For the first time in the country, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), has specified the identity standards for basmati rice (including brown basmati rice, milled basmati rice, parboiled brown basmati rice and milled parboiled basmati rice) vide Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives), First Amendment Regulations, 2023 notified in the Gazette of India.

 

As per these standards, basmati rice shall possess natural fragrance characteristic of basmati rice and be free from artificial colouring, polishing agents and artificial fragrances. These standards also specify various identity and quality parameters for basmati rice such as average size of grains and their elongation ratio after cooking; maximum limits of moisture, amylose content, uric acid, defective/damaged grains and incidental presence of other non-basmati rice.

 

The standards are aimed at establishing fair practices in the trade of basmati rice and protect consumer interest, both domestically and globally. These standards will be enforced w.e.f August 1, 2023.

 

Basmati rice is a premium variety of rice cultivated in the Himalayan foothills of the Indian sub-continent and is universally known for its long grain size, fluffy texture and unique inherent aroma and flavour. Agroclimatic conditions of the specific geographical areas where basmati rice is grown; as well as the method of harvesting, processing and ageing of the rice contributes to the uniqueness of basmati rice. Due to its unique quality attributes, basmati is a widely consumed variety of rice both domestically and globally and India accounts for two thirds of its global supply.

 

Being a premium quality rice and fetching a price higher than the non-basmati varieties, basmati rice is prone to various types of adulteration for economic gains which may include, among others, undeclared blending of other non-basmati varieties of rice.

 

Therefore, in order to ensure supply of standardised genuine basmati rice in domestic and export markets, FSSAI has notified regulatory standards for basmati rice that have been framed through extensive consultations with the concerned Government departments / agencies and other stakeholders as well.

The transformation of Food Corporation of India (FCI), should be done on a fast track mode so that the organisation can continue to help the people, the poor and the farmers of the country. This was stated by Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Textiles and Commerce & Industry while delivering the inaugural address at the 59th Foundation Day of FCI.

 

In his speech, Goyal directed the secretary, department of food and public distribution to monitor the transformation of FCI and Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) every week and to update him on the status on a fortnightly basis. He said strict action has to be taken against the officers who do not cooperate with or delay the transformation process.

 

Taking about the ongoing investigation against alleged cases of corruption in FCI, Goyal said that it’s a wake-up call for the organisation and assured that no one found involved in corrupt practices will be spared. He said FCI will follow the principle of zero tolerance for corruption.

 

Goyal directed the secretary to institutionalise a mechanism wherein whistleblowers may be rewarded. He called out to all officers and staff of FCI to report any incident of corruption. He praised the way FCI carried out the world’s largest food supply chain system, especially during the pandemic to ensure seamless supply of foodgrains under the “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana” (PMGKAY). He said that despite Covid pandemic, no one slept hungry in the country.

 

He said that India has set a global example in the areas of food security, strengthening economic scenario, controlling inflation and others. He mentioned that the rice procurement figures for the year are good and he looked forward to a robust wheat procurement in the coming season as well.

 

Virtually attending the event, Minister of State, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, applauded the remarkable job undertaken by FCI during the pandemic by ensuring sufficient supply of food grains in every part of the country especially to vulnerable sections of the society under PM’s visionary scheme of PMGKAY.

 

Secretary DFPD, Sanjeev Chopra was also present at the event and directed CMD FCI, Ashok KK Meena to ensure a system of eliminating corruption and providing an efficient and transparent service to the people.

An increase in the export of rapeseed meal and soyabean meal helped India record a 60 per cent growth in the export of oilmeals during the first nine months of 2022-23.

 

According to the data available with Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) of India, the country exported 28.25 lakh tonnes (lt) of oilmeals durung April-December of 2022-23 against 17.67 lt in the corresponding period of 2021-22, recording a growth of 60 per cent.

 

Export of oilmeals was provisionally reported at 4.33 lt during December 2022 when compared to 1.70 lt in December 2021, an increase of 153.66 per cent.

 

BV Mehta, Executive Director of SEA of India, said the export of rapeseed meal has set a new record of 16.71 lt during first nine months of 2022-23, and broke the earlier record of 12.48 lt in 2011-12. India had exported 7.13 lt of rapeseed meal during April-December of 2021-22.

