Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said India's exports have gone from $500 billion to $776 billion, a 55% increase, in only two years and that the additional exports have added to jobs.

 

At the Times Network India Economic Conclave 2023, he also said the government is looking at pro-incumbency after 10 years of being in power.

 

'Our exports have gone from $500 billion, which was about ?38 lakh crore, to $776 billion, close to ?62 lakh crore... a 55% increase. That's the growth... this 24 lakh additional exports adds to jobs and I can't say that this work is over,' Goyal said, adding that by 2030, India will see $2 trillion of exports. He said the country is going to go from $3.5 trillion today to at least $35 trillion by 2047.

 

The minister said India's economy could achieve a 7.2% growth in FY23 because of 'nine years of the pursuit of a strong foundation of the Indian economy', which has strengthened the country's foreign exchange reserves.

 

'We have strengthened the story on interest rates. We brought down interest rates significantly... inflation also has now come down to below 5%,' he said.

 

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said huge opportunities for people and businesses will be opened up when the country's goods and services exports touch USD 2 trillion by 2030.

 

In the last two years, he said the country's exports jumped from USD 500 billion to USD 767 billion in 2022-23.

 

India is a USD 3.5 trillion-economy today and will become at least USD 35 trillion- economy by 2047 and 'imagine what opportunities it will open up for all the people of India,' he said.

 

According to him, by 2030, 'we will see USD 2 trillion of exports from India, imagine the opportunities that it will open up'.

 

At the Times Network India Economic Conclave here, the minister also said the country's economy is growing at a faster pace and it is clearly reflected from the 7.2 per cent GDP growth in 2022-23.

 

'India is in the mode of stability with a proactive government strengthening every element of the economy in a manner which will hold us in good stead in our pursuit to make India a developed nation by 2047,' he said, adding that 'this is the work in progress'.

 

India's exports contracted by 12.7 per cent, third month in a row, to USD 34.66 billion in April due to the global demand slowdown even as the trade deficit reduced to a 20-month low of USD 15.24 billion, according to the government data.

 

Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday pitched for doubling the share of agriculture in GDP to achieve higher economic growth as he asserted that the present government has put special focus on agriculture and rural sectors.

 

Speaking at the Times Network India Economic Conclave here, Gadkari said, 'The current share of agriculture in our GDP is barely 12%. We need to increase that to 24% to achieve the targeted economic growth. Even now 65% of our population is dependent on agriculture. In the last nine years, our government has put a thrust on agriculture and rural sectors.'

 

Responding to a question on the 2024 general elections, Gadkari exuded confidence that the people will vote for the Modi government again because of the development that has happened in the last nine years. '2024 hum jitne wale hai (We will win 2024 Lok Sabha elections)…We believe in doing our work and don’t think much about the future,' the minister said. He added that the government doesn’t discriminate between NDA and non-NDA governed states for development work.

 

Gadkari said the government’s focus is to make farmers 'urjadata' (creator of energy) and not just 'annadata' (provider of food). He said the government’s thrust on use of ethanol as vehicle fuel is now bearing fruit and the next focus is on putting an ecosystem in place to produce bitumen from rice stubble to reduce the import of this key road construction material.

 

On his focus to promote green and alternative fuel, the minister said the government is mulling whether some interest subsidy can be provided for buying construction equipment vehicles that run on ethanol, methanol or electricity. 'Presently, construction equipment run on diesel. I would like them to operate on green hydrogen, LNG and electricity. I am thinking of coming out with a policy under which loans can be provided to them at cheaper rates,' he said.

 

The minister told the business leaders attending the conclave to focus more on 'performance audit' of their work force rather than just 'financial audit'. Gadkari said while chairing a review meeting at the NHAI headquarters on Monday, he directed its chairman and highway secretary to carry out the performance audit of officers. 'Now performance audits of officers will be the basis for their appraisal and promotion,' he said.

 

On the massive scale of highway development, he said soon people can reach Manali from Delhi in just six hours as highways have been expanded and new tunnels have been built.

 

Gadkari also said that his ministry is looking at completing nearly 90% of ongoing highway projects worth Rs 65,000 crore in Delhi and surrounding areas by this year-end. 'We are also looking at the option of a sky bus from SP Marg in Delhi via Dhaula Kuan to Gurgaon. Our focus is to make Delhi free from air, water and sound pollution. Delhi is the most polluted city,' he added.

 

In response to a question on political faceoff between treasury and opposition, the minister said power politics is not the only politics. 'We need to redefine the definition of politics. According to me, to serve the people, is the true meaning of politics,' he said.

India will likely export 75,000 tonnes of fully broken white rice under government-to-government (G2G) deals to Senegal, Gambia and Djibouti soon, traders have said.

