About a year ago, India had raised the tariff to Rs 110 per kg from Rs 75 to help local growers by increasing the cost of imports.

“The consumer base using arecanut is so large that duty increase will not affect the demand."

The fear of arecanut (supari) growers that the consumption will slump with the enforcement of a ban on gutka in most states in the country ...

Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development data show that output has dropped 5% to 5,29,097 tonne mainly due to a 20% fall in productio...