Animal feed

Guess what is on the US trade wish-list with India? Animal feed. The US, which exports apples, pistachios, lentils and pulses, has for long been clamouring to be allowed to export animal feed, eyeing India’s dairy industry. “India has one of the biggest cow populations and we feel we could help increase the yield with superior animal feed,” a US official said.

CCI to get judicial member

If the buzz in the corridors of power is anything to go by, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) is likely to get a judicial member soon.

This will happen more than four years after the Delhi High Court in the Mahindra case directed the Centre to ensure that “at all times, during the final hearing, the judicial member is present and participates in the hearing.”

Now, given the ‘legal clash’ between the Centre and judiciary that one witnessed in the recent past (the Centre had even initially kept judges away from its zone of consideration for CCI members posts), it is anybody’s guess if the new appointee will be from the judiciary or only be one with some legal background. It will be interesting to see how the Centre moves on this front, noted a CCI observer.

Dropping liquor sales

Receiving memos for not achieving the sales targets may be common in the corporate world. But declining liquor sales have prompted even State-run Kerala State Beverages Corporation to follow suit.

Bevco, which holds a monopoly over liquor sales, has issued show-cause notices to the warehouse managers in nearly 30 outlets after the daily sales in their outlets dropped to an estimated six lakh cases.

The Bevco management has attributed mismanagement in these outlets for the sales drop.

The decision to crack the whip on under-performing outlets was taken after the State exchequer started feeling the pinch of liquor sales drop. The earnings from the sale of liquor and lotteries constitute nearly 36 per cent of the overall revenue of the State.

Any negative factor impacting these two key resources would hit the State’s finances hard.

Rice and elections

On Thursday, an international news agency published a report saying India could ban rice exports. The report was immediately discounted by traders, particularly those abroad, who pointed out that it was the view of some traders and not the government.

A little bird said the Centre will not ban rice exports at least for now or until the Telangana Assembly election gets over. The southern State accounts for 30-40 per cent of the total exports of nearly 17 million tonnes of non-basmati rice. A ban will affect a large number of people — from millers to traders to workers — and it is a risk the BJP would well avoid.