PM Modi discusses defence, agriculture, and trade with Argentina President
Addressing a press briefing after the bilateral meeting between the two leaders, MEA's Secretary (East) P Kumaran said, 'Both leaders also expressed interest in enhancing collaboration in the defence sector, where they felt that they can leverage their respective experiences and capabilities to increase cooperation and contribute to mutual strategic interests.'
PM Modi and Milei also acknowledge the importance of agriculture, directing their teams to convene the Joint Working Group to spot opportunities for cooperation, the MEA Secretary (East) informed.
'Both leaders also acknowledge the importance of the agriculture sector and its significant contribution to the economies on both sides... To take this forward, they directed their teams to convene the Joint Working Group on Agriculture at the earliest opportunity,' he said.
Kumaran further informed that PM Modi briefed Milei about India's Drone Didi initiatives aimed at increasing agricultural productivity. He added that the PM also informed Milei about India's innovative use of drones for emergency transport of medicines to remote areas during the COVID-19 pandemic.
'The Prime Minister also briefed President Milei on India's Drone Didi initiative and how it is being used to improve agricultural productivity by involving rural women in the use of drones to administer fertilisers and for land surveys. The Prime Minister also mentioned how drones had been used in India for emergency transport of medicines to remote areas during COVID, and also now how companies use drones to transport vegetables and fish to remote areas,' he added.
'The Prime Minister briefed the President on how the Indian satellite system, Navic, is used to help fishermen identify schools of fish... The PM also discussed how he utilises drones to monitor progress in projects of special interest to him, as part of his monthly project reviews. That was something that interested President,' he said.
PM Modi also sought Argentina's support to expand India-MERCOSUR Preferential Trade Agreement. The preferential trade agreement (PTA) is aimed at expanding economic ties between India and the MERCOSUR bloc, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
'The Prime Minister requested Argentina's support in expanding the India-MERCOSUR Preferential Trade Agreement, noting that such an expansion can bring mutual benefits to both sides and open up new opportunities,' Kumaran said.
PM Modi arrived in Buenos Aires on Friday on a two-day trip in the third leg of his five-nation tour.
The PM is now headed to Brazil for the fourth leg of his five-nation tour, where he will also attend the BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
During the 17th BRICS Leaders' Summit, Prime Minister Modi will exchange views on key global issues, including peace and security, strengthening multilateralism, responsible use of artificial intelligence, climate action, global health, and economic and financial matters. According to the official statement, the Prime Minister is also likely to hold several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Summit.
For the State Visit to Brazil, the Prime Minister will travel to Brasilia where he will hold bilateral discussions with President Lula on the broadening of the Strategic Partnership between the two countries in areas of mutual interest, including trade, defence, energy, space, technology, agriculture, health and people to people linkages. (ANI)
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Mint
13 minutes ago
- Mint
Vijay L. Bhambwani's Ticker: Beneath the surface, an undertone of cautious optimism
Dear reader, Last week, I wrote that the bulls had an upper hand. However, markets showed signs of being top-heavy, as higher levels attracted selling. Nervousness over the India-US trade deal and Friday's Sebi ban on Jane Street dampened sentiments. The latter event triggered worries among retail options traders, since options make up the lion's share in the derivatives segment. Traders feared there would be a temporary drought of liquidity as institutional players, especially since algo and AI-capable traders such as Jane Street constitute approximately half of the entire derivatives turnover. My call to deploy tail risk (Hacienda) hedges on all open positions turned out to be a robust strategy, and my readers should continue to maintain this strategy as the period of higher volatility is not over yet. Market internals still indicate that bulls still nurse optimism, though they avoided providing big-ticket support at higher levels. Markets showed resilience by not falling significantly either. Studying the statistical signals below should clarify matters further. Last week, I wrote that industrial metals were likely to witness a routine month-end rally. That occurred, and provided a boost to metal and mining stocks. The month-end is done and dusted, and upsides may run into some profit-taking on these commodities, and by extension, in some of their stock prices too. The long-term bull story in bullion is alive and kicking. Patient delivery-based investors who are willing to overlook short-term volatility with a steely resolve are yet to witness the peak prices of bullion -- just look beyond calendar year 2025. Oil and gas are likely to remain subdued and rallies, if any, are likely to be temporary. I maintain my view that energy markets are well-supplied. This view remains unchanged for months, and should hold for the calendar year, barring sudden unforeseen circumstances. This week will see continued trading action on public sector undertakings, particularly banks. There are some hopes of a divestment in government banks, and the markets are cheering that expectation. Besides, the weightage of the banking and financial sector in headline indices itself means that a boost for these stocks will lend cheer to the markets. Oil marketing companies may see above-average daily ranges, and should provide high-risk traders with good trading opportunities for two-way trading moves. Option traders should note that the Jane Street episode may impart higher-than average volatility; therefore, they should trade light till clarity emerges. Tail risk hedges