 

The move follows the Indian government’s decision last week to permit exports of fully broken white rice — which were banned from September 8, 2022 — on the basis of permission given by it to other countries to meet their food security needs.

 

'However, the policy is yet to be announced by the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade,' said Rajesh Paharia Jain, a New Delhi-based trader.

 

Earlier shipments

The development comes amidst demand from African countries which look to India for supply of fully broken white rice, besides parboiled rice. 

 

Earlier in March, the Government permitted exports of 2.5 lakh tonnes of broken rice to Senegal and one lakh tonnes to Gambia. In addition, about 10,000 tonnes of the rice variety were permitted to be shipped to Djibouti, Ethiopia. 

 

The development augurs well when demand for rice from South-East Asia is a bit slack. The slackness in demand is despite Indian prices being far more competitive to the rates offered by Thailand or Vietnam or Pakistan. 

 

'Indian origin rice is still cheaper than Vietnamese and Pakistani origin rice. It is widely accepted unlike in the past and despite a 20 per cent duty on free-on-board (FOB) value which is $65-75 depending upon the grades,' said Jain.

 

Enquiries taper

'Though we are competitive, Indian rice prices have gained of late. But overall, prices are a bit unstable,' said VR Vidya Sagar, Director, Bulk Logix. 

 

'After we shipped a good quantity to South-East Asia, enquiries have tapered down now,' said M Madan Prakash, President, Agri Commodities Exporters Association (ACEA). 

 

'For unexplained reasons, there is some dullness in rice exports to South-East Asia. Maybe, they will pick after June,' said S Chandrasekaran, a Delhi-based trade analyst.

 

Jain said 5 per cent broken white is ruling at $480 a tonne and 25 per cent broken at $460. The offer price includes the 20 per cent export duty. 

 

In contrast, Thailand is quoting these varieties at $511 and $494, respectively. Vietnam is offering these at $498-502 and $483-87, respectively. These prices are free-on-board (FOB). 

 

India’s advantage 

Sagar said demand for Indian rice will continue as in the previous years since its prices are lucrative. 'India is centrally located and freight charges too are below compared to Thailand or Vietnam. People are also buying,' he said.  

 

On the other hand, parboiled rice is quoted over $80 a tonne cheaper than the nearest competitor, said Jain. 'We are offering parboiled rice around $385 f.o.b for July and August shipments,' he said, adding that demand from other countries for the parboiled rice is shifting to India.   

 

India is offering 5 per cent broken parboiled rice at $385 a tonne f.o.b, while Thailand is quoting at $523 and Pakistan $583-87. 

 

Record output 

India’s rice exports are expected to be boosted by a record production of 135.54 mt this crop year to June against 129.97 mt last crop year. Rice production gained during the rabi season and will likely be good during the ongoing zaid season between rabi and kharif sowings. 

 

This crop year, kharif production was 1 mt lower compared to last crop year as deficient rainfall in key growing regions of West Bengal, Odisha, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand were affected.

 

As a result, the Government imposed 20 per cent export duty on white rice shipments from September 8, 2022, and banned fully broken rice exports, which was relaxed last week. However, it exempted basmati and parboiled rice exports from any curbs. 

 

Jain said Bangladesh is expected to be in the market for importing rice under G2G deals. 

The government of India is launching a program to address a shortage of grain storage infrastructure, particularly at the local level, and strengthen the food security of the world’s most populous country.

 

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi approved an Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) on May 31 to facilitate the 'World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector,' program, which entails setting up a variety of agricultural infrastructure, including warehouse, custom hiring center and processing units at the level of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), transforming them into multipurpose entities.

 

The IMC brings together programs from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and Ministry of Food Processing Industries under the auspices of the Ministry of Cooperation to implement a pilot project to provide insights from 10 selected districts that can then be expanded nationwide.

 

PACS are the lowest tier of the Short-Term Cooperative Credit (STCC) structure in the country, providing short-term and medium-term credit and other input services such as seed, fertilizer, pesticide distribution and more to about 130 million farmer members.

 

Within its diversified agriculture sector, India produces wheat, rice, corn, millet, sorghum, barley and soybeans, almost exclusively for domestic consumption by its 1.4 billion people. It is the world’s second-largest producer of wheat and rice behind only China.

 

The multipronged plan foresees creation and modernization of grain storage infrastructure at the PACS level reducing food grain waste by creating sufficient storage capacity, strengthening food security and enabling farmers to realize better prices for their crops.

 

'In view of the important role played by PACS at the grass-roots level in transforming the agricultural and rural landscape of Indian economy and to leverage their deep reach up to the last mile, this initiative has been undertaken to set up decentralized storage capacity at the level of PACS along with other agri-infrastructure, which would not only strengthen the food security of the country, but would also enable PACS to transform themselves into vibrant economic entities,' the government said.

