The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is working on benchmarks to set mandatory standards for nutraceuticals towards regulating the market and to also drive its growth and scalability, according to experts associated with the development.

 

This would further ensure that only quality and reliable products reach the consumers. They will also push the nutraceutical companies to prioritise the quality, safety and efficacy of products, whether it is at the source, manufacturing facility or storage site.

 

Currently, nutraceuticals are included under the dietary supplement category in one country and under food for special medical purposes in other countries. Hence, having a single, clearly defined global framework for the nutraceutical sector is required, as there is no harmonisation in nutraceutical classification and regulation across global regulatory markets.

 

'India is bracing up to be the leader in the global nutraceuticals market. The industry is projected to touch the $18 billion mark by 2025 and likely to exhibit 22% Y-o-Y growth. The government’s support will be crucial in driving the sector’s growth. It allowed 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the food processing industry through the automatic route. This benefits the nutraceutical industry as the industry players can now market their products through retail, wholesale, or e-commerce platforms,' informed Ritika Jain, founder, NutraBooti.

 

Additionally, the FSSAI recently announced special enforcement drives to verify the compliance of nutraceuticals and health supplements. This way, the organisation aims to restrict the flow of non-compliant products, such as those exceeding the ‘Recommended Dietary Intake’ nutrient levels, containing ingredients that are not permitted and making misleading or false claims.

 

Talking about challenges and solutions, Jain said that as of today, nutraceuticals are charged 18% GST (with few classifications even charged at 28%), making them costlier than before when they were charged at 12%.  Hence, a competitive taxation policy is required for nutraceuticals with GST rationalisation of 5% to 10% to bring them on par with pharmaceuticals. The government should further consider including nutraceuticals under the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) scheme and make amendments to the Biodiversity Act as well. Steps like these will encourage backward integration in the nutraceutical industry.

 

Jain added that we need to strengthen our R&D systems solely dedicated to nutraceuticals to develop a progressive and innovative ecosystem. We also need to establish transparent analytical approaches with emerging technologies to ensure that quality and safety of nutraceuticals match the global standards.

With digitisation emerging at the forefront, the use of modern technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), the Internet of Things (IoT), microfluidics, and 3D printing in the nutraceutical segment is highly recommended. For instance, AI can be utilised for demand forecasting, quick ingredient selection, and personalised nutrient formulation recommendations. Similarly, RPA can improve performance, increase product marketing, accelerate productivity, and reduce costs.

 

India certainly has the potential to become the global leader in the nutraceutical industry. Going by the current scenario, the country will hold a 3.5% share of the global market by the end of this year.

 

'Lack of regulations in the market leads to difficulty in availing subsidies. The absence of a regularised system for setting up nutraceutical manufacturing plants makes it challenging for new players to enter the market. Hence, it is high time that the industry receives government and regulatory support in the form of a legal framework. We also need to speed up the licensing process of multiple regulatory bodies, including the FSSAI, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), and the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) in order to bring nutraceutical products to market,' Jain concluded.

The Directorate-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has asked experienced exporters to apply for permits for the allocation of wheat export quota to Nepal by June 30. However, it has not specified how much quantity will be permitted. Wheat export has been banned since May 13, 2022, except with permission from the government to friendly countries and on humanitarian grounds.

 

The DGFT, in a trade notice June 20, said the government has approved the request received from Nepal which wanted to import wheat from India during 2023-24. It said that applications filed between June 21 and June 30 will only be considered for the permit.

 

While it said applications would have to be submitted through the online portal to maintain objectivity and transparency in the allocation of the quota, the DGFT also clarified that only those exporters who have exported wheat to Nepal during three years from 2019-20 to 2021-22 would be eligible to submit applications.

 

Minimum threshold

It said the minimum threshold will be 100 tonnes and application will be allowed only if the quantity to be exported is above that. The wheat is to be shipped to Nepal by land transport, DGFT said.

