A consignment of 1.2 million tons of okra, scarlet gourd, and litchi was exported to the Gulf countries by Fair Export of the Lulu group of Hypermarket from Lal Bahadur Shastri International airport in the presence of the divisional commissioner Deepak Agrawal and other officials on Thursday. The exported vegetables and fruits were procured from the farm producer organization (FPOs) of the eastern UP region.

 

The vegetables and fruits export has proved to be a milestone in the direction of doubling the income of farmers of Varanasi as well as the districts of eastern UP, said the divisional commissioner. For the export, Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has associated FPOs of Varanasi with Lulu Group. He said the newly constructed pack house near Babatpur would be ready soon, and the farmers would get the requisite support to send their products to other countries, and better facilities for packaging will be available.

Calling this the most opportune time to get into a business in India, Anupriya Patel, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, said a lot of efforts were being made to create better opportunities for businesses.

 

Adding how India had implemented the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the UAE, she said FTAs with others such as the UK and the EU were being expedited. 'Maybe by the year-end, we will be able to give a final shape to a few of these. The FTA with the UAE has already been operationalised. We have been making such efforts in order to create better opportunities for businesses. The environment is very conducive and we want entrepreneurs, exporters, SMEs and startups to make use of such opportunities, with special efforts of the Ministry of Commerce,' she said, while speaking at the launch of FIEO’s Indian Business Portal in the capital recently.

 

The portal by FIEO in partnership with GlobalLinker aims to be an international trade hub for Indian exporters and foreign buyers. It is positioned as a B2B digital marketplace to empower SME exporters, artisans and farmers to identify new markets for their products and grow their sales globally.

 

The minister added that the portal would help SMEs and startups to leverage the ecommerce platform and join India's exports in the march towards becoming self-reliant.

 

Speaking more about the new initiative, Ajay Sahai, Director General & CEO, FIEO, said the industry body’s vision was to focus on innovation for new and value-added services to exporters. 'Over a period of time, we will seek to build trade corridors with a number of countries for small businesses to trade efficiently through this partnership. The platform will facilitate the enhancement of India's trade linkages for the International markets.'

 

The portal has a diverse lineup that includes consumer and lifestyle products, industrial products, business services and Geographical Indication (GI) products.

 

Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Director General of Foreign Trade, said India has got the talent pool and diversity to offer a range of services riding on technology, be it blockchain, machine learning or artificial intelligence. He mentioned how certain efforts have helped in opening more avenues for exporters. 'In the recent past, we have recommended 100 districts with very high potential to India Post so that foreign post offices are opened in those districts. This can make our handicrafts go seamlessly to foreign markets. There have been a lot of similar initiatives to enable small and medium exporters to onboard the global marketplace,' he said.

 

Sarangi also said that tech-enabled governance would play a key role in determining India’s growth and competitiveness. 'The government is focused on paperless, automated processing systems, simple procedures for trade players, online data exchange between departments, digital payments and acknowledgements,' he added.

 

The Indian Business Portal boasts of being the only marketplace that is exclusive for exporters registered in India and one that is custom-built to support exporters with a range of bespoke features. More than 14,000 SMEs are registered on the FIEO GlobalLinker platform, with over 40,000 products and services listed on the portal for the pilot.

India has received requests for the supply of more than 1.5 million tonnes of wheat from several countries that need the staple to overcome shortages triggered by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, trade and government sources said on Monday.

 

'More than half a dozen countries have approached India for more than 1.5 million tonnes of wheat and we will see how to go about these requests,' said a government official who didn't wish to be identified in line with official rules.

 

'India is keen to help vulnerable countries and anyone who needs wheat,' said the official involved in decision making.

 

The bulk of the request has come from Bangladesh, a regular buyer of Indian wheat, the sources said. India, which has banned private wheat exports, is open to specific requests for grain from foreign governments.

 

For Bangladesh, Indian wheat is at least 30% cheaper than supplies from other origins, and it takes just about a week for Indian cargoes to reach there, said the chief of the Indian unit of a global trading firm. He didn't wish to be identified as he's not authorised to talk to the media.

 

Bangladesh recently floated a wheat import tender but Dhaka cancelled it later due to high priced bids.

 

Bangladesh imported a record 4 million tonnes of wheat from India in the fiscal year to March 2022 against 1.2 million tonnes bought a year earlier.

 

Other than Bangladesh, Egypt, the world's biggest wheat importer, has also requested the supply of 500,000 tonnes of the grain through diplomatic channels, they said.

