S . Chandrasekaran

Basmati Rice Exporters NPA Rs. 32,994 Cr (USD 4.4 Billion): A Soul Search and the Truth I confess, this is a long blog.   To read the gist, kindly go to the   “ Lessons ”. Once the Grand Trunk Road from Delhi to Chandigarh housed number of Basmati rice mills and bustling export activities happened with greater number of employments.   Now several basmati rice mills are shut in this area. Out of 22 basmati rice exporters, whose default to the Bank is of worth Rs. 32,994 Cr,   7 exporters were among top 10 exporting companies between 2003 to 2008.   India has lost 7 important exporting companies in the last decade.   One of the India’s oldest basmati rice brands – Pari lost its eminent market position due to tax and other regulatory issues in the late 1990’s. The present issue is not about compliance. The fall or defaulting of REI Agro, one of the largest business houses of basmati rice, began in the year 2013. Till the visible fall, the Equity Research

Emerging Challenge: No Basmati Rice Exports to Iran (1.4 Million Ton or 30% Export) - How to Protect Basmati Paddy Farmer’s Price in Kharif 2020? A leading listed Basmati rice company’s annual general meeting noted in May 2019 that there is still a sizable surplus of funds available in the escrow account of UCO Bank to export Iran and orders also flowing.   India had stopped importing Iranian crude oil from May 2019.   In an October 2019 estimate, there was Rs. 2,000 Cr worth payment of basmati rice exporters stuck to Iran. A press statement of UCO Bank (January 2020) reads that there is no problem for exporters till the fiscal end (March 2020). The DGCIS statistics towards Iran exports between April to January 2020 reads Rs. 19,660 Cr.   Big questions: Is the money in UCO Bank Escrow Account enough to pay exporters? How many exporters are still to receive payment? Are the basmati rice exporters going to face second wave of NPA? Now there is no Iran

Geopolitics :  Chola’s Blue Highway – The Forgotten Competitor to Silk Route Bay of Bengal was a like lake in the backyard for Chola. Indian Ocean was under their hegemony. A trade war for Transhipment Harbour and Preferential Trade of Tamil. Now history repeats in different way – US China Trade War.   Covid19 is beginning of new world order. The Asia Maritime Trade and Geopolitics in 11 th Century was simultaneous rise of powerful corporate empires in several parts of Asia: the Chola empire of South India, the Srivijaya empire of Sumatra, the Khmer empire of Cambodia, the empire of Champa in Vietnam and China under the Song dynasty.   These empires had preferential trade agreements, stationed diplomatic missions and exchange of trade delegations.   The deep-rooted commercial interests drove the political and cultural relations between these empires. Pattinapalai (ancient poem) talks of Puhar having a big colony of foreign merchants and mentions of items of trade.   Th