Rice Mill

The rice industry in West Bengal, the country's largest rice-producing state, has sought better infrastructure, faster approvals and stronger export promotion from the new BJP government in the state to boost growth and investments in the sector. Ricevilla Foods CEO Suraj Agarwal said the industry was looking for improvement in infrastructure for rice mills and warehouses, particularly in rural areas where poor roads, drainage systems and delayed electricity connections continue to affect operations. "In many rural districts, electricity connections for new rice mills take months, causing delays, higher project costs and harassment. The industry expects faster services and proper infrastructure support from the government," Agarwal said. He said modern storage and logistics infrastructure has become increasingly important as India's annual rice production crossed 1,500 lakh tonnes and government rice stocks exceeded 590 lakh tonnes. The industry has also demanded a single-window ..

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Rice millers in Punjab have been on a warpath for the last few weeks, refusing to lift paddy from mandis in Punjab and demanding an easing of procurement norms

As many as 33 rice mills in Maharashtra's Gondia district have been blacklisted for next three years as the rice supplied by them has been found to be inferior quality and not fit for human consumption, officials said. Gondia Collector Chinmay Gotmare issued an order to this effect on August 4. According to an official of the Food Corporation of India, during an inspection by an FCI team, the rice from these mills supplied to Beed, Nandurbar, Latur and other districts last year under the public distribution system (PDS) was found to be of inferior quality. The team subsequently submitted its report to the Gondia collector. Gomtare said these mills have been asked to provide good quality rice in the next six weeks, or else legal action would be initiated against them.

India, which commands 40% share in the global rice trade, exported 21.23 mt of rice in 2021-22, against 17.78 mt in the previous year

Govt's imposition of export duties on rice may harm the profitability of rice-mill companies in the near-term. But, healthy rice harvest is expected to override negative sentiments in the long-haul

Shares of LT Foods, Kohinoor Foods, KRBL, Chaman Lal Setia Exports, for instance, have declined in the range of 2 per cent to 9 per cent, as against 0.4 per cent gain in the Nifty50 index.

Rao said if necessary he would talk to the Centre to arrange few special trains to bring back the Bihari migrant workers.

Lack of demand for parboiled rice, falling prices and shrinking exports have been key reasons for the deteriorating financial condition