 

Jamaica and a few Asian countries are among other buyers looking for wheat from India, they said.

 

Bangladesh needs a lot of wheat and India might not be able to fulfil the entire requirement, said another dealer with a global trading firm.

 

India has also received requests for wheat from the United Nations' World Food Programme for the supply of the grain to countries such as Uganda and Ethiopia.

On Friday, the Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel inaugurated the Indian Business Portal. According to the ministry, the ecommerce portal will allow Indian startups, SMEs, artisans and farmers to reach more foreign buyers.

 

The B2B marketplace has been designed by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) and GlobalLinker, a SaaS platform that provides tools to build an online marketplace.

 

Patel said that Indian Business Portal will be a big encouragement to Indian startups, SMEs, artisans and farmers and help them take the first step towards export.

 

According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India’s overall exports touched $676.2 Bn in FY22. The same was at $526.6 Bn and $497.9 Bn in FY20 and FY21, respectively.

 

The minister also added that India’s merchandise exports had crossed $400 Bn in FY22 and stood at $421.8 Bn, an increase of 44.6% and 34.6% over FY20 and FY21, respectively.

 

According to Santosh Kumar Sarangi, India’s Director General of Foreign Trade, the government is focused on paperless, automated processing systems and simple procedures for trade players to enable easier exports for startups and SMEs, along with artisans and farmers.

 

FIEO’s GlobalLinker platform onboarded more than 14,000 SMEs, the ministry said. Of these, more than 2,000 have already joined the Indian Business Portal with more than 40,000 products and services listed for the pilot before its launch.

 

The Minister of State said that ecommerce showed ‘immense growth’ during and after the pandemic and supported millions of businesses. According to an Inc42 report, India’s ecommerce market will reach $400 Bn by 2030, with a potential of hitting the $200 Bn mark in 2026 itself, growing at a CAGR of 19%.

 

Ecommerce in India has already created 23 out of India’s 100 unicorns, the most from any sector. Some of the largest Indian unicorns come from ecommerce, including the likes of Flipkart, Nykaa, Meesho and B2B ecommerce players such as Udaan, OfBusiness and others.

 

What Is The Indian Business Portal?

The B2B ecommerce portal will only be available to exporters registered in India and is aimed at developing an export ecosystem with startups, SMEs and other small players. 

 

The ministry detailed that FIEO will promote the marketplace worldwide, helping Indian exporters reach a wider market.

 

The Indian Business Portal will also feature a business meetings option, wherein exporters can connect with buyers around the world and buyers can directly connect with Indian sellers if they are interested in smaller quantities.

 

Indian Business Portal is focused especially on Geographical Indication (GI) products. These products are exclusive to a certain region of the country and act as an identity of the said region. The portal is promoting more than 370 Indian GI categories, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, the Union ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare has rolled out innovative schemes to reform the farm sector and empower farmers. Thanks to these schemes and programmes, the livelihood standards of farmers are improving, central grants are reaching their bank accounts in a transparent manner, and farming is emerging as a viable business proposition.

 

In the last eight years, the budget allocation for the ministry has increased by almost six times. This fiscal’s allocation, Rs.1.32 lakh crore, is a reflection of the Union government’s focus on the welfare of farmers. The record production of food grains and horticultural crops also proves that the increased allocation is being spent properly. According to the third advance estimates (2021-22), the production of food grains is estimated at about 315 million tonnes, while the output of the horticulture sector is also estimated at 334 million tonnes, the highest ever. It is no small matter that despite the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine crisis, India has emerged as a major food grains supplier to the world.

 

The Union government has also consistently increased the Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for kharif, rabi and other commercial crops. As a result, MSP of paddy rose from Rs.1,310 per quintal to Rs.1,940 per quintal in 2013-14. Similarly, in 2013-14, MSP of wheat was Rs.1,400 per quintal, now it is Rs.2,015 per quintal.

 

During the rabi marketing season (RMS) 2021-22, 43.34 million metric tonnes of wheat was procured at MSP, the highest ever. Punjab, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir have seen the highest procurement of wheat. Data also reveals that Rs.85,604.40 crore was credited to 4.9 million wheat-producing farmers during RMS.

 

The Union government has credited around Rs.1.82 lakh crore to 115 million farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana ( Rs.6,000 per annum in three equal instalments). This is one of the key schemes of the Union government and a symbol of its vision to improve the social and economic status of the farming community. The soil health card scheme makes farmers aware of better farming techniques for better yield. The government has also made special provision for organic farming and natural farming in the budget. Under this, special attention is paid to soil health, natural farming and conservation of resources and the environment. In Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, five kilometres on both banks of the river Ganga will be brought under natural farming.