 

Allocation of quota will be made on pro-rata basis on the average annual quantity shipped in the prescribed three years and the quantity sought to be exported, whichever is less, it said. Exporters who will be allocated the quota will have to submit the landing certificate within one month of completion of export quota, it said.

 

India had exported 4.7 million tonnes (mt) of wheat worth $ 1.52 billion during 2022-23 fiscal as the government had to allow shipments of those quantity for which contracts were signed before the ban was imposed. Out of this, 51,569 tonnes were shipped to Nepal. But in 2020-21, the export of wheat to the neighbouring country was 0.33 mt.

 

In April 2023, India had exported about 58,000 tonnes of wheat to all countries, including over 1,600 tonnes to Nepal.

 

India exported 9.30 lakh tonnes (lt) of oilmeals during April-May of 2023-24 against 5.86 lt in the corresponding period of 2022-23, recording a growth of 58.6 per cent.

 

Data available with the Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) of India showed that India exported 4.36 lt of oilmeals during May 2023 against 2.54 lt in May 2022, recording a growth of 71.9 per cent.

 

BV Mehta, Executive Director of SEA of India, attributed this growth in the export of oilmeals to the sharp increase in the export of soyabean meal and rapeseed meal during the first two months of the fiscal.

 

Soyameal benefits

He said the fall in the price of soyabean to the level of Rs.4,900 a quintal in the local market from the highest level of Rs.7,640 a quintal in April 2022 made the export of soyabean meal attractive in last few months. This helped revive the export of soyabean meal from 43,601 tonnes during April-May of 2022-23 to 2.91 lt during the corresponding period of 2023-24.

 

Indian soyabean meal (ex-Kandla) was quoted at $595 a tonne as on June 19. The major consumers of Indian soyabean meal are South East Asian countries, where India has a logistic advantage and also can supply in small lots.

 

Being non-GMO, Indian soyabean meal is being preferred by certain European countries and the US. The rupee depreciation is also pushing the overall export, he said.

 

Rapeseed meal competitive

On the export of rapeseed meal, he said India exported 4.80 lt of rapeseed meal during April-May of 2023-24 against 3.98 lt in April-May of the previous financial year.

 

Currently India is the most competitive supplier of rapeseed meal to South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and other Far East countries at $270 a tonne (FOB India). Rapeseed meal Hamburg (ex-mill) is being quoted at $316 a tonne.

 

Top importers

South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and Bangladesh were the major importers of Indian oilmeals during April-May 2023-24.

 

During the period, South Korea imported 1.89 lt of oilmeals (compared to 2.16 lt in April-May of 2022-23) from India. This included 1.56 lt of rapeseed meal, 25,554 tonnes of castorseed meal, and 7,898 tonnes of soyabean meal.

 

India exported 1.42 lt of oilmeals (1.25 lt) to Vietnam during April-May 2023-24. This included 41,607 tonnes of ricebran extraction, 52,895 tonnes of rapeseed meal, 47,341 tonnes of soyabean meal, and 442 tonnes of groundnut meal.

 

Thailand imported 1.52 lt of oilmeals (61,539 tonnes) from India during the period. This included 1.43 lt of rapeseed meal, 4,714 tonnes of soyabean meal, 3,166 tonnes of ricebran extraction, and 701 tonnes of castorseed meal.

 

India exported 1.93 lt of oilmeals (70,574 tons) to Bangladesh. This included 20,235 tonnes of ricebran extraction, 53,553 tonnes of rapeseed meal, and 1.19 lt of soyabean meal.

Agricultural officials of Iran and India have agreed to form a joint committee for agricultural cooperation between the two countries within the next three months.

 

As reported, the agreement was reached in a meeting between Iran’s Deputy Agriculture Minister Mohammad Mehdi Borumandi and Secretary of India’s Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministry Manoj Ahuja in New Delhi.

 

Borumandi, who has traveled to New Delhi to hold talks on the agricultural cooperation between Iran and India, met with his Indian counterpart to review the latest status of bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture.