 

Currently, India is the most competitive supplier of rapeseed meal to South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and other Far East countries at $255 a tonne (FOB India) while rapeseed meal (Hamburg ex-mill) is quoted at $405 a tonne, he said.

 

The better realisation from rapeseed (mustard) oil and export of rapeseed meal not only supported domestic price of mustard seed but also encouraged larger sowing area under mustard crop during current rabi season, he said. The area under mustard was reported at about 97 lakh hectares (lh) during the current rabi season when compared with 90 lh in the previous season.

 

Soyameal

With the fall in the price of local soyabean to the level of Rs.5,650 a quintal, local soyabean meal price also fell to Rs.42,800 a tonne from Rs.53,000 a tonne in June 2022. This has made the export of soyabean meal attractive, he said.

 

India exported 4.47 lt of soyabean meal during April-December of 2022-23 against 2.62 lt in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, recording a growth of 70.54 per cent.

 

With lower than expected soyabean crop and crushing in Argentina, soyabean meal export is expected to increase from the other origins. The supplies from the US, Brazil and India are likely to increase at better price, he said. On January 13, Brazil soyabean meal price (ex-Rotterdam) was quoted at $614 a tonne while Indian soyabean meal (ex-Kandla) was at $545 a tonne, he said.

 

South-East Asia is the major consumer of Indian soybean meal. India has a logistic advantage here and also can supply in small lots, he said.

 

Indian soyabean meal being non-GMO has an advantage, and being preferred by certain European countries and the US. The rupee depreciation is also pushing the overall export. This helped India to revive the export of soyabean meal in November and December. India shipped 2.85 lt of soyabean meal during November-December of 2022-23 against 86,211 tonnes in the corresponding period of 2021-22.

 

S Korea major importer

Mehta said South Korea has emerged as the major importer of oilmeals during the first nine months of 2022-23. India exported 7.15 lt of oilmeals to South Korea during April-December of 2022-23 (when compared to 4.65 lt in the corresponding period of 2021-22). This included 4.93 lt of rapeseed meal, 1.97 lt of castorseed meal, and 24,638 tonnes of soyabean meal.

 

This was followed by Vietnam. India exported 6.84 lt of oilmeals to Vietnam (4.22 lt). This included 2.93 lt of ricebran extraction, 1.99 lt of rapeseed meal, 1.86 lt of soyabean meal and 4,500 tonnes of groundnut meal.

 

During the first nine months of 2022-23, Thailand imported 5.09 lt of oilmeals (1.42 lt) from India. This included 5.03 lt of rapeseed meal, 2,205 tonnes of soyabean meal, 337 tonnes of groundnut meal and 500 tonnes of rice bran extraction.

 

Bangladesh imported 2.77 lt of oilmeals (2.77 lt) from India during April-December of 2022-23. This included 53,913 tonnes of ricebran extractions, 2.12 lt of rapeseed meal, and 11,516 tonnes of soyabean meal.

 

Taiwan imported 94,327 tonnes of oilmeals (74,685 tonnes) from India during April-December of 2022-23. This included 59,965 tonnes of castorseed meal, 25,479 tonnes of rapeseed meal, 6,463 tonnes of groundnut meal, and 2,420 tonnes of soyabean meal.

The committee headed by Noor Md Mahbubul Haque, additional secretary (FTA) of the ministry, is scheduled to submit the assessment report to the ministry within the next 10 days, said Senior Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh after a meeting with the senior officials of different ministries, departments and agencies of the government on Tuesday.

 

The other members of the committee are senior representatives from the foreign affairs ministry, food ministry, agriculture ministry and the tariff commission, Tapan told journalists at his Secretariat office in Dhaka after the meeting.

 

The committee will mainly analyse the annual demand, local production, and import quantity – particularly from India – over the last 10 years, for the food items.

 

Upon submission of the new report from the committee, the commerce ministry will revise the quota of three essentials and send it to India so the country can assure guaranteed supply of those items even during the crisis moment stemmed from the severe fallouts of the Russia-Ukraine war.

 

During his visit to India last month, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi demanded assured export of seven essentials to Bangladesh under a quota that India provides for Nepal, considering the tough time of Russia-Ukraine war.