are a robust idea. Fixed income investors should still keep the powder dry and await the festive season that starts in September. I expect consumer credit demand to perk up, which may push coupon rates mildly higher too. A tutorial video on tail risk (Hacienda) hedges is here - Rear View Mirror Let us assess what happened last week, so we can guesstimate what to expect in the coming week. The week's fall was led by the banking sector, and the broad-based Nifty-50 brought up the rear. A weak US dollar index (DXY) propped up emerging market indices including India. Bullion gained week-on-week, as defensive buying continued. Energy remained under pressure and cheered inflation-wary bulls. The INR displayed strength, adding to the cheerful sentiments. NSE gained market capitalization despite weak indices, and that tells me the broader market sentiment remains cheerful. Market-wide position limits (MWPL) rose routinely post-expiry. US indices gained, providing tail winds to our markets. Retail Risk Appetite I use a simple yet highly accurate yardstick for measuring the conviction levels of retail traders – where are they deploying money. I measure what percentage of the turnover was contributed by the lower and higher risk instruments. If they trade more of futures which require sizable capital, their risk appetite is higher. Within the futures space, index futures are less volatile compared to stock futures. A higher footprint in stock futures shows higher aggression levels. Ditto for stock and index options. Last week, this is what their footprint looked like (the numbers are average of all trading days of the week) – Turnover contribution in the higher-risk, capital-intensive futures segment eased. That tells me traders were unwilling to go out on a limb to go long. In the relatively lower-risk, lower capital requirement options segment, it was the lowest-risk index options that saw the turnover contribution rise, which means derivatives traders were unwilling to take aggressive bets. Matryoshka Analysis Let us peel layer after layer of statistical data to arrive at the core message of the first chart I share is the NSE advance-decline ratio. After the price itself, this indicator is the fastest (leading) indicator of which way the winds are blowing. This simple yet accurate indicator computes the ratio of the number of rising stocks compared to falling stocks. As long as gainers outnumber the losers, bulls are dominant. This metric is a gauge of the risk appetite of 'one marshmallow" traders. These are pure intraday traders. The Nifty-50 fell on a week-on-week basis, but the advance-decline ratio remained above the 1.0 level. At 1.03 level (prior week 1.61) it indicates there were 103 gaining stocks for every 100 losing stocks. Bulls remained optimistic. Watch this metric keenly this week. As long as the daily and weekly average stays above 1.0, bulls are still in control. A tutorial video on the Marshmallow theory in trading is here - The second chart I share is on market-wide position limits (MWPL). This measures the amount of exposure utilized by traders in the derivatives (F&O) space as a component of the total exposure allowed by the regulator. This metric is a gauge of the risk appetite of 'two marshmallow" traders. These are deep-pocketed, high-conviction traders who roll over their trades to the next session/s. The MWPL reading rose routinely, and that indicates traders were willing to enhance their exposure post-expiry. It was marginally lower than the commensurate week last month. That was due to the nervousness over the trade deal and Jane Street. Overall, risk appetite remained steady among swing traders. A dedicated tutorial video on how to interpret MWPL data in more ways than one is available here - The third chart I share is my in-house indicator 'impetus.' It measures the force in any price move. Last week, both indices fell with lower impetus readings. That means the fall lacked selling momentum and/or panic sales. Ideally, prices and impetus readings should rise in unison to indicate a sustainable uptrend. The final chart I share is my in-house indicator 'LWTD.' It computes lift, weight, thrust and drag encountered by any security. These are four forces that any powered aircraft faces during flight; so, applying LWTD to traded securities helps a trader estimate prevalent sentiments. The Nifty ended last week with small losses. The LWTD reading fell too. At -0.04 (prior week 0.19), it indicates the possibility of weak fresh buying. While short-covering can cushion declines, it takes fresh buying to boost levels to all-time highs. A tutorial video on interpreting the LWTD indicator is here - Nifty's Verdict The weekly candle chart shows a small-bodied bearish candle with the prior week's prominently bullish candle. The last candle size was too small to present a major worry to bulls. The price is comfortably above the 25-week average, which is a proxy for a six-month-long holding cost of a retail investor. That means the medium-term outlook is positive for now. Last week, I advocated watching the 25,250 level as an immediate support, which remains in place. As long as bulls defend this level, they remain in the driver's seat. On the flip side, overcoming the 25,750 on a sustained closing basis can trigger a fresh upthrust. Your Call to Action Watch the 25,250 level as a near-term support. Breaking out above the 25,750 level raises the possibility of testing fresh record highs in the coming weeks. Last week, I estimated ranges between 57,800 – 54,700 and 25,725 – 24,500 on the Bank Nifty and Nifty respectively. Both indices traded within their specified resistance levels. This week, I estimate ranges between 58,450 – 55,625 and 26,075 – 24,825 on the Bank Nifty and Nifty respectively. Trade light with strict stop losses. Avoid trading counters with spreads wider than 8 ticks. Have a profitable week. Vijay L. Bhambwani Vijay is the CEO of a proprietary trading firm. He tweets at @vijaybhambwani
Indian Express
14 minutes ago
- Indian Express
What racists don't understand about Zohran Mamdani, biryani and the West's ‘uncivilised' culinary history
