India not keen to add debt securities to global indexes, TD says India is not keen to add its bonds to global indexes due to their concerns over ensuing market volatility, even as the gauge providers look at including the debt, according to TD Securities. “The message that we received was loud and clear; officials and even domestic funds were content with the status quo,” Mitul Kotecha, head of emerging markets strategy at TD, wrote in a note, citing his meetings, including those with officials of the finance ministry and market participants. “However, this doesn’t rule out inclusion as index providers appear keen to include India, and we still may see some progress this year.” The note is in line with comments from Ajay Seth, Department of Economic Affairs Secretary at the nation’s finance ministry, who recently said it isn’t the “right time” to look at inclusion given the global situation. The rupee was the worst-performing currency among emerging Asian peers last year, weighed by a stronger dollar and outflows from local assets. There’s a global tide in favor of Asia’s emerging market assets, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc to HSBC Holdings Plc bullish on the region. Expectations are also rising for South Korea’s inclusion in global gauges, with the country’s finance officials meeting representatives from FTSE Russell.
Retail inflation in milk was reported at 8.85% in May 2023. The milk inflation has remained elevated at over 6% since August 2022. Despite India being the largest milk producer since 1998, the commodity has been the second biggest factor after cereals such as rice and wheat in driving up retail inflation in the last fiscal.
Milk has the second highest weight in the food and beverages basket of the consumer price index at 6.61%, a notch lower than cereals and products with a 9.67% weight. Organised players, including Mother Dairy and Amul, hiked prices multiple times in the last one year citing higher fodder cost, robust demand and some impact due to reports of lumpy skin disease.
Industry sources said feed cost, which has a share of more than 65% in the cost of production of milk, has increased to Rs 20/kg from Rs 8 a year ago. The finance ministry in April had attributed the elevated milk inflation to a demand supply mismatch and said it could be one of the factors apart from volatile international crude oil prices and constrained supplies of milk would influence the country’s inflation trajectory.
“Milk production has been impacted by a lumpy skin disease infecting millions of cattle in late 2022,” the ministry said in the monthly economic review, adding that the vaccination drive against the disease is expected to curb the spread and immune the cattle against the skin disease.
According to official data, currently India is the world’s largest milk producer, and has a share of 23% in global milk production. For the first time in decades, the country’s milk production is likely to have stagnated in 2022-23 due to Lumpy Skin Disease in cattle across several states and the lagged effect of Covid-19 in the form of stunting of the animals, a senior official with department of animal husbandry and dairying recently had stated. The milk production was estimated at 221 million tonne in 2021-22.