 

The officials also agreed to hold the first joint working group on agricultural cooperation between the two countries in the near future.

 

In the meeting, Borumandi stressed Iran’s readiness for cooperation in various fields including horticultural products, medicinal plants, combating plant pests, agricultural technologies, exchange of professors and experts, and cooperation between research institutions of the two countries.

 

He considered the removal of tariff barriers on agricultural trade as a necessity for the future expansion of relations.

 

Manoj Ahuja, for his part, highlighted the cultural and geographical affinities between the two nations and expressed his country’s readiness to develop agricultural relations with Iran.

 

Welcoming the fields proposed by the Iranian side for cooperation, the Indian official announced that the ban on the exports of kiwi to India, which had been temporarily prohibited since last year due to quarantine considerations, has been lifted.

 

The trade between Iran and India reached $510 million in the first quarter of the current year, according to the data released by India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

 

According to the report, agricultural products and especially rice had the largest share in India’s exports to Iran. Rice accounted for 63 percent of the total volume of exports, while fruits with $15 million, and tea with $10 million ranked second and third.

India has approved exports of broken rice to Senegal, Gambia and Indonesia following a request from the three nations, the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has said. However, the quantity of broken rice allowed for export to these nations is not known.

 

In a trade notice issued on Tuesday, the DGFT said only exporters who have shipped all types of rice over the past three years to Senegal, Gambia and Indonesia will be given the shipments quota for exporting broken rice.

 

The Centre had banned exports of broken rice on September 8, 2022, and then amended it on May 24 allowing shipments to countries to meet their food security  needs and 'based on the request of their government'. 

 

Minimum threshold

The DGFT said exporters could file applications online from Thursday till June 30 seeking to ship a minimum threshold of 8,000 tonnes by sea. 'Application will be allowed only if the exporter applies for a quantity more than the minimum threshold,' it said. The allocation will be made on the basis of pro-rata to average export of rice (all varieties) respectively to the country concerned in three years before the financial year when the shipments were barred. 

 

The permit given to exporters will be valid until December 31 and they will have to submit a 'landed certificate' within a month completion of export of allocated quota of broken rice.

 

Earlier in February, the Centre approved exports of 2.5 lakh tonnes of broken rice to Senegal and one lakh tonnes of the rice to Gambia as a special consideration when the ban on shipments was in force. In addition, it allowed 9,900 tonnes of broken rice to Djibouti.

 

Trade analysts said export of broken rice is being allowed on request from these governments for strategic reasons since the Ministry of External Affairs is involved. 

 

The Centre banned exports of broken rice and imposed 20 per cent duty on shipments of white and brown rice after the kharif paddy production was affected by deficient monsoon in key rice-growing regions in the eastern parts last year. 

 

In the kharif season, rice production was estimated lower at 108.07 million tonnes (mt) in 2022 compared with 111 mt in 2021. However, the production was raised to 110 mt in the third advance estimate by the Agriculture Ministry. 

 

Overall, rice production for the current crop year ending June 30 has been pegged at a record 135.54 mt. 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday said he is confident that the India-UK partnership will be a 'defining one for our times', as he extended support to the upcoming UK-India Week. Sunak, then UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, was a special guest at the UK-India Awards during last year's summit when he first spoke about his own Indian heritage and commitment to British Indian values.

 

In a statement from Downing Street, the 43-year-old leader described the annual event as a catalyst for forging new trade ties and long-term collaborations.

 

'India Global Forum's annual UK-India Week is a highly anticipated fixture in the bilateral calendar of our two great nations,' said Sunak.

 

'It is a catalyst for forging new trade ties, lasting collaborations, and a better future for our peoples. I'm confident this partnership will be a defining one for our times,' he said.

 

UK-India Week 2023 kick-starts with a Young Leaders Forum at the Nehru Centre in London on Saturday and will cover a full spectrum of bilateral issues, from tech and innovation to infrastructure and sustainability at events in London and Windsor.

