On this occasion, Tomar stated that we have emerged from the British era's enslavement mentality, and that the entire scenario has altered as a result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Union Minister Tomar stated that there was a time when our country had talent but we were unable to recognise it. There was no place for these gifted individuals to display their abilities.

 

This is why the talented were becoming dissatisfied with the country and were forced to leave, but this is no longer the case. Prime Minister Modi recognized the situation and worked to build a positive climate in the country, as a result of which not just India but the entire world has changed.

 

According to Tomar, there were just 31-32 startups in the country prior to 2014, but the number has already risen to over 6,500. They number almost 2,000 in the agriculture industry alone. He stated that the entire globe is now recognising India's greatness and accepting its stature.

 

Union Minister Tomar stated that under Prime Minister Modi's leadership, India's identity has been established throughout the world, and India's standing has improved.

 

This is why India's Prime Minister could halt the war between Ukraine and Russia by stating, 'First, let our citizens be evacuated,' demonstrating India's growing power in global events.

 

Similarly, in welcoming our Prime Minister, US President Joe Biden stated that there is only one sun, one world, and one Modi, which restores India's pride of place in the global community.

 

The Startup Conclave was also attended by Omprakash Sakhlecha, MSME Minister in the Government of Madhya Pradesh, Member of Parliament Vivek Shejwalkar, and Laghu Udyog Bharati office bearers, including National Organising Secretary Prakash Chandra, National President Baldevbhai Prajapati, All India General Secretary Ghanshyam Ojha, and All India Secretary Sameer Mundra.

Nepal has requested India to supply 300,000 tonnes of wheat to avoid a major spurt in local flour prices.

 

The shortage of wheat has already made the flour prices dearer in the domestic market, although prices have dropped to some extent since March.

 

The Nepal government expects that the requested consignment would start coming from the new fiscal year 2023-24, or after mid-July.

 

According to reports, more than 80 percent of the world’s wheat is being consumed as flour.

 

Four mill owners, however, said that the proposed quantity needs to be imported from India as soon as possible or else, the price of flour in the country will go through the roof.

 

Nepali consumers are already battling high inflation, which has reached near 8 percent.

 

According to the World Bank’s latest report, inflation in South Asia is set to fall to 8.9 percent this year.

 

However, weaker currencies and delayed domestic price adjustments are contributing to a slower than anticipated decline in inflation.

 

Elevated global and domestic food prices are contributing to greater food insecurity for South Asia’s poor who spend a larger share of their incomes on food.

 

Last week, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies sent a letter to the Indian government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, requesting a consignment of 300,000 tonnes of wheat.

 

Urmila KC, under secretary of the Industry Ministry, said that the import of 300,000 tonnes of wheat would start arriving from the beginning of the next fiscal year.

 

'As the domestic harvesting season has also started, we will analyse the production and demand gap and make further decisions,' she said. 'We have not received any comments from the Indian government regarding our request,' KC added.

 

After India imposed a ban on wheat exports in May last year, it set a quota of 50,000 tonnes for Nepal in December.

 

Out of the 50,000 tonnes of wheat, 6,800 tonnes are being imported jointly by the Food Management and Trading Company and Salt Trading Corporation.

 

'We cannot say when the wheat will arrive as the procurement process has not yet been started. 'The Indian government is yet to decide on the seller,' said Kumar Rajbhandari, information officer at the Salt Trading Corporation.

 

The Industry Ministry published a notice on August 8 last year requesting the sugar and flour producers to submit paperwork to apply for quotas. The Indian government has also imposed a quota system on the import of sugar.

 

According to Nepal Flour Mills Association, the mills have received only 33,000 tonnes of wheat so far and are yet to receive the remainder.

 

'If the new batch is delayed, the domestic wheat producers may jack up prices on the pretext of the Indian ban,' said Dinesh Kumar Agrawal, senior vice-president of the Nepal Flour Mills Association.

 

'During this time of the year, which is the harvest period, I used to receive 21 tonnes of wheat daily in my factory from domestic producers. But currently, I am receiving only a small amount,' Agrawal said, adding that it looks like the domestic suppliers have started hoarding wheat.

 

The flour mills are operating at 20 percent of their capacity due to the limited availability of domestic wheat, he said.

 

The price of flour started to jump in the local market after India put a ban on the export of wheat flour on May 13, 2022 due to a decline in its production.

