New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) State Trading Corp (STC), India's official agency for import of various commodities, plans to enter new areas of business, including contract farming overseas for pulses, to step up its turnover to $4.6 billion this year.

'The company also targets a 40-percent increase in net profit. These increases have been projected in all the three segments of trade which include exports, imports and domestic trade,' STC said in a statemrnt Tuesday.

Other new areas of trade include development of infrastructure at port areas, apart from focusing on its bullion, hydrocarbons, edible oils, petrochemicals and agricultural commodities businesses, said the company's chairman and managing director N.K. Mathur.

The state-run firm has signed a memorandum of understanding with the commerce ministry to this effect for the upcoming fiscal.