 

This year marks the fifth edition of the summit and UK-India Awards, which comes just days after the UK government issued a joint outcome statement at the conclusion of the tenth round of free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with India.

 

'Technical discussions were held across 10 policy areas over 50 separate sessions. They included detailed draft treaty text discussions in these policy areas,' reads a statement from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) issued earlier this week.

 

India and the UK have been negotiating an FTA since January last year, with a goal towards a comprehensive pact that is expected to significantly enhance the bilateral trading relationship, worth an estimated GBP 34 billion in 2022. The 11th round is now scheduled to take place next month, soon after UK-India Week next week.

 

'Given the geopolitical upheaval and economic turbulence around the world, I believe it is more important now than ever before that the UK and India forge closer and deeper ties. I am, therefore, grateful to Prime Minister Sunak for recognising the role that IGF is playing in bringing our two great democracies closer to unlocking the true potential of the partnership,' said IGF Founder Professor Manoj Ladwa.

 

The six-day series of events will open with an address by Opposition Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer and will also involve interventions by UK Education Secretary Gillian Keegan and India's Minister of Power, New & Renewable Energy R.K. Singh.

India has 109 border check posts with its immediate neighbours that form an integral part of its ‘Neighbourhood First’ and ‘Act East’ policies. Of these check posts, 11 are upgraded from a Land Customs Station (LCS) to an Integrated Check Post (ICP), housing customs, immigration authorities, border security forces, quarantine and recently sanctioned land port health units, together as single-window facilitation facility, for smooth cross-border movement of passengers and goods. Development of logistics infrastructure complemented with enabling policy and regulatory ecosystem holds significant potential towards making MSMEs more competitive.

 

Although trade between the BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) countries grew six-fold between 2005 and 2019 (pre-COVID), the unexploited potential remains massive, estimated by the World Bank at 93 per cent for Bangladesh, nine per cent for Bhutan, 50 per cent for India and 76 per cent for Nepal.

 

Within the BBIN countries, Petrapole-Benapole (along the India-Bangladesh border), Jaigaon-Phuentsholing (along the India-Bhutan border) and Raxaul-Birgunj (along the India-Nepal border) are the busiest trading points and as a result, also the focus of government efforts towards improving logistics and infrastructure. This is reflected in the fast-tracked development of ICPs at different land border crossings, led by the Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI), a statutory body working under the Ministry of Home Affairs. ICP development is driven, on the one hand, by India’s National Trade Facilitation Action Plan (NTFAP) commitment to bring down the import clearance time to within 48 hours and export clearance time to within 24 hours at land borders, and on the other hand, by India’s popular policies of Neighbourhood First and Act East.

 

To provide more context, India’s Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), under the Ministry of Finance, conducts annual time release studies at 15 ports in India, which includes two land ports – ICP Raxaul and ICP Petrapole. As per the findings of the National Time Release Study (NTRS) 2023, released last week, the import clearance time at these ICPs combined is 31 hours 47 minutes and the export clearance time is 11 hours 7 minutes. With this performance, both the ICPs have bettered the NTFAP targets stated above.

 

Although the share of trade through land ports in India’s overall trade is relatively low, it has a significant impact on the ecosystem surrounding the port. At a bilateral level, trade through land ports acts as a major confidence-building measure, encouraging constructive cross-border trading partnerships with MSMEs on both sides and at the local level, border trade helps in job creation and ancillary economic benefits.

 

Moreover, landlocked countries such as Nepal and Bhutan are completely dependent on India for their third-country trade. Such constraints further develop a strong case for the development of land ports, in the context of seeking greater efficiencies in managing trade and travel flows, while maintaining balance with the compliance requirements.

