Will Centre succumb to pressure of rising prices and allow wheat import?

A drop in state procurement has fuelled the buzz about impending imports. Will that really be necessary?

During the last few weeks, the Indian wheat market has been all agog with talk of an imminent relaxation in import norms to allow the country to import the grain — after a gap of six years — to cool the prices down. 

The required numbers in the buzz vary from 2 million tonnes to 4 million tonnes, depending on how one perceives the market to behave in the coming months.

At present, India, the world’s second largest wheat producer, imposes an effective import duty of around 44 per cent on the grain.

The import buzz has been triggered by