1.   

‘Farm sector growth rate may triple on good monsoon’

The agriculture sector is likely to grow in the range of 5.2-5.7 percent in 2013-14, nearly three times more than the last year as good monsoon has raised the prospects of bumper harvest, a CACP discussion paper said. It warned however that "automatic" cascading of bumper harvests to increase the economic activity may not be realised unless the policymakers play the facilitator role well. The farm sector had grown at 1.9 percent last fiscal.

2.   

Give non-discriminatory access to Indian goods, Pakistan told

Pakistan must provide non-discriminatory access to Indian goods to increase two-way trade, an official said in Delhi on Friday. Arvind Mehta, joint secretary in the ministry of commerce and industry, said a road map for enhancing trade between India and Pakistan has been prepared, but the desired result is not being achieved due to delay in according the Most Favoured Nation status to India. Pakistan is also losing out to Bangladesh when it comes to enhancing trade with India.

3.   

India has an open arm approach with people of Afghanistan: Khurshid

Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid assured Afghanistan that India's pledge for US$ 2 billion as humanitarian aid was just the beginning of a process to reach out to the provinces and districts as the Afghan people move ahead in re-building their nation. He was addressing the conference on 'Doing Business with Afghanistan' jointly organized by FICCI, India?s Ministry of External Affairs and Afghanistan?s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

4.   

India gets bids above floor price for wheat exports

India's state traders received bids above the floor price for wheat exports, trade sources said on Monday, reflecting good response after a cut in the floor price intended to boost shipments from the world's second-biggest grower. Last month, India cut the floor by $40 a tonne to $260 for supplies from government stocks, to make exports more attractive to the Middle East and neighbours such as Bangladesh.