India is looking at mutual recognition of food certification system with Canada for seamless export and import of edibles, keeping in view the growing Indian diaspora in the North American country, people familiar with the matter said.

 

Last month, an Indian delegation led by representatives from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) — country’s apex food regulator — took part in the 47th session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling in Québec, Canada.

 

The delegation met Indian high commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma to facilitate the initiative.

 

'…a discussion took place on wide issues ranging from harmonisation with the Codex standards to import and export of food items, with an emphasis on the export of traditional food products, keeping in mind the sizeable and growing Indian population in Canada,' FSSAI said in a statement on May 25.

 

'He [high commissioner] is likely to meet the President of CFIA [Canadian Food Inspection Agency] soon to discuss about the mutual recognition of food certification system to improve the export of Indian Food products to Canada… also emphasised on the mutual recognition of few of the Food Testing Laboratories in India and Canada for facilitating trade of food products,' it added.

 

The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) is an international food standards body established jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) — both agencies of the United Nations — in 1963 with the objective of protecting consumer’s health and ensuring fair practices in food trade.

 

The core Codex texts typically deal with hygienic practice, labelling, contaminants, additives, inspection and certification, nutrition and residues of veterinary drugs and pesticides, and apply horizontally to products and product categories.

 

Among the areas being considered for exports from India include standards related to food labelling norms, use of new technologies in labelling, labelling of food allergens, labelling for e-commerce, according to the top food regulator.

 

Previously, India signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Canada for the mutual recognition of food labs in both the countries. India has been working on putting in place measures to ensure food safety standards are maintained effectively.

 

Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday inaugurated the state-of-the-art National Training Centre (NTC) for the top food regulator.

 

'Good quality nutritious food can go a long way in keeping diseases at bay. The people who will train at the National Training Centre of FSSAI will play a significant role in creating healthy citizens in the country, as they will ensure quality standards for food are followed in the country,' he said.

 

According to the health ministry, NTC aims at providing structured instruction, practice, and learning experiences to bridge the gap between existing knowledge or skills and desired knowledge or skills in the field of food safety and standards.

 

As mandated by the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Food Safety and Standards Rules, 2011, FSSAI is responsible for providing training to individuals involved in food businesses, including operators, employees, food safety officers and designated officers.

 

'Recognising the importance of continuous skill upgrading for officials, food business operators, and other stakeholders, FSSAI has established the National Training Centre to offer various training programmes,' the ministry said in a statement. 'This dedicated centre fills the void that previously existed, ensuring the development of a future-ready workforce committed to ensuring safe and wholesome food for the citizens of India.'

 

Dairy farmers and their families committed themselves towards making India the ‘Dairy of the World’ on the occasion of World Milk Day saying that the only way forward to alleviate rural India from poverty and bring about socio-economic change is by working towards establishing the country as the global leader in the dairy sector.

 

On the occasion, the dairy farmers members of 22 milk producer companies (farmer producer organisations) came together and committed themselves to make India ‘Dairy of the World’ by increasing the country’s share of the total global production; ‘provide quality milk and milk products to consumers by sourcing milk even from the remotest part of the country’; provide a competitive price to farmer members through a fair and transparent process of milk collection and making payments in their respective bank accounts and increase milk productivity through breed improvement programmes and better animal management practices.

 

Speaking at the occasion, Meenesh Shah, Chairman of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) said, 'The world dairying community only months back paid rich tributes to rural India and dairy farmers at the World Dairy Summit 2022. We are part of this proud community of milk producers and are working on numerous initiatives for enhancing production and productivity in India towards making India the dairy of the world.'

 

During the World Milk Day celebrations, from distant Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh to coastal Gujarat to spreads of Rajasthan to the hinterlands of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the dairy farmers took the pledge and thanked the government for outlining the way forward by giving them a cherished goal of making the country a global leader to attain the target of 33 per cent market share in the decade to come.

 

It is pertinent to note that India’s collective drive towards ‘Dairy of the World’ has women empowerment ingrained into it, as out of 22 milk producer companies (MPCs) supported by NDDB Dairy Services (NDS), 15 have all-women membership and all the producer directors’ on their Boards too are women. These 22 MPCs spread across 130 districts in nine states of the country, have 8.7 lakh members and 71 per cent of them are women.

India’s wheat and rice stocks in the Central Pool is comfortable at over 57.9 million tonnes (mt) and the country can meet its foodgrain requirements, the Food Ministry said on Thursday. 'The combined stock position of wheat and rice in the Central pool is over 57.9 mt (wheat 31.2 mt and rice 26.7 mt) which has placed the country in a comfortable position to meet its requirements of food grains,' the Ministry said in a statement.