 

The government has also constituted a committee under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to include syllabus related to natural farming in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching courses. Chemical-free natural farming is being supported by the ministry and ICAR. Keeping in view the contemporary nature of natural farming, ICAR has issued special guidelines to agricultural universities to include research and allied subjects related to natural farming. Natural farming has been led to an increase farmers’ income and improved their quality of life.

 

The dedicated approach of the Union government towards the farming community is also reflected in the Rs.1,00,000 crore allocated for the agricultural infrastructure fund and the government is committed to provide basic facilities such as godowns, custom hiring centres, primary processing units, sorting and grading units and cold storage. Furthermore, through these basic facilities, the government is committed to providing remunerative prices to farmers for their produce.

 

Under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (Self-Reliant India Campaign), the Union government is also promoting the national bee-keeping and honey mission. Similarly, the government is committed to using platforms and schemes such as the National Agricultural Market (e-NAM), Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana and Agricultural Mechanisation and Cluster Development Programme to benefit farmers.

 

Under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, farmers are insured against natural calamity. In order to bring more and more farmers under the scheme, the Meri Policy, Mere Haath campaign has been launched. The importance of the PM Crop Insurance Scheme can be gauged from the fact that farmers have deposited about Rs.21,000 crore as premium. They have been reimbursed Rs.1.15 lakh crore as claims against crop damage.

 

The kisan rail scheme is another important concept put forward by PM Modi for faster transportation of agricultural produce; special trains are being run for quick transportation of perishable agricultural produce. So far, 2,500 train trips have been conducted on about 175 routes across the country. In this year’s budget, special emphasis has been given agricultural start-ups and agri-entrepreneurship. Work is being done very fast in this direction, and the results are also visible. Many hopes and expectations rest on the agriculture sector, which the government, under the leadership of our generous and able PM Modi, understands well and is chugging full steam ahead towards its destination.

 

At present, the government and the citizens are celebrating Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, marking 75 years of Independence. All central ministries and departments and state governments have been mobilised to celebrate this grand festival. As part of the celebrations, the agriculture ministry recently (April 25-30) celebrated Kisan Bhagidari, Prathmikta Hamari Abhiyan (Partnering farmers is our priority) with great enthusiasm.

 

During this campaign, all departments of the ministry, organisations and institutions under it, including ICAR and 725 Krishi Vigyan Kendras, organised kisan melas, kisan sammelans, seminars, workshops, webinars and round tables. In this way, when the nation celebrates the 100th year of Independence, the country will have a bird’s eye view of the evergreen agricultural sector. With this dream, we are all moving towards building an Atmanirbhar agriculture-Atmanirbhar India (Self-Reliant Agriculture - Self-Reliant India).

The position of the ASEAN on engaging Myanmar at multilateral forums has been that it should be at the non-political level, diplomatic sources said on Monday as India prepares to host a meeting of the foreign ministers of the 10-nation grouping next month.

 

The sources indicated that India is unlikely to invite the Myanmarese foreign minister for the meeting and instead, could invite an official.

 

It is learnt that India has been in touch with the ASEAN on various aspects of hosting the foreign ministers' meeting, including the question relating to Myanmar.

 

'Our position on engaging Myanmar has been that it should be at the non-political and non-military level,' said a diplomatic source in one of the ASEAN countries.

 

On February 1 last year, Myanmar's military grabbed power in a coup and imposed a state of emergency after detaining Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD).

 

The country witnessed massive protests following the coup. The international community has been severely critical of the coup.

 

Myanmar has been a key member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

 

Following the coup, India has been pushing Myanmar for the restoration of democracy. At the same time, India has not boycotted the Myanmarese government or its officials.

 

Myanmar is one of India's strategic neighbours and it shares a 1,640-kilometre-long border with a number of northeastern states, including militancy-hit Nagaland and Manipur.

 

The 10-nation ASEAN is considered one of the most influential groupings in the region, and India and several other countries, including the US, China, Japan and Australia, are its dialogue partners.

 

The ties between India and ASEAN have been on an upswing in the last few years with the focus being on ramping up cooperation in the areas of trade and investment as well as security and defence.

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) is planning to operationalise four Mega Food Parks during the fiscal 2022-23. The MoFPI, while its deposition before the Parliamentary Committee on Food Processing Industries for Demands For Grants (2022-23) hearing, said that this will create 4.49LMT of preservation capacity and 1.15 LMT processing capacity.

