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1. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday allocated ₹1.52 lakh crore for agriculture and allied sectors in the Budget for 2024-25 fiscal. Our New Delhi bureau says new announcements in the Budget include Jan Samarth-based Kisan Credit Card in five States, finance through NABARD for shrimp farming, and export and financial support for setting up a network of Nucleus Breeding Centres for Shrimp Broodstocks will be provided.
2. Domestic gold prices dropped by five per cent soon after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a cut in the basic customs duty on gold, silver and platinum in the Budget. Suresh Iyengar reports that the reduction in customs duty on gold and other precious metals is expected to bring down the smuggling of the yellow metal and provide much-needed relief to the industry.
3. The Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran reflected on the risk factor in agriculture and mentioned that 31 per cent of states, including Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand received deficient rainfall between June 1 and July 20. The Economic Survey said erratic weather patterns and an uneven spatial distribution of the monsoon in 2023 led to a marginal decline in total foodgrains output in 2023-24 by 0.3 per cent.
4. The area under paddy has dipped from the level seen a year ago as excess rains and floods have affected sowing operations. However, the coverage is likely to recover in the coming weeks. Against the country’s normal area of 1,095.84 lakh hectares (lh) in the kharif season, planting has been completed on 74 per cent or 811.87 lh as of July 26, which is up by 2.3 per cent from 793.63 lh a year ago, latest data of the Agriculture Ministry showed.
5. The Indian Government is considering further deferment of its decision to reduce permissible wastage in export of gold, silver and platinum items beyond July 31, says Amiti Sen. The government is “diligently” examining a deluge of industry inputs and pleas on the need to maintain the higher limits, sources said.
6. La Nina, a cold event that leads to heavy rainfall and floods in Asia, particularly India, is expected to emerge by October as the rate and extent of cooling of sea temperatures at the surface and depth have slowed since June, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology has said. Four of 7 climate models suggest the possibility of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) reaching the La Nina threshold — which is below −0.8 °C — by October, it said.
7. Why gold will glitter more in Indian homes this year? | Trending Commodity Picks | Ep 3
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