Applications seeking geographical indication tag for 'khurma', 'tilkut' and 'balu shahi' - the famous delicacies of Bihar- have been accepted by competent authority after preliminary examinations, an official said on Saturday. Besides, similar applications for Hajipur's famous 'chiniya' variety of banana, Nalanda's popular 'bawan buti' sari and Gaya's 'Pattharkatti stone craft' have also been accepted by the GI registry, he said.

 

A GI tag identifies a product as originating from a particular region.

 

'Applications seeking GI tag for Bhojpur's Udwantnagar 'khurma', Gaya's 'tilkut', 'balu shahi' of Sitamarhi, Hajipur's famous 'chiniya' banana, Nalanda's popular 'bawan buti' sari and Gaya's 'Pattharkatti stone craft' have been accepted by the GI registry after crucial scrutiny and examination.

 

'These developments are very positive and encouraging. We are hopeful that all these will soon get the geographical indication tags,' the official said. ,' NABARD-Bihar chief general manager Sunil Kumar told PTI on Saturday.

 

Bhojpur's 'khurma' is liked by foreigners, while 'tilkut', a unique treat made from sesame seeds and jaggery, is quite popular outside the country.

 

'Balu shahi', a sweet delicacy of Runni Saidpur village of Sitamarhi, is also very popular in the country.

 

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development assisted producers' associations in filing applications for GI tags for these famous delicacies and products of Bihar, he said.

 

'We also engaged experts for the purpose. The bank is playing an important role in the GI registration process and also for marketing linkages, branding, and promotion of these items,' Kumar said.

 

GI tag for these delicacies and products will help farmers, manufacturers and artisans associated with these items earn more, he said.

 

Recently, GI tag was awarded to Bihar's famous 'marcha rice' which is famous for its aromatic flavour.

 

Bhagalpur's 'Jardalu mango, 'Katarni dhaan' (paddy), Nawada's 'Maghai paan' and Muzaffarpur's 'Shahi litchi' have already been protected under GI tag.

Although Tamil Nadu is a beautiful blend of different cultures and colourful traditions, traditional Tamil snacks like ‘Murukku’, ‘Seedai’, and ‘Adhirasam’ have a separate fan base. The town of Manapparai in the Trichy district is renowned for ‘Murukku’, which has received a Geographical Indication (GI) tag after almost a decade-long wait.

 

‘Murukku’ is very popular among travellers passing through Manapparai in Trichy City. The moderate-sized crunchy snack is made of a thick dough consisting of rice flour, urad dal, spices and salt and is double-fried for its flavourful crunch.

 

'Besides major festivals like Pongal and Diwali, Manapparai Murukku is also in demand on many other special occasions. People from foreign countries also visit the state to taste the traditional snack,' a worker said.

 

Speaking to News18, Muthu, a seller of Murukku products, said, 'We are happy to get a GI tag for Manapparai Murukku. Designation from Chennai’s GI Registry is a significant step in the right direction. We believe the GI tag has verified the special flavour and authenticity of Murukku. However, if we want to maintain the demand for this traditional snack in the market, we must modernize our manufacturing process. The Tamil Nadu government should provide necessary assistance in order to promote the cottage industry and the livelihood of the workers.'

 

The Manapparai Murukku Manufacturers, who represent almost 500 families working in Manapparai to produce Murukku, applied for the GI tag in 2014. According to the manufacturers, the quantity of Murukkus that can be mechanically produced will go up to 4-5 tonnes every day, as opposed to 50 kilograms per day earlier. 'However, since the shelf life is a major issue, we need to develop recipes that will help keep the snack fresh for at least a month, and advertise it extensively,' added the manufacturers.

Rice export prices from Vietnam jumped to two-year highs this week, fuelling worries about demand from top buyers as supplies draw down, while Bangladesh advised farmers to harvest paddy sooner in the northeastern region on flash floods threats.

