“This (2010) will be one of the best years, which will provide a bumper crop to the country,” said Mr. Pawar. “2008 was one of the years, which the country got a maximum production. Though there is a setback in Bihar, Jharkhand and parts of West Bengal in paddy crop, but still this year, total paddy production will be much more than last year and it will be somewhat near or little more than 2008,” he added.

The minister attributed the jump in production to the increase in area under cultivation for pulses, oilseeds, cotton, sugarcane and paddy. He said that cultivated area is increasing every year.

Referring to the drought affecting crop production, he said, “Last year, the country faced a severe drought in 300 districts, which affected paddy crops. This year, the situation is altogether different and completely satisfactory.”

“Our expectation is that the way the general monsoon situation we have seen, the reservoir position that we have assessed, this will be the most favorable year for crops like wheat and others,” he said. “My ministry will do its best to assist and complement your (states’) efforts by making available all inputs on time,” he added.

Meanwhile, the minister announced a diesel subsidy of Rs 500 per hectare for farmers in the drought-hit districts.

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“’It has been made possible by synergy of conducive government policies and the entrepreneurship zeal of telecom industry,” said telecom minister A Raja at the curtain raiser ceremony of ‘India Telecom 2010’ in New Delhi on Wednesday.

‘India Telecom 2010’ is an international conference on telecom sector that provides a platform for interaction between policy makers, regulators, service providers, manufacturers and content and other accessory providers from across the world, explained Vijay Laxmi K Gupta, member (finance), telecom department. This year’s event with theme ‘Broadband for All’ will be held from 9-11 December at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. An international telecom exhibition, jointly organized by the Department of Telecom (DoT) and the Federation of Indian Chambers Of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is also being planned on the same venue.

The last five years has seen teledensity in urban areas jump by leap and bounds from 26 percent to more than 125 percent. Though rural teledensity still lags behind, the percentage of increase is phenomenal. It rose from a mere 1.73 percent to above 27 percent.

With the cut-throat competition in the telecom industry, the tariffs are falling like tenpins. Together with favorable government policies and the proactive role played by the telecom industry, owning a telephone has undergone a sea change from being a luxury to a necessity that is within common man’s reach.

The imminent 3G rollout is expected to bring about a communication revolution in the country. With it, the quality of telecommunication in the country will also go up along with quantity.

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“I think it (the rate hike) is in the right direction because now the corridor has been narrowed down and still inflationary pressure is there in the system,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told media persons in New Delhi today. “I think the adjustment of repo and reverse repo will help to mop up additional liquidity, which is putting pressure on the system,” he added.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission said that the rate hike will not impact foreign portfolio inflows into the country.

The latest rate hike is expected to result in an increase in cost of funds for banks. This will ultimately make loans more expensive, thereby reducing consumption. Chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu said that the banks may increase deposit rates, but the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) corridor signals them to lower the gap between loans and deposit rates. He added that the RBI move is not to dampen growth prospects and future hikes cannot be ruled out.

The RBI move is specifically meant to tame inflation, though the inflation has displayed a tendency to mellow. The central bank has pointed out that inflation has reached a plateau, but is likely to remain at unacceptably high levels for some more months. While the overall inflation came down in the last two months, food inflation is climbing up once again.

The RBI move aided in ending the stock market’s dream run this week. Sensex closed 0.43% lower at 19,417.

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The company maintains that it is not liable to pay tax on the transaction. A statement issued by Vodafone, disclosing the appeal filed in SC, points to the firm stand taken by the company in this regard. It said, “The appeal challenges the recent High Court judgment on the issue of jurisdiction. Vodafone remains convinced that there is no tax to pay on the Hutchison transaction and we will continue to defend this position vigorously.”

Vodafone argues that since the transaction took place outside the country and the two parties involved are not based in India, the transaction doesn’t invite tax liabilities. However, the Indian tax authorities had raised the issue in 2007, issuing show cause notice, saying that the company should have deducted the tax amount before the payout to Hutchison. In the petition filed by Vodafone against this notice in Bombay High Court, the Court ruled that the Income Tax department has jurisdiction in levying tax on the transaction as it involved indirect transfer of Indian assets, which accrue revenue in India. The Court has allowed Vodafone to argue its case before the IT department on the penalty imposed, as the company was genuinely not aware of the tax liabilities at the time of the deal.

Though Vodafone is the first company to bear the brunt of the scrutiny of tax authorities, taxation experts say that hundreds of similar cross-border transactions have taken place in the past seven years. SSN Moorthy, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes had briefed media persons on Monday that officials are already investigating such deals.

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Mr. Sharma informed that the new WPI series has been prepared by shifting the base year from 1993-94 to 2004-05. Moreover, the new series would include commodities for the calculation of WPI. While 400 odd products are added to the goods basket, about 200 outdated items are dropped from it. Added products include gold, silver, refrigerators, computers, television, VCD, dish antenna, washing machine, microwave oven, mineral water, readymade food and crude petroleum. The inclusion of new items that are widely used by middle-class would help in tracking the changing consumption pattern.

“It (the new series) will help in informing both the government and people how the prices are moving. This will give a robust picture and reflect actual price movement,” Mr. Sharma said.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee remained optimistic when he said, “Inflationary pressure is still there because food prices have gone up because of the erratic monsoon, but I do hope annualized inflation would be much lower in the new series.”

“The change in base would improve the accuracy and make the index less prone to fluctuations,” said TCA Anant, chief statistician of India. He added, “The commodity basket will be analyzed every quarter, even though the groups will remain fixed.”

The new WPI series is based on the recommendations of a working group headed by Abhijit Sen, member, Planning Commission.

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