 

The price of flour nearly doubled to Rs95 per kg.

 

But prices started cooling down as soon as India allotted the quota to Nepal.

 

'We need at least 600,000 tonnes of wheat for the next fiscal year. As Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is going on an official visit to India soon, he should make a special request to his counterpart to allocate a sufficient quota for Nepal,' Agrawal said.

 

'We are weak in negotiations. Writing a request letter is not enough to bring the required quantity of wheat on time and prevent shortages,' Agrawal said. 'The government-to-government talks are a must for the ease in the supply of wheat,'

 

In the last fiscal year, Nepal’s wheat harvesting rose by less than 1 percent to 2.02 million tonnes. This fiscal year, experts say due to the late winter rainfall, which is good for the wheat crop, the output may go up.

 

Wheat is sowed in December and harvested in March.

 

Last May, India imposed a ban on wheat exports after an unseasonal hot weather hurt the wheat crop, sending local prices soaring besides causing food security risks to India.

 

According to a Reuters report, India is considering extending the ban on wheat exports as the world's second-biggest producer seeks to replenish state reserves and bring down the domestic prices. The Indian government is unwilling to open wheat exports until mid-2024, the report said.

 

Heatwaves in northern and central India during the crop ripening period are threatening to dent its wheat production for a second straight year, the report said.

 

The higher temperatures in March have been estimated to trim wheat output by 4 million to 5 million tonnes in India, the report added.

 

Nearly 85 percent of the flour mills in Nepal were forced to shut down due to the Indian government's ban on wheat exports. The ban also created a shortage of refined flour and wheat flour in the local market.

The Maharashtra government’s initiative to tag more than 400 million alphonso mangoes – the annual production – to certify the genuineness of the product is yielding results. Buyers’ demand for GI tagged alphonso mangoes – grown in Konkan regions like Ratnagiri and Devgad – is on the rise and hence farmers, too, are registering for the same.

 

The wholesale APMC market in Vashi receives an average of over 40,000 mango boxes from the Konkan region daily. The region got the GI tag mark in 2020 and so several mango growers are supplying GI-tagged mangoes to the market.

 

The same is the case with the direct-to-home from farms sale of mangoes with more private companies and mango farmers selling such GI-tagged mangoes directly to the buyers straight from the farms.

 

'There are often mangoes from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and other areas which are passed off as Ratnagiri or Devgad alphonsos which are high in demand. The GI tagging ensures the customers get the real stuff from the Konkan region and cannot be taken for a ride,' Sanjay Pansare, APMC director (fruit), said.

 

Raigad, Sindhudurg and Thane districts have got GI tags, he said, adding, 'This has led to the increased interest of the retailers in GI tagged alphonsos at the APMC market as their customers are then assured of what they are purchasing.'

 

KisanKonnect, an online farm-to-doorstep supplier, in its third year of operation in Navi Mumbai, Mumbai and Pune is offering GI-tagged alphonso mangoes directly from the farms as its procurement and processing unit in Navi Mumbai has seen a major boost in demand for such mangoes.

 

'We are witnessing an increasing demand for GI-tagged mangoes from various markets. When the markets are flooded with a variety of mangoes with lesser information known about their origin and authenticity, the GI-tag helps the buyers know the right Alphonso mangoes, its place of origin and authenticity,' said Nidhi Nirmal, business head and director of KisanKonnect Safe Foods Private Limited.

 

She added that they have developed a GI-tagging solution by which the buyer comes to know about the point of origin of the mangoes, the exact location of the orchards and other details.

 

'We are expecting to sell about 75,000 mango boxes with GI-tagging this season,' said Nirmal.

 

Prakash Chougule 40, a farmer from Ratnagiri, said that many mango varieties from other parts of the country and even South Africa are being sold as alphonso mangoes to gullible customers at a cheaper price.

 

'This affects our business,' he added. 'Through GI-tagging customers get the taste of authentic alphonsos that come from the right place and are high in quality. It is not as if all alphonso farmers have registered for GI tagging, but the number is increasing as everyone wants to benefit from it.'

 

Subhamoy Ghosh, 52, a resident of Kopar Khairane, recently ordered GI-tagged alphonsos, as the earlier box of mangoes that he bought from APMC was not up to the mark.

 

'It is difficult to believe the vendor when he claims to be selling alphonso, as every mango that looks like it is sold as such,' he said. 'I have asked my friends to get GI tagged alphonsos, as you do not want to compromise on it as they are available for a limited period.'

