Mustard seed ends higher on restricted arrivals

 

Mustard seed prices closed higher by 0.69 per cent on Thursday at the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) as a result of the decline in the supply for the commodity in the major markets. At the NCDEX, mustard seed futures for June 2016 contract closed at Rs. 4,392 per quintal, up by 0.69 per cent, after opening at Rs. 4,371 against the previous closing price of Rs. 4,362. It touched the intra-day high of Rs. 4,409.

India produces 5.5 million MT to7 million MT annually and about 0.15 million MT is retained for sowing and direct consumption as seed which leaves about 4.8-5.1 million MT for crushing and extracting oil.

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Mustard Seed Ends Lower On Sluggish Demand

Mustard Seed prices closed lower by 1.94 per cent on Tuesday at the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) as a result of the profit booking by the traders on account of the weak crushing and export demand of mustard meal. At the NCDEX, Mustard Seed futures for May 2016 contract closed at Rs. 4,347 per quintal, down by 1.94 per cent, after opening at Rs. 4,421 against the previous closing price of Rs. 4,433. It touched the intra-day low of Rs. 4,331.

Sentiment weakened further due to the sluggish export demand as a result of the weak demand for the commodity.

EU-27 accounts to about 34 per cent of worlds RM seed production, others major producers are China (23 per cent), Canada (19 per cent), India (14 per cent), Australia (3 per cent), Ukraine (2 per cent). India produces 5.5 million MT to7 million MT annually.

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Mustard Seed Ends lower On Sluggish Demand

Mustard Seed prices closed lower by 1.4 per cent on Wednesday at the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) as a result of the profit booking by the traders on account of the weak crushing and export demand of mustard meal. At the NCDEX, Mustard Seed futures for May 2016 contract closed at Rs. 4,518 per quintal, down by 1.4 per cent, after opening at Rs. 4,629 against the previous closing price of Rs. 4,582. It touched the intra-day low of Rs. 4,480. 

 

Sentiment weakened further due to the sluggish export demand as a result of the weak demand for the commodity.
 

EU-27 accounts to about 34 per cent of worlds RM seed production, others major producers are China (23 per cent), Canada (19 per cent), India (14 per cent), Australia (3 per cent), Ukraine (2 per cent). India produces 5.5 million MT to7 million MT annually. 

 

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Shah Rukh to be brand ambassador of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will be the brand ambassador of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's telecom venture Reliance Jio, which will launch the 4G services on December 27.The company will, however, begin the commercial rollout of the service from March-April and the Sunday's soft launch will be only for Reliance Industries' employees.

"I am their brand ambassador. Mukesh Bhai explained it to me. Actually its his children who are doing it. All the three are very close to me," Khan said in an interview to a television channel.Khan and musician A R Rahman will host the soft launch function of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd's (RJIL) 4G service on December 27.
 

The film star added that Reliance Jio deferred the launch twice because it was looking to improve the services.
 

"They deferred it twice, because they felt there is work still left in end use. 27th will be soft launch and in March-April we will do more. So I think Jio will be revolutionary.
 

Not just for India. It will change things around world for India," Khan said.

When contacted, a Jio spokesperson said "Shah Rukh Khan is launching Jio on 27th December."
 

RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani in June had said that beta programme (trials) of Reliance Jio "will be upgraded into commercial operations around December of this (2015) year" and "financial year 2016-17 will be the first full year of commercial operations for Jio".Later in October, RIL said financial year "2016-17 is projected to be the first year of commercial operations for RJIL".
 

Khan in the interview said the new service will be a game changer as it will increase speed and with speed, information and knowledge.
 

"We have only seen tip of the iceberg. It will lead to a lot of innovations. This will increase speed. Speed will increase information, knowledge. It will be used at various places, I think, from education to production to manufacturing. I am talking very futuristic," Khan said.

Reliance Jio holds the highest amount of liberalised spectrum among telecom operators that can be used for deploying any technology for mobile services.
 

It has a total of 751.1 MHz spectrum across 800 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 2,300 MHz bands.
 

According to field trials by brokerage firm Credit Suisse, download speed on 4G network of Reliance Jio during beta-test peaked at 70 megabit per second but remained in 15-30 mbps range on most occasions.
 

Khan was earlier the brand ambassador of Bharti Airtel.
 

Telecom major Bharti Airtel's Founder and Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal had recently said that RJIL was using Airtel's two icons, Khan and Rahman, for the soft launch.

Steel ministry writes to PMO for fixing min import price for steel

A note for fixing minimum import price for various steel products has been sent to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), union minister of state for steel and mines, Vishnu Deo Sai said at an ASSOCHAM event held in New Delhi on Wednesday. “The ministry is looking into the industry’s suggestion to impose minimum import price on steel products and it has been sent to the PMO last week,” said Sai while inaugurating 9th Steel Summit organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). Sai said that steel and mines ministry is in talks with state-run iron ore miner, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) to explore the possibility of further reducing the iron ore prices. “Now that winter session of Parliament has ended, we will sit with our senior minister and look into the challenges being faced by the Indian steel sector and explore possible solutions,” said the minister. He informed that the mines and steel ministry has initiated talks with secondary steel producers to find a solution to their problems. He also said that total investment in setting up four ultra-mega steel projects (UMSP) will cross Rs 1.5 lakh crore mark as the government aims that each plant should have a capacity to produce 60 lakh ton steel. “Apart from producing 10 lakh ton of steel if we add the cost of mining, the investment amounts to about Rs 6,000 crore.” He said that the Centre has signed an agreement letter with Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh in this regard and is in talks with Karnataka government vis-à-vis a three million ton steel plant.

