India wheat imports seen rising to 4.5 million T - cargo surveyor

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's wheat imports for 2016/17 are likely to jump to the highest level in a decade at 4.5 million tonnes as the south Asian country raises overseas purchases to calm prices, a cargo surveyor said on Thursday.

Wheat imports in the 2016/17 financial year ending March 31 have already reached 2.9 million tonnes, said Siddharth Amin, director of Mumbai-based cargo surveyor Dr. Amin Controllers Pvt, adding that they could climb to 4.5 million tonnes.

In December India scrapped its 10 percent import duty on wheat after droughts in the past two years depleted stocks and raised prices.

(Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Writing by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by David Goodman)