1.   

Manmohan-Obama meet today; strategic ties tops agenda

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has arrived Washington Thursday on a two-day official visit to attend the UN General Assembly session, will meet President Barack Obama at the White House on Friday. This is his third summit with US President Barack Obama in four years that both sides hope would essentially reaffirm their commitment to a strategic partnership amid a perception of a bilateral drift.

2.   

P Chidambaram to meet exporters on September 28 in Mumbai

Finance Minister P Chidambaram is scheduled to hold consultations with exporters on September 28 in Mumbai to take stock of the situations and discuss ways to boost shipments. Representatives of export promotion councils and commerce ministry officials will be present in the meeting," a ministry official said. During April-August, exports were up by only 3.89 per cent at USD 124.42 billion. Imports too grew by 1.72 per cent to USD 197.79 billion, leaving a trade deficit of USD 73.36 billion.

3.   

Khurshid, Ed Fast hold discussions on Indo-Canada ties

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid met Canadian Trade Minister Ed Fast in Ottawa during which they held a productive exchange of views on key areas of common interest between the two sides, including food security, energy security, infrastructure, innovation and trade and investment. During the meeting held yesterday, the two leaders recognized that, with more than one million Canadians of Indian origin, vibrant and long-standing people-to-people ties are among the greatest strengths of the Canada-India relationship.

4.   

Agri growth likely to be 5% in FY14

All eyes are on rural India, even as urban India combats a slowdown. Both consumption and savings are on the wane as inflation burns a hole into pockets. Consumer companies are reeling with slowing demand as discretionary spends are down sharply, but this is true for only urban India. Given that 70% of India lives in rural India, where the rains have been timely and good this year, analysts are expecting rural demand to come to the rescue of a sagging economy and consumer companies.