RCom in talks with Aircel to Merge Mobile Businesses

Reliance Communications (Rcom) is in talks with shareholders of telecom operator Aircel for a potential merger of the wireless or mobile businesses of the two companies.

The Anil Ambani-led telecom company said "it has entered into a 90-day exclusivity period with Maxis Communications Berhad (MCB) and Sindya Securities and Investments Private Limited, the shareholders of Aircel Limited, to consider the potential combination of the Indian wireless businesses of RCom and Aircel."
 

The idea is to mutually derive expected substantial benefits of in-country consolidation, including operating expenditure (opex) and capital expenditure (capex) synergies and revenue enhancement, RCom said in a statement.

"The discussions are non-binding in nature. Any transaction will be subject to due diligence, definitive documentation and regulatory, shareholders' and other third party approvals. Hence, there is no certainty that any transaction will result," the company said.The potential combination will exclude RCom's towers and optical fibre infrastructure, for which RCom is proceeding with an asset sale, as announced on December 4, 2015.On December 4, the RCom said it had signed a non-binding pact to sell its cellular towers to private equity firm
 

Tillman Global Holdings LLC and TPG Asia Inc in an estimated Rs 30,000 crore deal to pare debt. RCom is already in the process of buying Indian mobile telephony business of Sistema Shyam Teleservices under MTS brand.According to sources, there will be a separate entity as a result of a potential merger of RCom, MTS and Aircel. Rcom's current debt, estimated to be around Rs 10,000 crore, will be transferred to this new entity.
 

The combination of RCom, Aircel, MTS wireless businesses will hold 19.3 percent of the total spectrum allocated to the the industry - the highest in the country by an entity.The new entity, which is in the works, will hold spectrum across all allocated bands -- 800 Mhz, 900 Mhz, 1800 Mhz, 2100 Mhz and 2300 MHz -- for 2G, 3G and 4G services.The stock of RCom was trading at 85.15, up 2.15 percent, soon after the announcement of the talks.

Govt mulls viable Insurance scheme for farmers.

Commodity News - After the successful launch of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Soil Health Card Scheme, Prampragat Krishi VikasYojana, the government of India is seriously debating on bringing out a viable insurance scheme for the farmers, said Radha Mohan Singh, the agriculture minister on Thursday.

Speaking on the occasion of national dialogue on “Innovative Extension System for Farmers Empowerment and Welfare”, he said that the government is strengthening the extension infrastructure to new develop from lab to marginal farmer.
 

Agriculture is a state subject and as per the state requirements respective governments are initiating their programmes but government of India has always been supporting the States with relevant schemes and other strategic information and advisory for success of agriculture sector, he said.
 

The minister said that the extension is lacking infrastructure to reach the individual farmers (14 crore farmer families) and thus, looking into it, long awaited demand of the farmers have been fulfilled by starting a 24 hours Kisan Channel by the Prime Minister.
 

The extension is expected to provide information for production, protection, post-harvest, value addition, marketing, insurance, credit and other information related to the farmers regarding availability of inputs, weather, he added.

Sundar Pichai Coming to India Today; will he launch affordable Android One smartphone?

Google CEO - Sundar Pichai will visit India on Wednesday, his first overseas trip after taking over as the head of one of the world's largest technology company.

However the technology corridors are abuzz with news that the India-born CEO is expected to bring version 2 of Android One smartphones.

The company has sent out an invite for an event for today (December 16). The press content of the invite has fuelled online speculations that the company might launch affordable Android One smartphone.

"At Google, we believe that technology can change people's lives for the better. Indians are coming online at an astonishing rate with affordable smartphones. These new users have a completely fresh view on what the Internet has to offer. Please block your date for an event with Google as we outline our vision for these users," the invite said.

Pichai is also scheduled deliver the keynote address at the event, where he will outline the company's plans for India.

During his visit, the India-born CEO is expected to meet President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mustard Seed Ends Lower On Waning Demand

 Mustard Seed prices closed lower by 0.09 per cent on Tuesday at the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) as a result of the profit booking by the traders on account of the weak crushing and export demand of mustard meal. At the NCDEX, Mustard Seed futures for Oct 2015 contract closed at Rs. 4,441 per quintal, down by 0.09 per cent, after opening at Rs. 4,421 against the previous closing price of Rs. 4,445. It touched the intra-day low of Rs. 4,410.

Sentiment weakened further due to the sluggish export demand as a result of the weak demand for the commodity.

EU-27 accounts to about 34 % of worlds RM seed production, others major producers are China (23 %), Canada (19 %), India (14 %), Australia (3 %), Ukraine (2 %). India produces 5.5 million MT to7 million MT annually.

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