Draft National Policy On Farmer Producer Organisations Pitches For Cheaper Loans 

A national policy on farmer producer organisations (FPOs) has proposed a slew of measures, including providing cheaper institutional loans and a three-tier Amul-like model, to help and benefit millions of farmers, the Business Standard reported.

The draft national policy advocates a special sub-set within primary sector lending norms of banks to make lending to FPOs easier. It pitches for a scheme to incentivise hiring talent in FPOs, and encouraging farmer groups to establish agribusiness marketplaces acting as deemed ‘mandis’ under the state agricultural produce laws. The draft notes mandis set up by FPOs should have the authority to grant trading licences and be integrated fully with existing platforms such as National Agriculture Market (eNAM) and Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). Read more 

RBI Calls Meeting Of MSME Associations Ahead Of Budget

Ahead of Budget 2024-25, the Reserve Bank of India has scheduled a meeting with several micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) associations on Monday to understand their needs, the BusinessStandard reported.

The RBI said in an email to the MSMEs that they are the backbone of the Indian economy, playing a crucial role in economic growth, employment generation, and technological advancement. An industry official said the meeting will be attended by two RBI deputy governors M Rajeshwar Rao and Swaminathan J. Several MSME trade bodies from all parts of the country will be making the trip, officials said. More here 

Centre May Prefer Indian Data Centre Companies To Manage GPUs

The government may prefer Indian data centre companies to run and manage the operations of graphics processing units (GPUs) to be procured under the Rs 10,372-crore India AI Mission, official said. 

A corpus of Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore will be set aside for GPUs, Abhishek Singh, additional secretary to the ministry of electronics and IT, said at the Global India AI Summit in New Delhi on Thursday. GPUs are currently a scarce resource and made only by a handful of American companies including Nvidia, Intel and AMD. These data centre companies can procure the units and subsequently provide them to Indian firms, start-ups, academics and researchers at a subsidised rate, officials said. More here 

Shortage of Skilled Researchers Holding Up Indian Startups in AI 

Lack of skilled researchers in artificial intelligence (AI), and not funding, is a bigger hindrance for Indian AI startups developing homegrown solutions, the Business Standard reported. 

In its report on the Global IndiaAI summit in New Delhi, investors and founders reiterated the lack of skill as a bigger hindrance“We need more AI researchers. Where are they going to come from? … 20 per cent of the global AI researchers are of Indian origin, and we should bring them back. Most of them are in the US, but we should bring them back the way China did over the past 15 years,” Rajan Anandan, managing director, Peak XV, a leading venture-capital firm. More here 

Heavy Rains In Himachal Pradesh Send Tomato Prices Skyrocketing

Tomato prices have risen sharply, touching Rs 80 per kg in some retail markets after heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh damaged road network in the state, reducing supplies to main consumption centres, the Economic Times reported. 

The daily average retail price of tomato touched Rs 55 per kg on July 3 compared to Rs 35 a month ago, as per the price monitoring division of the consumer affairs ministry.  The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heavy rainfall till July 7 in several tomato growing regions of Himachal Pradesh-a key supplier of the vegetable to North India--which could further inflate prices. More here

UK’s Labour Heading For A Landslide Victory, Tories Suffer Rout

The Labour Party is on course for a landslide victory in the United Kingdom as the Rishi Sunka-led Conservatives face their worst ever general election night, the BBC reported on exit polls.

Keir Starmer is heading to Downing Street with a majority of 170, according to an exit poll for the BBC, ITV and Sky, with the Tories reduced to 131 MPs. In his constituency victory speech, the Labour leader said it was "time for us to deliver". Reform UK is taking large amounts of votes from the Tories and has finished second in a string of seats, as well as getting its first MP elected, with leader Nigel Farage's result still to come. The Scottish National Party is facing the prospect of losing 38 seats as Labour returns to dominance in Scotland. More here