<p>New Delhi: Agri-stack, an open-source digital public infrastructure for agriculture, is poised to be the next big innovation coming from India after the unified payment interface (UPI), Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday.</p>.<p>“Farmers are now able to access the global markets due to the advantage of technology. I am sure that agri stack will be the next big thing you will hear coming out of India,” Sitharaman said at CII Global Economic Policy Forum.</p>.<p>Agri-stack is a digital foundation being set up by the government to make it easier to bring different stakeholders together to improve the farming sector in the country.</p>.<p>In the Union Budget presented in July 2024, Sitharaman had announced that agri-stack would bring over 6 crore farmers under the formal land registry system. The centre proposes to implement it over the next three years.</p>.<p>On inflation, the finance minister said it is a major challenge globally. She underlined that disruption in the supply chain is the primary cause of inflation and no country can tackle it in isolation.</p>.<p>“The global priority in this decade should be to restore normalcy. Disruption should be avoided. They are the main cause of supply chain disruption,” she said.</p>.<p>The headline retail inflation in India surged to a 14-month high of 6.21% in October, driven by the surge in food prices. Data for November is scheduled to be released on Thursday.</p>.<p>Sitharaman stressed on the need to de-risk and protect supply chains from geopolitical threats.</p>.<p>“Inflation, as you know, doesn’t respect borders… the primary cause I would think is the disruption, the skirmish, the war. And, as a result, the world is facing a challenge which is reflected in many ways in our economies,” she said.</p>.<p>Sitharaman also underlined the need for efficient debt management. “Responsible economies can’t be run with borrowings so large that the next generation and generation after that already knows what it is liable to repay,” she said.</p>.<p>She asked governments and industries to collaborate in managing debt. “It is absolutely important for governments and for industry to work together to say how best debt can be managed at the national, and at the sub-national level,” she said.</p>.<p>Cut-off box - RBI’s new chief pledges policy stability while remaining agile Bloomberg: Newly-appointed Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Sanjay Malhotra said that the institution will have to be “agile and alert” to tackle global challenges while maintaining policy continuity. Malhotra started his three-year tenure as the Governor of the RBI on Wednesday taking over the bank at a time when India is struggling with both slowing growth and rising prices. Known for his attention to detail and long working hours Malhotra has replaced Shaktikanta Das who had been leading the RBI since 2018. “Change is the only constant. We have to be conscious of that” Malhotra said in his first interaction with reporters since assuming the post. “The huge responsibility we have in ensuring that the growth this country has continues” he said. While Malhotra’s views on monetary policy are still unknown he emphasized the need for stability and policy continuity in his new role. The change of guard at the RBI comes when Asia’s third-largest economy is facing headwinds. Growth in the July-September quarter dipped unexpectedly to a seven-quarter low of 5.4% putting pressure on the RBI to reduce what other top officials in the Narendra Modi’s government have said are overly high borrowing costs. While inflation is expected to ease in November it still remains well above the central bank’s target of 4%. To combat price gains the RBI has kept interest rates unchanged for almost two years. Under Malhotra analysts expect the central bank to take a softer approach to monetary policy and begin easing.</p>
<p>New Delhi: Agri-stack, an open-source digital public infrastructure for agriculture, is poised to be the next big innovation coming from India after the unified payment interface (UPI), Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday.</p>.<p>“Farmers are now able to access the global markets due to the advantage of technology. I am sure that agri stack will be the next big thing you will hear coming out of India,” Sitharaman said at CII Global Economic Policy Forum.</p>.<p>Agri-stack is a digital foundation being set up by the government to make it easier to bring different stakeholders together to improve the farming sector in the country.</p>.<p>In the Union Budget presented in July 2024, Sitharaman had announced that agri-stack would bring over 6 crore farmers under the formal land registry system. The centre proposes to implement it over the next three years.</p>.<p>On inflation, the finance minister said it is a major challenge globally. She underlined that disruption in the supply chain is the primary cause of inflation and no country can tackle it in isolation.</p>.<p>“The global priority in this decade should be to restore normalcy. Disruption should be avoided. They are the main cause of supply chain disruption,” she said.</p>.<p>The headline retail inflation in India surged to a 14-month high of 6.21% in October, driven by the surge in food prices. Data for November is scheduled to be released on Thursday.</p>.<p>Sitharaman stressed on the need to de-risk and protect supply chains from geopolitical threats.</p>.<p>“Inflation, as you know, doesn’t respect borders… the primary cause I would think is the disruption, the skirmish, the war. And, as a result, the world is facing a challenge which is reflected in many ways in our economies,” she said.</p>.<p>Sitharaman also underlined the need for efficient debt management. “Responsible economies can’t be run with borrowings so large that the next generation and generation after that already knows what it is liable to repay,” she said.</p>.<p>She asked governments and industries to collaborate in managing debt. “It is absolutely important for governments and for industry to work together to say how best debt can be managed at the national, and at the sub-national level,” she said.</p>.<p>Cut-off box - RBI’s new chief pledges policy stability while remaining agile Bloomberg: Newly-appointed Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Sanjay Malhotra said that the institution will have to be “agile and alert” to tackle global challenges while maintaining policy continuity. Malhotra started his three-year tenure as the Governor of the RBI on Wednesday taking over the bank at a time when India is struggling with both slowing growth and rising prices. Known for his attention to detail and long working hours Malhotra has replaced Shaktikanta Das who had been leading the RBI since 2018. “Change is the only constant. We have to be conscious of that” Malhotra said in his first interaction with reporters since assuming the post. “The huge responsibility we have in ensuring that the growth this country has continues” he said. While Malhotra’s views on monetary policy are still unknown he emphasized the need for stability and policy continuity in his new role. The change of guard at the RBI comes when Asia’s third-largest economy is facing headwinds. Growth in the July-September quarter dipped unexpectedly to a seven-quarter low of 5.4% putting pressure on the RBI to reduce what other top officials in the Narendra Modi’s government have said are overly high borrowing costs. While inflation is expected to ease in November it still remains well above the central bank’s target of 4%. To combat price gains the RBI has kept interest rates unchanged for almost two years. Under Malhotra analysts expect the central bank to take a softer approach to monetary policy and begin easing.</p>