The government is encouraging pulse cultivation, particularly 'arhar' and 'urad', in Naxal-affected districts and tribal areas of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to boost national production and increase farmers' income, according to a government official.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday arrived in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, to attend the First India-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

India’s basmati rice exports increased by nearly 15 per cent during the April-July period of the current financial year to $2.036 billion on demand from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the United States. In the same period last year, basmati exports were $1.774 billion.

Indian exporters are putting together traceability proofs such as geolocation coordinates of plots of land and details of their entire supply chain as they gear up to comply with the European Union's new regulation on deforestation.

The Board of Trade meeting to be chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal is likely to be held on September 13 in Mumbai. Headed by the minister, the board includes participants from various states, Union territories, and senior officials from the public and private sectors.

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal said that a genuine rational single window is key for ease of doing business in the country. The Minister said this while chairing ‘Udyog Samagam’, a Conference of Industries and Commerce Ministers of states at Yashobhoomi, Dwarka in Delhi today. He said that if all States and Union Territories (UTs) come to one platform for approvals and facilities, it would attract global investment in each state.