 

Also, under the PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME), 25000 individual micro enterprise projects to be sanctioned along with seed capital assistance to 60,000 SHG members, 7 Marketing/ Branding projects to be sanctioned, and financial assistance to 37 National State level Institutions in this fiscal.

 

Under the Production Linked Incentives Scheme, the MoFPI plans 12 numbers of proposals to be supported under Ready to Cook/Ready to Eat (RTC/RTE) segment, 33 proposals under Processed Fruits & Vegetables segment; 11 proposals under Marine Products segment; 4 proposals under Mozzarella Cheese segment; 2 proposals for manufacturing innovative products; 10 proposals for manufacturing organic products and 71 proposals for promoting Indian brands, during 2022-23.

 

According to MoFPI, it plans to operationalise eight agro processing clusters with creation of 2.24 LMT preservation/processing capacity through 28 food processing units completed in this fiscal along with 47 projects to be set up with milk processing capacity of 13.10 Lakh Litre per day, cold storage capacity of 0.93 LMT & 171 reefer trucks under Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure scheme and 11 projects to be completed with processing capacity of 1.125 LMT under Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages scheme.

 

The Ministry also told the ‘Committee’ that 10 food testing labs will be operationalised and 10 research and development projects aiming at five new technologies in food products/ machinery developed. MoFPI also aims at creating five cold storage facilities and three primary/secondary processing facilities with 0.15 LMT processing capacity.

 

During the last five years ending 2019-20, Food Processing Industries (FPI) Sector has been growing at an average Annual Growth Rate of around 11.18 per cent. The Sector constituted as much as 9.87 per cent of GVA in manufacturing in 2019-20 at 2011-12 prices. Food Processing Industry is one of the major employment intensive segments having a share of 12.38 per cent (at 3-digit of NIC classification) in the employment generated in all Registered Factory sectors in 2017-18.

 

The ministry said that according to the latest Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) for 2017-18, the total number of persons engaged in the registered food processing sector was 19.33 lakh. Unregistered food processing sector supports employment to 51.11 lakh workers as per the NSSO 73rd Round, 2015-16 and thus 14.18 per cent of employment in the unregistered manufacturing sector.

Amid soaring international and domestic transport costs owing to the Russia-Ukraine war, exporters of agricultural commodities have asked the central government to reinstate the Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) scheme which had an allocation for Rs.200 crore.

 

The scheme was beneficial for low-value agri products, especially vegetables. Exporters said that often, air freight rates are higher than the cost of vegetables, and a 200-600% jump in freight rates in the last two years has worsened the situation.

 

Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) has said that withdrawal of TMA scheme has come as a 'setback' for agri exporters and that small businesses have had to bear the brunt of the same.

 

Seeking a quick roll-out of the revised TMA scheme which had an allocation of nearly Rs.150-200 crore, FIEO asked the cover to be given from 1 April 2021 as many exporters had factored in the freight benefits while finalizing the contracts.

 

However, a government official said the scheme has been stuck due to shortage of funds.

 

'The scheme was stopped because of a shortage of funds. Until fresh allocation is made, the scheme cannot be rolled out and no fresh allocation has been made as yet,' the official said on condition of anonymity.

 

Amid the surge in demand for agricultural commodities, India’s agri exports crossed $50 billion in FY22, the highest ever. However, exporters said high freight rates are affecting profitability.

 

'Neither the buyers nor the consumers are absorbing the entire increase in freight and therefore, the exporter is at a loss,' FIEO DG Ajay Sahai said.

 

Sahai added that in order to double farmers income, India’s agriculture exports should move to $100 billion. He said the remodeled TMA scheme should be launched by the government with higher allocation to the scheme and made effective 1 April 2021.

 

'Logistics contributes nearly 13% to the entire cost of exports. It is much higher compared to several developed countries. Government assistance to bring down logistics cost is not only a step in the right direction but is also WTO-compliant since there is no discipline on services at WTO,' Prof. Arpita Mukherjee of ICRIER said.

 

The value chain approach has worked for several countries such as Vietnam. 'For instance, South Korea is not a large producer of Zinc but is a top exporter of the commodity by reducing its logistics costs across the value chain,' she added.

 

Having risen over the years, India’s agriculture exports accounted for 11.4% of total exports in FY21 compared to 8.2% in FY10. Notable growth has taken place in case of marine products and rice over the years.

