Lord of the Links

Suddenly the top bosses of every top Indian corporate are talking the agri language:

Mukesh Ambani talking fruits and vegetables. Rakesh Mittal crowing over his crop of okra. Abhiram Seth planning rows of citrus cultivation. Ajay Shriram chortling over crushing sugarcane. Vineet Chhabra going ecstatic over gherkins. Planning their retirement? Turning gentlemen farmers?

So we have Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Mittal (in a JV with Rothschild), Ajay Shriram of DCM Shriram, Ballarpur Industries (BILT paper), ITC, PepsiCo -- you name it -- talking about agri farming. They plan to help shift farmers from cereals to cash crops such as citrus, tomatoes and even mangoes (yummy!). It will both help farmers increase their incomes as well as reduce the pressure on our granaries.