 

Vietnam's 5% broken rice prices were offered at $495-$500 per tonne, matching levels last seen in April 2021, and up from a range of $465-$470 a week ago.

 

Traders said that the country's winter-spring harvest – the largest of the year, has ended.

 

'Demand for Vietnamese rice remains strong, while domestic supplies are running low,' a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said.

 

'With prices staying this high, we think buyers including the Philippines might slow their purchases.' The Philippines is Vietnam's largest rice buyer.

 

Meanwhile, Bangladesh advised to harvest paddy quickly in wetland areas in the northeastern part of the country on chances of flash floods due to the heavy rains predicted in neighbouring India's Meghalaya state, agriculture ministry officials said.

 

Top exporter India's 5% broken parboiled variety was quoted at $382 to $388 per tonne, down from the last week's $385 to $392, with declines this week mainly attributable to a depreciation in the rupee. 'Export demand is quite stable. Asian buyers were active in the past few days,' said an exporter based at Kakinada in southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

 

Thailand's 5% broken rice prices were quoted at $480 per tonne, down slightly from last's weeks range of $485 to $490.

 

Markets have been muted after the Songkran holiday to mark the Thai new year.

 

The country's rice exports in the first two months of 2023 were up 38% on the year to 1.4 million tonnes, a government spokesperson said this week.

The National Rice Research Institute (NRRI) has recently submitted proposals to the Central Varietal Release Committee (CVRC) for the identification of 10 new rice varieties, an official said. The institute's director A K Nayak said that seven rice varieties sent from NRRI were recognised by the CVRC in the last one year.

 

The institute will celebrate its 78th foundation day on Sunday, during which it will showcase its achievements so far.

 

This year's foundation day lecture has been named after the first director of the institute, K Ramiah, who was instrumental in identifying the site in Cuttack to establish the rice research centre in 1946.

 

Nayak said Ramiah's son R Pancharatnam has proposed to donate Rs 50 lakh to the institute for the endowment lecture.

 

Former NRRI director and Department of Agricultural Research and Education's ex-secretary Trilochan Mohapatra, who is presently officiating as chairperson of the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Authority, will deliver the foundation day lecture on Sunday.

 

The NRRI director said the institute has been granted a patent for a 'method for albino free shoot regeneration in rice through anther culture'.

 

The institute has also filed for three patents and one provisional patent during the last one year apart from publishing 118 peer-reviewed articles.

The Indian government is unlikely to allow the import of yellow peas in view of a record high chana (gram) crop, despite reportedly being under pressure from trade lobby to allow its shipments. 

 

The main reason for the Centre not permitting imports is that this year production of chana (gram) is estimated at 13.63 million tonnes, up from 13.54 mt last year.

 

Chana prices are ruling below the minimum support price (MSP) level of Rs.5,335 per quintal and the Centre is having to procure the pulses crop through Nafed to keep prices from falling further.

 

Allowing yellow peas import will further put pressure on chana and it is something the government does not want, said sources. They said recommendations to the government are to not allow imports of yellow peas for now.

 

Current prices

Currently, chana prices are ruling between Rs.4,700-4,800 per quintal. Interventions under the price support scheme are currently on and Nafed has procured about 11.68 lakh tonnes(lt) of chana as of April 20. Bulk of the chana purchases have been made from Maharashtra  (4.93 lt), Madhya Pradesh (2.67 lt) and Gujarat (2.23 lt). However, the procurement is at a sluggish pace in Rajasthan, where the purchases are 10,839 tonnes. In Karnataka, 68,268 tonnes of chana has been purchased and 53,623 tonnes in Andhra Pradesh and 50,238 in Telangana.

 

Bimal Kothari, Chairman, India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA), said the trade body has been urging the Centre to allow the import of yellow peas for quite some time now.

 

The latest representation was made in June-July last year, subject to conditions that the landed price of yellow peas be not below the MSP price of chana. Such a move will address the needs of farmers as well as consumers. Currently, yellow peas imports are in the restricted category.