Award-winning film director Mira Nair's son, 33-year-old progressive Zohran Mamdani, is shaking up Trump's America as few could. He swept the Democratic Party's primary nomination process, defeating the redoubtable Andrew Cuomo and is contesting the New York city mayoral elections. This is historic, as he keeps shattering at least three of Donald Trump's most aggressive planks — toxic anti-immigration hounding, his belligerent (Islamophobic) support to the Benjamin Netanyahu government as it kills thousands of people in Gaza and the devastation of welfarism and minimal equity for the needy. So stung is Trump with the young challenger that he has inflicted the most vitriolic McCarthyistic abuse on him, calling him a 'communist lunatic'. What is more worrisome is the avalanche of racial censure that Mamdani invited — for eating his biriyani with his fingers. This is exactly the way it should be and is eaten by all south Asians and many others. Republican member of Congress, Brandon Gill and professional India-baiter, far-right activist Laura Loomer, called this 'uncivilised'. The fact that most Americans eat their pizza slices and burgers by hand and dream of 'finger licking good' Kentucky Fried Chicken was conveniently forgotten. Forgotten also was the fact that for some 15 centuries after Christ, commoners in the west ate from wooden plates and bowls and used pieces of bread to pick up the sauce or gravy that remained, even after their knives had poked and picked whatever food they could. Till the late medieval period, water in Europe was not only repellingly cold but rather hazardous to drink, especially from contaminated rivers and pools. It was more so in crowded, unsanitary urban areas, though the poor hardly had any choice. Those who could afford it drank only beer, ale, wine or other spirits and many hardly ever came in contact with water — even for cleansing or hygienic purposes. Undergarments were stitched on to bare bodies for several months a year right up to recent times, which explains the western craze for perfumes and sweet-smelling flowers. In fact, those who are convinced that using fingers to eat is uncivilised would baulk at the very idea that the civilised fork was unknown to the west, until an eastern Byzantine princess brought it to Venice in the medieval period. She was married to the city's Doge — the duke or the ruler, who has nothing to do with Elon Musk's whirlwind slaughter of public posts and welfare schemes. More interesting is the fact that the princess carried this quaint piece of cutlery, a two-tined gold fork, from the Byzantine Empire, basically to pick fruits that were preserved in syrup and sugar, known as suckets. The pretty lady felt it was logically the most efficient and clean method of eating a sticky sweetmeat, but the Church was scandalised. Sarah Coffin explained in the Scientific American (touché) that 'The fork was associated with the life of luxury and sweets. This somehow got translated by the Church as being a negative form of decadence. It wasn't associated with Christian values on the grounds that it wasn't essential to life. Instead, it was perceived as something that would be used by a seductress of the East.' By the way, Coffin has authored six award-winning cookbooks and is the founding editor of Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, that was named the 2012 Publication of the Year. Most recently she was named Editor-in-Chief of the digital resource Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Food Studies. Coffin goes on to explain that the fork was late to join the knife and spoon to complete the West's cutlery trio. 'The fork started its existence as a utensil to hold a piece of meat or to hold something while you carved it. Its entrance into individual usage comes really as a dessert object.' Sweets from the Byzantine and the very-Muslim Ottoman empires; there were several other foods from the Orient that left their mark on the cuisine of Europe — from which arrived Trump's legit Americans. Noodles came from China and was loved by Italians, leading to further development as different delicious pasta preparations of Italy. Coffin suspects, however, that 'instead of learning how to use chopsticks, Italians preferred to repurpose an implement they already had. In order to eat long noodles, they used a toothpick-like utensil called a punteruolo. It was made more efficient by the addition of another prong.' It was not before the 15th century that the wealthy merchant class in Italy and the upper crust of Europe started using forks regularly, even though the less fortunate looked at it as ridiculous and lampooned its use by the rich. In fact, northern Europe refused to use this cutlery for centuries and accepted it only in the eighteenth century. This was when the Industrial Revolution produced forks in bulk and at affordable prices. Even so, Europeans carried their own cutlery set for personal use to dinners and invitations. South Asians and people of the Middle East considered water-cleaned hands to be purer to pick up their food which invariably had more variety and came with their own gravy. This necessitated the use of fingers that are far more adroit in picking up dispersed food on plates on or clean leaves than knives or forks. The high-gluten and low amylose (high amylopectin) wheat of China and Southeast Asia was more elastic and sticky and led naturally to their noodles (lamian) and dumplings. These are/were best held and picked up by chopsticks. Similarly, their glutinous rice (nuòmi) or Japonica rice (jingmi) have almost no amylose and are naturally so sticky and cohesive that chopsticks are indispensable. On the other hand, most South Asian rice varieties fall under Oryza Sativa subspecies Indica that have some 30 per cent amylose. They are thus less, sticky and more fluffy, lending themselves to fingers for picking up and eating. So, what uninformed racialists need to understand is that different people use their best-suited methods to navigate through their specific bounties of nature and their own methods of cooking. The writer is a former Rajya Sabha MP
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Business Standard
14 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Active negotiations under way with over a dozen countries to finalise BIT
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