 

The situation is better than as of May 1 when the Central pool stocks were 55.53 mt with wheat making up 29.02 mt and rice 26.5 mt. In addition to rice and wheat, the Food Corporation of India, which maintains the Central pool, holds 22.69 mt of paddy (which can yield 14.52 mt of rice) and 0.5 mt of coarse grains.

 

Six-year low

The stocks are well above the mandatory norm of 21.04 mt for the period, including strategic reserves of 3 mt of wheat and 2 mt of rice. However, the Central pool stocks are at a 6-year low with wheat stocks at 15-year low and rice at 4-year low. The Ministry said the procurement of rice is going on smoothly, while that of wheat 'has  progressed smoothly'. 

 

The FCI has procured 38.5 mt of rice till May 30 during the kharif marketing season with another 11 mt set to be purchased further. In addition, 10.6 mt  rice has been estimated to be procured during the rabi marketing season,' it said. The progressive procurement of wheat is 26.3 mt till May 30, surpassing last year’s purchase of 18.8 mt. The procurement has ended in some of the key States. 

 

About 21.27 lakh farmers have benefited from the wheat procurement at the minimum support price (MSP) of ?2,125 a quintal resulting in an outflow of about ?47,000 crore for the government. Major contributions in the wheat procurement came from Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana with procurement of 12.13 mt, 7.09 mt and 6.32  mt, respectively.

 

The government’s decision to relax quality specification in wheat, which were affected due to untimely rains, and opening up of procurement centres in village and panchayat level helped in 'healthy procurement', the Ministry said. 

 

Procurement through co-operative societies, gram Ppanchayats and arhatiyas (commission agents) and engaging farmer producer organisations for the Central pool purchase were additional factors that aided the Centre.

Negotiations for the Supply Chains (Pillar-II) Agreement were substantially concluded during the second in-person Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) Ministerial Meeting held in Detroit on 27 May 2023, hosted by the US.

 

Once implemented, the Supply Chain Agreement is expected to bring in a number of benefits to India and the other IPEF partner countries. Some of the key benefits expected are: potential shift of production centres in key goods/critical sectors to India; bolstering of domestic manufacturing capacities; giving a boost to Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Production Linked Initiatives schemes; mobilization of investments especially in production of key goods, logistics services and infrastructure; deeper integration of India in the Global Supply and Value Chains particularly of Indian MSMEs; enhanced exports from India; upward mobility in the value chains; mitigation of risks of economic disruptions to India from supply chain shocks/adverse events; creation of a seamless regional trade ecosystem facilitating flow of Indian products; enhanced trade facilitation including through digital exchange of trade documentation, quicker port clearances; joint Research and Development; and workforce development. 

 

India and other partner countries will continue to engage to ensure effective implementation of the Agreement so as to achieve the overall objectives of the Agreement which is to make IPEF supply chains more resilient, robust, and well-integrated, and contribute towards economic development and progress of the region as a whole.

 

The IPEF Supply Chains (Pillar-II) Agreement is one of the fastest ever concluded plurilateral economic cooperation Agreements. Under this Agreement, IPEF partner countries are seeking to: make supply chains more resilient, robust, and well-integrated through crisis response measures; cooperation for mitigation of the effect of disruptions to better ensure business continuity, and improve logistics and connectivity; promoting investments particularly in critical sectors and production of key goods; and worker role enhancement through requisite upskilling and reskilling, and increasing comparability of skills credentials frameworks across IPEF. It entails cooperative and collaborative efforts among the IPEF partners.

 

Sri Lanka will import one million eggs daily from five chicken farms in India to meet its growing market demand, the crisis-hit island nation's top importing agency said on Tuesday.

 

Sri Lanka State Trading Corporation (STC) Chairman Asiri Valisundara said that 20 million eggs were imported from India, of which 10 million have been released to the market.

 

The eggs were being imported from two chicken farms in India, and the Animal Production Department has additionally approved the purchase of eggs from three other farms, Valisundara was quoted as saying by the Colombo Page news portal.

 

STC Chairman Walisundara said it has been decided to import one million eggs daily from five chicken farms in India.

 

He said that permission was received to import eggs from three more farms according to the report given by the three officials of the Animal Production Department and the State Trading Corporation who visited poultry farms in India.

 

The further import of eggs is based on market demand, Valisundara said, the News First TV station reported.

 

He added that the imported eggs would be released to bakeries, biscuit manufacturers, catering services and restaurants at a price of SLR 35 each, the report said.

 

Sri Lanka has been facing a severe and unprecedented economic crisis since last year. The high inflation has eroded purchasing power, and the livelihoods of many people have been affected, and past development gains have been reversed. The island nation is struggling to normalise its crisis-hit economy after it declared its first-ever debt default in April last year.