Applications seeking geographical indication tag for 'khurma', 'tilkut' and 'balu shahi' - the famous delicacies of Bihar- have been accepted by competent authority after preliminary examinations, an official said on Saturday. Besides, similar applications for Hajipur's famous 'chiniya' variety of banana, Nalanda's popular 'bawan buti' sari and Gaya's 'Pattharkatti stone craft' have also been accepted by the GI registry, he said.

 

A GI tag identifies a product as originating from a particular region.

 

'Applications seeking GI tag for Bhojpur's Udwantnagar 'khurma', Gaya's 'tilkut', 'balu shahi' of Sitamarhi, Hajipur's famous 'chiniya' banana, Nalanda's popular 'bawan buti' sari and Gaya's 'Pattharkatti stone craft' have been accepted by the GI registry after crucial scrutiny and examination.

 

'These developments are very positive and encouraging. We are hopeful that all these will soon get the geographical indication tags,' the official said. ,' NABARD-Bihar chief general manager Sunil Kumar told PTI on Saturday.

 

Bhojpur's 'khurma' is liked by foreigners, while 'tilkut', a unique treat made from sesame seeds and jaggery, is quite popular outside the country.

 

'Balu shahi', a sweet delicacy of Runni Saidpur village of Sitamarhi, is also very popular in the country.

 

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development assisted producers' associations in filing applications for GI tags for these famous delicacies and products of Bihar, he said.

 

'We also engaged experts for the purpose. The bank is playing an important role in the GI registration process and also for marketing linkages, branding, and promotion of these items,' Kumar said.

 

GI tag for these delicacies and products will help farmers, manufacturers and artisans associated with these items earn more, he said.

 

Recently, GI tag was awarded to Bihar's famous 'marcha rice' which is famous for its aromatic flavour.

 

Bhagalpur's 'Jardalu mango, 'Katarni dhaan' (paddy), Nawada's 'Maghai paan' and Muzaffarpur's 'Shahi litchi' have already been protected under GI tag.

Union minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said the world is now looking up to India and its industries and this is the right time for entrepreneurs and industry players to grasp the opportunity and grow exports. Entrepreneurial abilities in the country with innovation, new ideas, new ways of marketing and branding products can unleash the true potential of the country, the Commerce and Industry Minister said while addressing the 49th India Gem and Jewellery Awards.

 

'On April 24, I have a meeting with ministers of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), consisting of four countries including Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, who are keen to negotiate with India.

 

'Other Gulf countries and Russia are also keen to negotiate with India. The world is now looking up to India and its industries, and this is the right time for the industries and entrepreneurs to grasp the opportunity and grow exports,' Goyal said.

 

Further, Goyal said jewellery exporters have shown good promise and good results and the gem and jewellery industry is the diamond of India's exports.

 

'The industry's talent is spread across every zone and this industry can generate lots of jobs commensurate with the talent. The future is bright but we seek a collective commitment from every exporter to contribute to increasing exports despite headwinds and challenges,' said the minister.

 

The government is working towards ease of doing business honestly and efficiently and expects the industry players to engage in ethical practices, he said.

 

Talking about the mega Common Facility Centre (CFC) in Santacruz Electronics Export Processing Zone (SEEPZ), Goyal said it is on track and is expected to be ready by 'Ganesh Chaturthi' this year.

 

Meanwhile, the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) chairman Vipul Shah, who was present on the occasion urged the government to have dialogue with the US and the G7 to avoid imposing sanctions, which may cripple the Indian natural diamond cutting and polishing industry.

 

'We met the top officials of the US and EU governments recently to deliberate and put forward our viewpoint on this,' he added.

 

Shah emphasised that time has also come to grow exports of plain gold and silver jewellery from India as only 10-15 per cent of gold and silver, which is imported is used to manufacture jewellery for exports.