 

From 1.3% in FY10, the share of rice exports rose to 3% in the last financial year. During the last few years, India had to invoke the peace clause at the WTO for exceeding the 10% ceiling on the support it offered to its rice farmers.

 

Sahai also reiterated that there was no challenge from the WTO as far as the TMA scheme is concerned.

The country's sugar exports are expected to increase to around 9-10 million tonnes in sugar season 2022, beginning October, following lower production in Brazil due to adverse weather conditions, according to a report. Ind-Ra expects the total exports for SS22 (Sugar Season 2022) to rise to 9-10 million tonnes, surpassing the previous high of 7.2 million tonnes shipped in SS21, as the lower production in Brazil (which is down 40 per cent year-on-year in first 1.5 months ended mid-May 2022) due to adverse weather conditions and delayed harvesting.

 

Brazil is the largest exporter of sugar, constituting 35-45 per cent of the global trade, and a fall in its exports in the current season could result in India's share rising to around 15 per cent, the Ind-Ra report stated.

 

However, Ind-Ra believed exports were anyway unlikely to exceed 10 million tonnes, given the rebound in production in Thailand after two consecutive seasons of decline.

 

As a result, the restriction is unlikely to materially affect the sector, although any issues in the mill-wise approval process could act as a dampener, it added.

 

Meanwhile, with two successive seasons of production deficit, international sugar prices hit a five-year high of over 20 cents per pound in April 2022, averaging around 19 cents per pound till now in SS22.

 

While India's export restriction has not affected prices meaningfully, prices are likely to remain robust with a lower cane output and sugar mix in Brazil, which bodes well for Indian exports, Ind-Ra said.

 

It said that despite producing a high-quality sugar, the competitiveness of Indian exports is affected by the country's high cane costs relative to other major producers, including Brazil, Thailand and Australia, rendering exports unviable without subsidy until about a year back.

 

After hitting a historical high of 14.6 million tonnes at the end of SS19, sugar stocks have been moderating, it added.

 

Despite an increase in the production, higher exports and diversion towards ethanol are likely to reduce the sugar stock further to around 7 million tonnes at end-SS22, although still higher than the normative carry forward requirement of around 5.5 million tonnes.

 

India's gross sugar production (before ethanol diversion) increased to 38.3 million tonnes in SS22 (up to mid-May), up 5.8 million tonnes mainly due to an increase in the production in Maharashtra and Karnataka, it said.

 

However, with a likely increase in sugar diversion towards ethanol to 3.4 million tonnes (SS21: 2 million tonnes), the net sugar production is likely to come in at 35.5 million tonnes while consumption could continue to grow at around 2 per cent, increasing to 27.2 million tonnes in SS22.

 

Therefore, while consumption is likely to grow at a modest rate of 1-2 per cent, the increase in cane diversion towards ethanol growth would result in an exportable surplus of 6-8 million tonnes in SS23 (depending on cane output), hence maintaining a healthy domestic balance, it added.

Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who has led the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministry since 2019, has figured among the top performing Ministers in the Union Cabinet with a score of 6.83 mainly due to the record grain production and progressive agricultural practices, reveals an IANS-CVoter Survey.

 

While the NDA voters gave him the 6.83 score out of 10 putting him on the 11th position, the opposition voters scored Tomar slightly less at 5.54 out of 10 pushing him to 14th rank out of 15.

 

What possibly has tilted the ranking to push the Minister into top 15 bracket is the record grain production along with the timely distribution of Kisan Samman Nidhi that offers direct transfer of Rs 6,000 per year in instalments to the farmers; similar direct transfers against the MSP for procurement of wheat/rice or designated grains; soil health cards; promotion of natural farming; and the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.

 

Among the social groups, Tomar seems to be much popular with those that have had no formal education, said the IANS-CVoter Survey.

 

With a score of 7.24 out of 10, he has ranked third. With his connection to the roots, coming across as someone with knowledge about his field and speaking about his government's scheme at any and every occasion, has prompted Tomar to be known as a farmers' friend.

 

Tomar has been able to implement schemes and programmes that in turn have ensured Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of record food grain production.

 

'The overall production during 2021-22 is estimated to be higher by 23.80 million tonnes. However, production of wheat during 2021-22 is estimated at 106.41 million tonnes. It is higher by 2.53 million tonnes than the last five years' average wheat production of 103.88 million tonnes,' the Union Minister had announced last week.

 

His Ministry has proactively promoted coarse grains/millets and ensured that these grains also are offered adequate MSP to wean away the farmers from paddy and wheat.

 

The survey was conducted on completion of eight years of the NDA government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Centre.