Cabinet to mull govt stand on WTO, FDI in high speed trains today

Open market sale of wheat also likely to be discussed at CCEA

The Narendra Modi Cabinet is likely to make its intent clear on signing the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) of the World Trade Organisation later today, after international pressure mounts on India to ink the pact.

Even then, India's stand on the issue may have riders attached to it. The Cabinet might show its intent of supporting TFA, provided talks on food security also moves on.

TFA needs to be signed by all WTO members by July 31 to make it binding from next year. The agreement is to come into force from July 2015.

Meanwhile, the WTO Negotiating Committee will meet in Geneva on July 24 to build a final consensus among all members.

India has so far stuck to its stand that it will not sign the agreement till it gets assurance that the food security issue, concerning stockholding of food grains and subsidies under WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture, will be negotiated by the 159 member nations.

Leading WTO members such as US, Brazil, China, Africa and the G-33 group of developing countries have assured India that food security will be discussed.

They have also warned India that if it lost the opportunity on TFA now, it would be “very difficult” to get everyone back on the table to talk on food security.

The Cabinet may also consider a proposal on opening high-speed train systems, suburban corridors and dedicated freight line projects through private-public-partnership mode to foreign direct investment.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has proposed 100% FDI in these areas.

However, FDI will not be allowed in train operations and safety.

At present, there is a complete ban on any kind of FDI in various areas of the railway sector, except mass rapid transport systems.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is likely to discuss a proposal to sell 10 million tonnes of wheat from stocks of the Food Corporation of India in the open market.

The food ministry has proposed sale of wheat at the minimum support price plus freight charges to destinations.

The proposed wheat sale programme aims to boost domestic supply and check price rise. This move would also help in reducing storage pressure on the Food Corporation of India (FCI).

As on July 1, the FCI had a wheat stock of 40 million tonnes, against the requirement of about 20 million tonnes.

The country had produced a record 95.60 million tonnes of wheat in the 2013-14 crop year.