 

'We require the minister's direct intervention in the implementation of the Ad Valorem scheme for gold and silver, whereby the effective import duty on gold and silver procured from domestic market - just like GST - should be put into exporters' accounts at the rate prevailing on the day of exports to have a level-playing field with exporters from Singapore, Italy and Vietnam,' Shah added.

 

In 2022-23, the overall gem and jewellery exports grew 2.48 per cent to Rs 3,00,462.52 crore, as compared Rs 2,93,193.19 crore in the year-ago period.

An Indian business delegation will visit Russia on April 24-27, the Indian exporters' body said on Friday, a fresh sign of expanding bilateral trade ties as Moscow increasingly turns east in response to Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine war.

 

The announcement follows a visit by Russian trade and industry minister Denis Manturov to Delhi earlier this week which included discussions on the signing of a free trade agreement (FTA) in the near future.

 

'The 50-member delegation would meet buyers in Moscow and St Petersburg,' said A. Sakthivel, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), adding they were aiming to expand Indian exports to Russia to $5 billion in the current financial year that started this month.

 

The exporters expect to sign deals for selling a wide range of products including tea, sugar, coffee, dairy, meat, and marine products, the official said.

 

Moscow earlier sent a list of more than 500 products for potential delivery including parts for cars, aircraft, and trains as the Western sanctions squeeze Russia's ability to keep vital industries running.

 

India has not explicitly condemned Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and has called for dialogue to resolve the conflict.

 

India's imports from Russia more than quadrupled to $46.33 billion over the last fiscal year, mainly through oil, while exports declined nearly 12% year-on-year to $2.8 billion for the 11 months ending in February.

 

Exporters said sales to Russia had declined mainly due to payment difficulties as both countries are still trying to work out a trade settlement mechanism in local currencies.

 

'Very soon we can expect this mechanism to be operational,' the exporters' body said in a note to its members, adding the government's fiscal incentives on exports would be extended to exports to Russia as well under the rupee-rouble mechanism.

A United Kingdom parliamentary report on India-UK Free Trade Agreememt negotiations has said that India's pursuit of data localisation is a 'stumbling block' in free cross-border data flows among the two sides.

 

The House of Commons International Trade Committee, in its latest report on 'UK trade negotiations: Agreement with India', also cautioned that increased UK market access for India in textiles, clothing, footwear and horticultural products could have an 'adverse impact on some developing countries in South Asia, South-East Asia and East Africa which benefit from preferential access to the UK market'.

 

On data flows, it said that the UK's industry talks of free and trusted cross-border data flows; a ban on data localisation requirements; preventing the mandatory transfer of source codes, algorithms and encryption keys; a ban on digital tariffs and discrimination against digital formats; collaboration on emerging tech; and recognising e-signatures and electronic contracts.

 

'However, the UK and India appear to be very far apart on these issues. A major potential stumbling block in this regard has been the Indian government's pursuit of legislation that could have the effect of requiring data localisation,' the panel said.

 

'It remains to be seen how far the latest iteration of draft Indian data legislation, the Digital Data Protection Bill, will prove an obstacle to fulfilling the UK's offensive interests in this regard,' it added.

 

It cited the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre referring to 'ongoing violations of human rights and labour rights in India'.

Supporting ease of doing business in procuring licenses/registration by Food Business Operators (FBOs), the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has undertaken to translate its web-based application Food Safety and Compliance System (FOSCOS) in Hindi, followed by all regional languages.

 

The latest measure is aimed at supporting ease of use for all new FBOs in applying for licenses. As a result, more than 1.2 crore have registered the FBOs for license renewal, said a release issued by the Health Ministry. It added that this would also result in a boost in traffic and revenue, expand reachability and deliver a world-class experience.

 

The FOSCOS is a comprehensive system for the registration and licensing of FBOs. It is a one-point stop for FBOs for their interface with the food safety regulator, for all type of compliances.