After Kharif, India set to reap record Rabi crops: NCAER

NEW DELHI: A good monsoon in 2016 helped in achieving record Kharif crops output, and India is set to replicate the performance in Rabi or winter sown crops too, said a study by economic think-tank NCAER.

As per the NCAER’S report on the short-term agricultural outlook for the 2017 Rabi season, Gross Value Added (GVA) in agriculture and allied sector registered a significant 3.3 per cent year-on-year growth in the second quarter of 2016-17 as compared to 1.8 per cent growth in the previous quarter.

Overall, a robust growth of 4.1 per cent is estimated for the agriculture sector in 2016-17 as against the previous year’s drought-impacted growth rate of 1.2 per cent.

In comparison, the latest official estimates suggest 4.4 per cent growth for 2016-17 and 0.8 per cent for 2015-16. “The agriculture sector is projected to grow by 4.1 per cent in 2016-17, which is more than double the droughtimpacted growth rate of 1.2 per cent in 2015-16.

“After a record or near-record production of most Kharif crops in 2016-17, India is heading for a record or near-record production of Rabi crops,” said NCAER’S Senior Research Counsellor, Rajesh Chadha.

The findings of the NCAER report are based on a comprehensive assessment of various factors including farm input prices and availability, monsoon rainfall, national and international market demand conditions and government policies impacting this year’s Rabi and Kharif crop production.

The forecast for wheat production in the Rabi season is 96-98.7 million tonnes compared with the government’s estimate of 96.6 million tonnes assuming normal weather conditions through harvest. NEW DELHI: Mobile wallet company Mobikwik said on Thursday it will allow consumers to top up wallets using credit cards without any additional charges, while its bigger rival Paytm has levied a 2 per cent fee for such transactions.

Mobikwik will continue to offer free uploading of money into their wallet for all users, including credit card users, it said in a statement.

“Post demonetisation, in order to boost the government’s vision of cash-less India, the company had a stated policy of revoking fees on uploading money through credit cards and today the company reiterated its policy of continuity,” it added.

Mobikwik currently serves over 55 million users and 1.4 million merchants. By the end of 2017, Mobikwik aims to increase its user base to 150 million and serve over 5 million merchants.

Paytm said yesterday it will levy a 2 per cent fee on for adding money to wallets using credit cards.

Defending its decision for the levy, Paytm had said it found multiple users using its platform to get free credit by using credit cards to top up their mobile wallets and transferring the money back to their bank accounts at zero transaction cost.

“Some financially savvy users (surprisingly many of them employees of national financial institutions) exploited this model to rotate money. This may surprise normal users like most of us but for a savvy user, it meant freebies at Paytm’s cost,” Paytm said in a blog post.

Overall, a robust growth of 4.1% is estimated for the agriculture sector in 2016-17 against the previous year’s drought-impacted growth rate of 1.2%