August 17, 2010

India's agriculture sector set to boom

Over the five-year forecast period, India's production across all agricultural sub-sectors will be positive, spurred by increased domestic demand and foreign direct investment, India Agribusiness Report Q4 2010 showed.

With the monsoon forecast to be only slightly below average, India's crop production in 2010/11 is expected to increase significantly owing to higher yields, according to the report.

Beef and poultry production will both increase by 29% and 41% respectively by 2013/14 due to increased demand from higher incomes and prevalence of western style restaurants.

Because of marketing schemes targeted at the general population and generally greater demand for high-value dairy products such as yoghurt and cottage cheese, the report forecasts butter and milk production to grow by 38% and 26% respectively in 2013/14.

2010 real GDP growth will be 7.8% and is predicted to average 8% from now until 2014.

Indian agriculture will benefit greatly from increased multinational investment and technological improvements in various sectors. In dairy and livestock, large firms like Reliance, DCM, Bharti and ITC have all entered the market, and the sectors should get a significant boost in the form of data micro-chips and other technological advances.