Not Entirely Sugar Coated

The recommendation  by a committee headed by chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council C. Rangarajan to allow sugar mills to sell their entire stocks in the open market has to be welcomed. The move will do away with the existing legal compulsion to sell 10 per cent of the stocks to the government at a pre-determined price to be routed to the public distribution system (PDS). The approval for the  recom- mendation, however, will depend upon how the states — the ultimate PDS distributor — react to it.

The other key recommendation that requires sugar mills to share 70 per cent of their revenues with  cane farmers may not go down well with the sugar mills.

However, the committee has left the archaic minimum distance criterion and the cane reservation area bondage untouched, at least for the near term — a pragmatic decision, considering the political compulsions of UPA II.

Strictly Business
After months of high-decibel fights involving lawsuits and arbitration proceedings, finally, there is peace between old friends Unitech Wireless and Norway’s telco Telenor. Unitech has agreed to sell its nearly 34 per cent stake in joint venture Uninor for an undisclosed sum.

(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 22-10-2012)