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Dear Readers,

Wish you all a very Happy New Year.

Irrespective of religion, all have celebrated Christmas with children, who have welcomed Santa Claus, and given gifts and blessings to children. It was time of fun and feasts, with lots of cakes, pastries, etc. All have given oblations to Lord Jesus Christ for his service and message to humanity. Jesus Christ said, “Only right in the world is to give, to serve. Be content to serve. Serve the world.” Swami Vivekananda who was born on January 12, 1863, said “Do not neglect the living God; the men and women are the infinite reflection of God.”

The New Year celebrations are upon us. Many of us have the habit of ushering in the New Year with celebrations over a lot of food and drinks (including harmful intoxicants) often forgetting to take blessings of our elders and  often forgetting to thank God for the privileged life that we are living. We tend to overlook or neglect issues like global warming and hunger and poverty. Few economists consider gifts in all the time of Christmas, New Year and Diwali as “The Deadweight Loss”. Gift wrappers, once used are discarded and result in tonnes and tonnes of wastes. Better to give gift of cash. But socially, at times, it is seen as inappropriate.

The Srei Foundation and Kanoria Foundation, under the banner of Universal Spirituality & Humanity Foundation, organised the 10th World Confluence of Humanity, Power & Spirituality with the mission of 'Humanity, Unity amidst Diversity, Peace, Harmony, Spirit of Cooperation and Generosity, Work hard with devotion selflessly and fearlessly to create wealth and generate wealth for the welfare of living beings and the Mother Earth'. The Confluence was graced by a galaxy of global speakers, Spiritual leaders, Heads of States, Former Head of the Nation, Politicians, Royals, Diplomats, Bureaucrats, Authors & Educationalists, Social activists, Entrepreneurs, leaders from multiple religions, philosophies. Some of them were Shri Kesari Nath Tripathi, Hon’ble Governor of West Bengal, Shri Tathagat Roy, Hon’ble Governor of Tripura, Shri Amar Singh, MP, Rajya Sabha, and Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Former President of India, and many more. Their deliverances will be published in the next issue.

It is estimated that the Indian bakery industry would reach level of ` 483 billion in the next five years. The cover story focuses on healthy, tasty and organic bakery products that could be trend-setting in future, a welcome trend indeed.

The art of baking and frying has been there since centuries. As human beings have been advancing, travelling long distances through forests and deserts, foods which can last long have been created. The art of baking bread developed during the Roman Empire around 300 BC. Over centuries, this has grown into large, medium, and small cottage industries. People having originated from places like Rajasthan, Gujarat, and other parts of World, were carrying foods lasting for long and are salty and sweet. There are number of products - bread made of pure wheat flour, brown bread with flour mixed with bran (skin of grains) being better for bowel movement, multigrain bread (multigrain are used), pastries, cakes. In present times, increasing number of nuclear families, fast paced lifestyle and growth of working couples have pushed the demand for bakery products.

Out of 3 million tonnes of bakery products about 1.3 million tonnes is produced in the organised sector and the rest is in unorganised sector. Homemade bakery products are becoming widespread.

Modern Food Industries (India) Ltd., was set up in 1965 by Government of India as Modern Bakeries (India) Ltd. and it had bread manufacturing units in 13 cities. MFIL has the distinction of being the first public sector undertaking to get divested and it was acquired by Hindustan Lever Ltd. in 2000. In 2016, the company was acquired by the Singapore-based Everstone Capital and presently it has been rechristened to Modern Foods Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.

Healthy food is essential for a healthy body and mind. Eat right to feel good. Limit the intake of junk food. In white bread, one slice of 40g contains 90 KCL while brown bread of medium size contains 82.8 KCL. People are shifting from unhealthy food to healthier food. This will affect the demand of bread, cookies, pastries, etc. and push bakers to make healthy food with less calories, which uses less processed ingredients. To combat sugar problem, artificial sweetener is being used to meet demand of diabetic persons. Excessive usage of artificial sweeteners is considered potentially risky. Plant based sweetener like Stevia can be used.

BE has written that the government should not merge weak banks with larger banks for reason of monopoly, delay in the process of decision-making, etc. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) urges helping out private weak banks instead of merging with larger banks. The government should slowly relinquish its grip on banking. The government should increase the capital by fresh public investment at lower than market price to make this attractive to investors.

Several PE investors consider India’s growth story to be attractive. Creation of quality jobs and giving a boost to agriculture and exports are essential even at the cost of fiscal deficit target of 3%. The UN, in its latest report, projected India’s growth rate to be 7.2% in 2018 and 7.4% in 2019. But it has the potential to grow at 8% for next 20 years. India needs to promote investments and improve the living condition of its population. Practical measures need to be taken. Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced GST as a simple tax, for the ease of doing business, generating efficiency, allowing easy movement of goods, and freedom from corruption and delay at check points. Now, the E-Way Bill will mark GST's promise. Goa Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar, had argued against the E-Way system claiming it could actually multiply this ‘Single tax regime’. BE had reported earlier also against the cascading effect of the E-Way bill system.

Mark Mobius, Executive Chairman of Templeton Franklin, said that Templeton Investments expects the Sensex to double over the next five years. India is second after China in this area. Stock market's rise is also dependent on the GDP. If the GDP grows by over 7%, Nifty will rise by 15%. There will be likely some impact of tighter US monetary control on portfolio flows to emerging markets. The US has already begun to tighten its monetary policy.

India attracted $ 7.7 billion of global capital into its financial markets in the current year till December 22. The annual average is of $ 20.1 billion in the three
years to 2014. In 2010, $ 29.3 billion had come. Fundamental support will be from corporate earnings, which is likely to revive. Most expect stocks to extend the rally in 2018. However, foreign inflow so far is hot money. It may be withdrawn suddenly causing catastrophe in the market.

May God bless the Nation and its people to work hard with devotion, righteousness, selflessly and fearlessly. May the politicians and authorities take pragmatic actions and not populist measures, for the growth of the Nation and for the welfare of the people at large.