists and farmers hope that more fund allocation to this sector will help in tiding away the present farm productivity crisis. They also hope that a mechanism of linking MSP of crops with the wholesale price index is announced, besides the Budget giving impetus to diversification from agriculture to dairying and animal husbandry.

Avtar Singh Dhindsa, a progressive farmer in Sangrur, said the Finance Minister should adopt a holistic approach when making budgetary allocations for the agriculture sector. “The biggest threat facing the country today is low productivity and the imminent threat to the country’s food security.

Policy planners and farm economists have to give emphasis on increasing food production, while keeping the farm input costs low. This alone will ensure that the food prices are kept under control. We also hope that a long-term pricing policy for all agro commodities is adopted so that the farmers, traders as well as consumers stand to benefit,” he said.

Supporting his views, leading farm economist Dr S S Johl, said the Budget should look at investing in research and development so that production can reach the next level. “Whatever research and development is being done in the farm sector is not even reaching the farmers because of poor extension services. More investment is required in information communication technology (ICT) so that the research reaches the farmers. The Finance Minister should also invest in upgrading the market and farm infrastructure, which will boost farm growth,” he said.

Nand Kishore Aggarwal, chairman of pesticide company Crystal Phosphates felt that subsidy on weedicides and pesticides should be there so as to improve soil condition and thus boost farm productivity. “ Almost all inputs used in agriculture are free of taxes, but on weedicides VAT and excise duty are both implemented. If these are subsidised, their consumption will increase and so will the agricultural production,” he added. 

Solan, February 23
Venus Pharma GmbH, Germany, a wholly owned subsidiary of Venus Remedies, has received an approval from the Portugal authorities to market Meropenem, a carbapenem injection, in Portugal. The company intends to market the product in Portugal during the second quarter of this calendar year.

Sisir Gupta, chief operating officer, Venus Pharma GmbH, talking about the achievement said, “Meropenem has a market size of about Euro 150 million in Europe. As we are only the second generic player to launch the product in the market, our first mover status is expected to enable us capture a good share of the market. We see a bright future ahead as we are awaiting registration of Meropenem in 17 more European countries by October, 2010.”

Meropenem was originally developed by Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals and is marketed in Europe, including Portugal, by the brand name of Merrem by Astra Zeneca. The patent for this product has recently expired.

Meropenem is indicated for treatment of life-threatening infections caused by many gram positive and gram negative bacteria (including Pseudomonas). It is also very resistant to extended-spectrum beta lactamases. Meropenem is an ultra-broad spectrum antibiotic used in the treatment of wide variety of infections, including meningitis and pneumonia.

Venus Pharma GmbH is the primary centre for European business of Venus in 27 EU countries, EEA members and gulf countries. With this long leap, Venus is currently among the only three EUGMP manufacturers of carbapenem antibiotics in the world, capable of marketing this drug in Europe. 

New Delhi, February 23
Moody's has said it may raise India's ratings in the domestic market if Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee provides a comprehensive roadmap to withdraw stimulus measures to narrow down fiscal deficit.

Currently, India's ratings in domestic and overseas markets are placed at speculative and investment grades, respectively, which means that the Centre has more chances to default on its obligations in the domestic market.

In an email reply to PTI, Moody's Investors Service senior analyst Aninda Mitra said the ratings in the domestic market could be upgraded two notches on a par with its gradings in overseas markets, subject to fiscal consolidation policies of the Centre.

"Sovereign ratings pressures are easing. We have a positive outlook on the Ba2 (speculative grade) local currency sovereign rating," he said.

"We think that a well-articulated, meaningful and an implementable fiscal consolidation plan may result in an upward movement of the, referenced, local currency ratings towards India's Baa3 (investment grade) foreign currency sovereign rating," Mitra added.

India’s long-term local currency debt is placed at Ba2 by Moody’s, which is two notches below the investment grade.

The comments by Moody's analyst assume importance, since speculations are rife that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee may partially rollback stimulus in the Budget, to be presented in Parliament on Friday.

After growing at 9 per cent in the three preceding years, India's economic growth slipped to 6.7 per cent in 2008-09. In the second quarter of the current fiscal, India registered an economic growth of 7.9 per cent, mainly backed by stimulus packages.

In order to help the industry tide over the impact of the global financial crisis, the government came up with three stimulus packages sacrificing Rs 1.86 lakh crore in revenue. — PTI 

Chandigarh, February 23
Australia is keen to get India in its list of top six nations that matter most to it. Since China, Japan, Indonesia and the USA are already there, we want to broaden our relations with India not only in trade and industry but also in areas of common interest and concerns, says Australian High Commissioner to India, Peter N. Varghese.

Talking about the route map that can build strong economic bonds between the two nations, he says, Austrade that looks after international business and trade on behalf of the Australian government, would open its office in Chandigarh by middle of this year.

This office, to be initially manned by Indian staff, would look at potential areas of growth with key focus on agriculture.

Australia will thus become the second Commonwealth nation after Canada to open its trade office in the city. “Bilateral trade has been growing at 25 per cent a year for the past four years. Last year, the growth was more than 50 per cent. Interestingly, 80 per cent of our exports to India are in gold, copper and coal.

Other areas of interest to Australia in India are banking, mining, and education and law offices besides supplying liquefied natural gas. ANZ, that had ceased its Indian operations some years ago, is keen to come back. Commonwealth Bank has already got a license to start its Indian operations. Another Australian company is making huge investment to start its business operations here this year.

“We are also keen that Australian law firms should be allowed offices in India to handle cases of international disputes and dimensions. We do not want to compete with the local law firms,” says Peter N. Varghese holding that Australian universities and educational institutes are keeping an eye on the new legislations that may permit foreign universities to have their Indian campuses or make direct investment here (FDI). They are waiting for the piece of legislation before taking any decision.

He agrees that if there is some drop in the number of students going to Australia, it is primarily because of stricter controls as well as global recession. Rest assured skill-based migration and education will continue to remain intertwined. Australia, being a multicultural society of immigrants, would continue to meet its manpower demands through immigration.

Peter N. Varghese also says that it is the changing profile of Indian student that may be a factor for the unfortunate incidents in the recent past. “But I am sure we will rebuild education relationship in due course of time,” he adds maintaining international education may not be de-linked from permanent residency.

The recent influx was also a contributing factor that necessitated a shift in policy from the supply approach to demand approach. The new changes announced on February 8 are an exercise in correctives application. Peter N. Varghese also foresees some more joint collaborations in the areas of Carbon capturing and storage, agriculture and other areas. “We already have a joint research project on developing disease resistant wheat varieties with PAU.

“We are also developing technology that can minimise carbon emissions at thermal power generation plants. New technology, once developed would be a great help to India,” he adds hoping to have joint ventures and tie-ups with Punjab.