Basmati, a long-grain aromatic rice, has been grown in India for many centuries and is an unalienable part of Indian culture, religion and all occasions of celebration.

 

India is the leading producer and exporter of Basmati rice because major amount and varieties of Basmati rice are produced in the Indian subcontinent's Himalayan region. The particular agroclimatic condition of this region as well as methods of harvesting, processing unique to the farming practices of these areas are behind the characteristic features of Basmati.

 

The areas of Basmati rice production in India are the Union Territory of J&K and states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh.

 

India has a big population to feed, yet it is the largest exporter of rice in the global market. Out of India's total rice exports, Basmati constitutes not only the biggest USP, but also significant quantity of its rice export.

 

The geographical indication (GI) tag is about recognising a country's unique crop and origin of the genome of the crop giving a brand identity as well as identity to the country of origin. From this point of view, it is extremely important to safeguard the brand identity of the country of origin. Granting a GI tag is not meant for politically balancing the claims and cross claims.

 

India is the largest rice producer after China, i.e., it is ranked second in the list of top 10 producers while Pakistan is at eighth position.

 

India's total rice production is estimated at about 130 million tonne as against about 112 million tonne of wheat, making it the leading foodgrain producer in the world. As far as Basmati rice is concerned, India and Pakistan are the two largest producers, followed by Nepal, Iran, and the United States. But the fact should never be forgotten that India accounts for over 70 per cent of the Basmati rice production.

 

The top three exporters of Basmati rice are India with 783,151 shipments followed by Pakistan with 28,884 and China at the third spot with 5,278 shipments. Thus, on the principle of primacy the GI tag is well-deserved by India.

 

India is ahead of all other Basmati rice producing countries in terms of varieties and quality. So far India has 34 identified varieties of Basmati rice including Basmati 217, Basmati 370, Type 3 (Dehraduni Basmati), Punjab Basmati, Kasturi, Mahi Sugandha, Pusa Basmati, etc.

 

These varieties are evidence of the agro-climatic suitability of northern and western India for the Basmati crop. We could say that Basmati is God-gifted to India and probably this is the reason that in almost all religious and cultural ceremonies, Basmati rice is one of the major presences in rituals as well as menu, right from birth, marriage celebrations of life and death.

 

Politics with GI tag erodes the credibility of global institutions which decide about it. The way the issue of Basmati rice is being politicised in Europe and Oceania is not desirable. India is the natural choice for the award of GI for Basmati rice.

APEDA Chairman pointed out that Telangana is one of the main millet producing States and that 2023 has been declared as 'International Year of Millets'.

 

He also encouraged exporters to promote unique products from the region such as 'Neera', 'palm fruits', 'jaggery' and 'honey' as well as 'Banganapalli mango' and 'natural and tribal products'.

 

The meeting was attended by exporters of cereals and millets, as well as those of processed food and fruits, and discussed issues, opportunities, and future strategies to increase the exports of Telangana.

 

APEDA is an agency of the Union Ministry for Commerce and Industry. The Chairman acknowledged the exporters' contribution and assured them of APEDA's support.

 

APEDA and other relevant agencies, including the DGT, the export inspection agency and the plant quarantine agency, were present, according to the release.

 

Rice, maize, soya bean, cotton, chillies, and turmeric are the main crops cultivated in Telngana. Mango, guava, oil palm, coconut, cashew, lemon, and other key horticultural crops are cultivated.

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal along with Mr Olivier Becht, Minister delegate of Foreign Trade, Attractiveness and French Nationals Abroad, Government of France, will co-chair the India France Business Summit, commemorating 25 years of India-France Friendship on the 11th of April 2023. The Summit will focus on themes including building a green future, emerging technologies, defence cooperation and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific regions. The Minister is also scheduled to meet with French business leaders across various sectors and will attend a CEOs roundtable. The Minister will be paying an official visit to France and Italy from 11th to 13th April 2023. The Minister would be accompanied with a delegation of top Indian CEOs.

 

The Minister along with French Minister Mr. Olivier Becht will participate in an event that will showcase India’s cultural heritage and soft power and expected to witness participation of 600+ dignitaries from the French government, the Indian Business Diaspora in France and members of French business community. The Minister will also be interacting with members of the Indian community in Paris.