 

As an example, along the open border of 1,751 km between India and Nepal, 3 of the border check posts, namely Rupaidiha (Uttar Pradesh), and Raxaul and Jogbani (Bihar) have been operationalised as ICPs. More than 40 per cent of the bilateral trade (of over $9 billion) occurs through the Raxaul-Birgunj land port. ICP Raxaul, after being operationalised in 2016, has helped realise mutually beneficial people-to-people and economic trade ties between India and Nepal. India’s exports to Nepal increased by 76 per cent in 2016 with the operationalisation of ICP Raxaul.

 

It has been frequently reiterated that one of the most important non-physical barriers affecting the region’s integration through land transport is the delays at border crossings. With the development of ICPs, there is a continuous focus on addressing the infrastructural and operational constraints, along with a notable commitment to making land ports gender-sensitive. This complements well with recent initiatives at the local level, such as the Suvidha Pass Facilitation System, an initiative of the State of West Bengal, which streamlines the pre-arrival parking process through an online slot booking portal enabling entry into a land port, with the most significant impact seen in the case of ICP Petrapole.

 

But more needs to be achieved towards coordination and cooperation across the border, often termed Coordinated Border Management (CBM) in trade parlance.

 

According to the World Customs Organization, CBM involves agencies within the same country as well as coherent regulatory bodies across borders, striving to attain streamlined and effective regulatory processes by establishing official measures, mechanisms and communication channels. This also aligns with the vision of the Government of India as part of the National Trade Facilitation Action Plan, Action Point 10 which refers to exploring the feasibility of alignment of working days and hours, mutual recognition of testing, harmonisation of standards etc.

 

Through field visits to all the above-mentioned ICPs, it was observed that many of the land ports along the India-Bangladesh border have aligned on observing Friday as the weekly off on both sides. Also, there is mutual recognition of testing facilities wherein food testing laboratories of Bhutan, that is, the National Food Testing Laboratory (NFTL) and Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority (BAFRA) have been accredited by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), thus facilitating cross-border trade of food products and resulting in time and cost savings.

 

In some cases, there are regulatory bottlenecks that need intervention from the CBIC in India and equivalent counterparts in the neighbouring countries, such as the National Board of Revenue (NBR) in Bangladesh. One of these is the existence of a positive list of only 42 items that are allowed to be traded from India to Bangladesh via ICP Agartala-Akhaura, which should be replaced by a negative list, wherein all items are allowed for trade except those in the negative list.

 

With Nepal, the passage of the Plastic Waste Management Act by India in 2022, impacts the imports of commodities such as Dabur products containing single-use plastic in straws, stirrers, etc., from Nepal into India. These new legislative changes need to be addressed in the bilateral trade treaty. Another example is frozen meat of swine (HS 020329) where Indian safety standards limit levels of melamine (2.5 mg/kg), aldrin, dieldrin etc. and this limit is not present in the Nepalese food standards, calling for standardisation of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures between India and Nepal.

 

While the momentum is high on the eastern front, LPAI proposes to offer 24 ICPs along India’s land borders by 2025. This along with concerted efforts to resolve regulatory bottlenecks, can significantly enhance regional integration within South Asia and with South East Asia.

The government's rice procurement has reached 55.8 million tonnes so far in the ongoing 2022-23 marketing season, benefitting 1.22 crore farmers with MSP of Rs 1.7 lakh crore, the food ministry said on Tuesday.

 

Wheat procurement has reached 26.2 million tonnes so far in the 2023-24 rabi marketing year (April-March), more than the last year's total procurement of 18.8 million tonnes.

 

'With the current procurement of wheat and rice, adequate food grains stock in government granaries is maintained,' the ministry said in a statement.

 

The combined stock position of wheat and rice has reached 57 million tonnes, which puts the country in a comfortable position to meet its requirements of food grains, it noted.

 

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) along with state agencies undertakes procurement of paddy and wheat under price support scheme. Paddy is procured and converted into rice through milling.

 

According to the ministry, a total of 83 million tonnes of paddy (55.8 million tonnes in terms of rice) was procured up to June 19 of the current kharif marketing season (October-September).

 

After the milling, around 40.1 million tonnes of rice has been received in the central pool so far, another 15 million tonnes of rice is yet to be received, it said.

