Delay in duty notice upsets basmati exporters

Indian basmati rice exporters have expressed dismay over the inordinate delay in the government notifying its decision to abolish export duty on basmati and cut its minimum export price (MEP), leading to nearly 60,000 tonnes of the aromatic rice shipments getting stranded at Indian ports.

“It is not fair. The government should have made an instant decision on notifying the scrapping of the export tax and lowering of MEP,” All India Rice Exporters’ Association head Vijay Setia said.

On January 20, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath had announced that the $200 a tonne export duty on basmati rice had been abolished and the MEP on the grain lowered by $100 a tonne to $1,100.

The industry welcomed the announcement, but its joy was short-lived with no formal notification of the change by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, even a week later.

As a result, around 60,000 tonnes of basmati rice, which the industry expected to ship immediately, is still held up at Kandla and Mundra ports.