 

The Minister will later travel to Rome, Italy where he would meet H.E. Antonio Tajani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation followed by a networking dinner with dignitaries from the Government and industry.  He is scheduled to meet top Italian CEOs for bilateral meetings followed by CEOs Interactive Business Session, where 35 CEOs are likely to participate. This would be followed by a meeting with H.E. Adolfo Urso, Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy, who would also interact with Indian CEOs.

 

The visit is expected to impart further momentum to bilateral relations with India’s key business partners in the European region.

The FSSAI has notified additional requirement of absorbency for olive oil under the regulation 2.2.1 through Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Second Amendment Regulations, 2023. 

 

These requirements will be additional to the quality characteristics prescribed by the FSSAI and shall come into force on September 1, 2023. 

 

According to the notification, the ‘Absorbency in ultra-violet at 270 nm for Extra virgin olive oil should be = 0.22 with delta K value at = 0.01, for Virgin olive oil it was set at = 0.25 & = 0.01, for Ordinary virgin olive oil = 0.30* (after passage of the sample through activated alumina, absorbency at 270 nm shall be equal to or less than 0.11) & = 0.01, for Refined olive oil = 1.10 & = 0.16, for Olive oil = 0.90 & = 0.15, for Refined olive-pomace oil = 2.00 & = 0.20 and for Olive-pomace oil, the absorbency in ultra-violet at 270nm was set at = 1.70 and the delta K value was set at = 0.18. 

 

Also, the food authority has added provisions for moringa oil which is obtained from moringa seeds. 

 

The parameters include refractive index at 40°c with limit of 1.4520 – 1.4680, saponification value at 167-192, iodine value at 65-70, and unsaponifiable matter not more than 1.5 per cent by mass 5 with acid value not more than 6.0. 

 

Further, the amendment regulations prescribe standards for Solvent Extracted Crude Vegetable Oils (not for direct human consumption). 

 

The regulations define ‘solvent extracted crude vegetable oils’ as vegetable oils extracted using food grade hexane from sources mentioned in standards of respective edible oils under sub-regulation 2.2.1 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations. 

 

'These oils as such are not for direct human consumption and shall be refined before human consumption, which shall conform to the standards specified for refined vegetable oils laid down under clause 16 of regulation 2.2.1,' reads the notification.

With the provision of rupee-settled trades gaining acceptance at a slow pace, India and Russia are increasingly opting to route goods operations through third countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), thereby facilitating transactions in currencies other than rupees, roubles and dollars, said people with knowledge of the matter.

 

'Some vostro accounts have opened up but the rupee trade has not picked up significantly - there is limited traction there so far. Participants are increasingly choosing to use third countries to route payments which are not in INR, roubles or dollars,' said one of them. 'The transactions, of which a large part is for oil trades, are being routed through friendly countries.'

 

The push is toward facilitating trade through the UAE as the country's currency - the dirham - is pegged to the dollar and enjoys global stability. 'There is not that much interest at present in the rupee transactions,' said one of the persons cited. 'While the interest is picking up slowly, there are complex invoicing arrangements to be carried out as the existing systems are heavily dominated by the euro and the US dollar. Hence, the push for routing it through third countries.'

 

On July 11, 2022, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had announced additional arrangements for trade invoicing, payment and settlement in rupees. The broad framework includes the provision for all exports and imports under the arrangement to be denominated and invoiced in the Indian currency. Settlements of transactions would also take place in rupees, the central bank said.

 

The RBI's steps were to support the strengthening interest of the global trading community in rupee transactions.

 

Vostro Accounts

The measures were announced at a time when the rupee was witnessing enhanced volatility due to aggressive interest rate hikes in the US and risk aversion in the wake of the Ukraine war. Moreover, with US sanctions on Russia hampering trade, efforts were made in several countries to move away from the dominance of the dollar in global trade.

 

According to the RBI's notifications, domestic importers undertaking imports through the rupee settlement mechanism must make payments in the Indian currency, which would be credited into special vostro accounts of correspondent banks of partner countries against invoices for the supply of goods and services from foreign suppliers.

 

A vostro account is held at a bank on behalf of another lender that's typically located in a foreign country. With India opting to purchase discounted oil from Moscow, Russia is now the single-largest supplier of crude to the country, having toppled Iraq from the position.