 

'Rice delivery against the procured paddy is also in progress,' it added.

 

As many as 1.22 crore farmers have benefited from the procurement operation. About Rs 1,71,000 crore has been paid as minimum support price (MSP) to them.

 

The Centre has set a target to buy 62.60 million tonnes of rice in the 2022-23 marketing season. The FCI had procured 57.58 million tonnes of rice during the 2021-22 marketing season.

 

According to the third estimate of the agriculture ministry, rice output is pegged at a record 135.54 million tonnes for 2022-23 crop year, as against 129.47 million tonnes in the previous year.

 

In case of wheat, about 21.29 lakh farmers have already benefited from the ongoing wheat procurement operations with MSP outflow of about Rs 55,680 crore, it said.

 

Major contribution in the procurement has come from Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana with procurement of 12.12 million tonnes, 7.09 million tonnes and 6.31 million tonnes, respectively.

 

The ministry said the government has ensured that all arrangements are in place for hassle-free procurement operations.

The timing of the date season in India is a large advantage in the global market, Kaushal Khakhar, CEO of Indian fresh produce exporter Kay Bee Exports, states: 'In India, the date season starts from mid-June and lasts until the end of July. During this particular timeframe, the other countries where dates are usually sourced from are not in season; making the Indian dates in high demand. The dominating variety grown in India is the Barhi date, which is a yellow date, but a red variety is also available, though it is less common. India being the only one to provide dates in June and July and growing one of the most sought for and appreciated varieties; the global demand is fairly high.'

 

India and other date producing countries basically grow the same varieties, but the dates from India do taste slightly different, Khakar explains. 'Although the varieties grown in the Middle East and India are the same, the growing environment, soil and agro-climatic conditions are different from the one of the Middle East. Consequently, a minor taste difference can be identified between the dates grown in India and those from the Middle East. The demand for dates of Indian origin for export as well as for the domestic market has increased. This can be explained by the fact that dates are an easy fruit to consume and ideal for snacking.'

 

Kay Bee Exports is ready to enter new markets with its dates, and hopes to enter the Dutch market this year as well, Khakhar says: 'Historically, our biggest markets remain the United Kingdom, Indonesia and Malaysia where Indian dates are well established. Our dates are pesticide residue free and follow all international standards of food safety and quality; to do so they are packed in a BRC certified packhouse. We follow two different packing size: either loose in a 4kg box or shelf-ready (pre-packed & labelled) in a 500gm punnet. Both formats are equally in demand in these markets. This year onwards we are seeing interest from new markets such as Canada and other parts of Europe, such as the Netherlands, with which we are hopeful to start shipping this season.'

 

Next to export, the domestic market in India for dates is huge according to Khakar. 'With a population of 1.4 billion inhabitants, the domestic consumption for dates in India is automatically high and reached 64.2 thousand tons in 2021. Nowadays, only a small percentage of the 200,000 tons of dates grown in India is exported. This year’s objectives are to strengthen our regular markets, while also targeting new markets where Indian dates can strategically bridge the gap between two other origins and diversify our range of customers.'

 

Since the air freight costs have returned to normal levels once again, Khakhar is confident they’ll have an advantage in the market this date season: 'India has a strong advantage this year since its air freight rates have normalised to almost pre-pandemic levels and the belly capacity and number of flights to most countries has drastically increased. Moreover, Kay Bee Exports being IATA certified and thus being its own freight-forwarder, we can obtain even more economical rates and can more easily secure cargo space with the airlines,' he concludes.

India may be seeking a reduction in import duties on some basmati rice varieties from the UK as part of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations.

 

This is to ward off a growing challenge from its nearest competitor in basmati rice Pakistan and also create a wider demand for domestic products, trade and industry sources said.

 

The duty concession is being sought for basmati varieties that have been recognised by the UK in the last few years. Already, in some traditional basmati varieties, there are some duty relaxations.