 

Earlier this month, Alexey Valkov, director of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), told ET that trade between India and Russia hit a record $39.8 billion in FY23. India-Russia trade in calendar 2022 is estimated to have trebled from the previous calendar year.

 

Products that India is increasingly supplying to Russia include medicines, automobile parts, textiles and food products, Valkov said.

 

An email sent to the RBI did not receive a response at the time of going to press.

 

Addressing the media after the RBI's monetary policy review last week, deputy governor T Rabi Sankar said that while interest in rupee trade is increasing, volumes were not picking up due to teething issues.

 

'The stakeholders on either side are getting adjusted to it,' RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said on the matter. 'It's completely a new paradigm for stakeholders - for importers and exporters from both sides, for banks on both sides. Both sides meaning, India and whichever is the country at the other end. They are getting used to it. It is something which we expect will improve steadily.'

 

Last month, a government official said that several banks, including HDFC Bank and UCO Bank, had opened as many as 30 special vostro accounts to facilitate overseas trade in the rupee. According to director general of foreign trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi, 18 countries have opened special vostro accounts with Indian banks.

 

Banking industry sources said that Kolkata-based UCO Bank, which has an account with Russia-based Gazprom, had so far carried out rupee-denominated trades worth Rs.14-15 crore. The trades were primarily in permitted goods which are not on sanctions lists such as engineering goods, the sources said.

Exporters must utilise the opportunity of IYoM  & increase the exports of millers, as Telagana is major millet producing state, said the Chairman, of APEDA Dr. M. Angamuthu.

 

He was speaking at an interactive meeting with exporters of Telangana state in the premises of its Regional Office in Hyderabad. 

 

The chief further added that exporters can also promote unique products of the state like Neera, Palm fruits and its products like Jaggery, Honey and GI products like Banganapalli mango and natural and tribal products. He assured all support from APEDA.

 

Exporters from cereals, millets, processed food sectors and fruits sectors took part in the meeting and interacted with the Chairman of APEDA. 

 

Senior officials of APEDA & other stakeholders like  Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Export Inspection Agency, Plant quarantine were present in the meeting.

 

Exporters discussed the  present status, export opportunities from the Telangana state, issues in exports and future export strategies to boost the exports from the state.  

Prime Minister Modi Narendra Modi on Saturday said Tamil Nadu is one of India’s growth engines, and the Centre has been supporting the State’s infrastructure projects as he inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for Rs.5,200 crore worth of airport, highway, and railway projects in the State.

 

After launching the national highway road projects and unveiling plaques for new national highway projects in the State, Prime Minister Modi said Tamil Nadu’s development is a great priority for the Centre and the State has been allocated an all-time high budget of Rs..6000 crore this year for railway infrastructure.

 

'The average amount allocated to the State during 2009-2014 was less than Rs.900 crore. Also, the length of the national highway in the State was about 800 km during 2004-2014. But, between 2014 and 2023, nearly 2,000 km of national highway was added in Tamil Nadu. In 2014-15, the investment in the development and maintenance of the national highways in Tamil Nadu was around Rs.1,200 crore. In 2022-23, it increased six-fold to over Rs.8,200 crore, pointed out Modi.

 

Several projects

In the last few years, Tamil Nadu has seen several projects such as the defence industrial corridor and the recent PM-MITRA mega textile park, Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway, and the Construction of a Multimodal Logistics Park, among others. These will support the growth of the State while generating a huge number of jobs. 'I am sure the projects inaugurated today will also benefit the State and its people,' he added.

 

Thanking Prime Minister for inaugurating many development projects for Tamil Nadu, MK Stain, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, said the State government has been focusing on implementing various infrastructure projects to support the growth of the State. Amid a tight financial situation, the State government has improved its spending on infrastructure projects to Rs.44,365 crore now from Rs.33,068 crore earlier.

 

He requested Prime Minister Modi to expedite the ongoing road and railway projects in Tamil Nadu. He urged the Prime Minister to direct the NHAI to speed up ongoing road projects as the State is required to boost its infrastructure to support its economic growth. Stalin also urged Modi to announce new railway projects and allocate funds for the railway projects announced earlier.

 

Reiterating his earlier request for the Centre’s support for Metro Rail Projects in Tamil Nadu, Stalin requested the Prime Minister for the speedy approval of funds for the second phase of Chennai Metro Rail Project works and support the newly announced Metro rail projects for Madurai and Coimbatore also.