 

The seven items were wheat, rice, sugar, onion, garlic, ginger and lentil. Of the seven items, the current import trend of three items – onion, garlic and ginger – is okay for the country. The Indian government declined to assure the export of lentil to Bangladesh as India itself is one of the major consumers of lentil.

 

'So, we are mainly working on three essentials so that India can assure a guaranteed supply for Bangladesh,' Tapan Kanti Ghosh said.

 

India has suggested that Bangladesh review the proposed import quota on seven food items as the neighbouring nation believes the quantity sought as a guaranteed supply is too high.

 

For example, Bangladesh has proposed that India guarantee a supply of up to 45 lakh tonnes of wheat each year.

 

However, India believes the quantity is too high given that its overall exports of the grain to Bangladesh stands at an annual average of about seven lakh tonnes, according to Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi.

 

Bangladesh annually imports nearly 65 lakh tonnes of wheat from different sources, particularly Russia and Ukraine, to meet local demand.

 

But following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the price of wheat increased worldwide as availability of the grain became uncertain due to ensuing volatility in the global supply chain. The commerce minister paid a two-day visit to India on 22-23 December last year to this end.

 

Apart from wheat, Bangladesh asked for a secured supply of seven lakh tonnes of onion, 30,000 tonnes of lentil, 20 lakh tonnes of rice, 15 lakh tonnes of sugar, 10,000 tonnes of garlic and 1.25 lakh tonnes of ginger each year.

 

In response, India said all the proposed quotas were too high as it found that annual exports of these items to Bangladesh were far less than that being demanded, Tipu Munshi told journalists at a press conference at the commerce ministry in Dhaka recently.

 

During the discussion with the journalists yesterday, Ghosh said the formal negotiation for signing the mega trade deal with India – Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) – may start with the commerce secretary level meeting scheduled to be held in Dhaka in March this year.

 

Earlier, during her visit to India in September last year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to start negotiations for signing the CEPA by the end of 2022.

 

However, the negotiation was delayed because India demanded two more months for studying the joint study report on the CEPA, Tapan said.

Chintpurni MLA Sudarshan Singh Babloo today laid the foundation stone of a World Bank (WB)-funded fruit processing centre at Behar Bithal village of Amb subdivision. A sum of Rs 1.65 crore will be spent on the centre under the HP Horticulture Development Project.

 

The MLA said the centre would process dragon fruit, ashwagandha, aloe vera, fig and stevia. A private entrepreneur from the village, Riva Sood, had mooted the project and the products would be branded under Agriva Naturally, added Sudarshan.

 

DC Raghav Sharma said 5,000 saplings of dragon fruit had been planted in the district during the last two years under MGNREGA scheme. He said the fruit processing unit would provide a ready market to the horticultural produce of farmers.

 

He said with new technical interventions and high-yielding varieties of vegetables and fruits, the youth, too, could take up agriculture and horticulture as a profession.

 

Riva said her organisation was building a nursery for various types of fruits and medicinal plants. She added they were also motivating local farmers to cultivate these plants so as to increase their income.

 

India is hopeful that rupee trade with Russia will pick up in the future after the two sides recently spoke about facilitating trade in local currencies, an Indian trade ministry official said on Monday.

 

India has been exploring a rupee trade settlement mechanism with Russia since soon after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February but the countries have not formalised the rules yet.

 

New Delhi has become Moscow's largest oil buyer after China, buying discounted Russian crude well below a $60 price cap agreed by Western nations while also trying to close a growing trade deficit with the country.

 

India is looking to enhance exports of electronic items to Russia, Satya Srinivas, a secretary at the trade ministry, told reporters in New Delhi.

 

The two countries are engaging 'at all levels' to resolve issues related to trade barriers and a payments mechanism, Srinivas said.

 

Russia, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Bangladesh are some of the countries that are keen on rupee trade with India, he added.

Algeria's state grains agency OAIC has issued an international tender to buy soft milling wheat to be sourced from optional origins, European traders said on Sunday.

 

The tender sought a nominal 50,000 tonnes but Algeria often buys considerably more in its tenders than the nominal volume sought.

 

The deadline for submission of price offers in the tender is Tuesday, Jan 17, with offers having to remain valid until Wednesday, Jan. 18.

 

The wheat is sought for shipment in two periods from the main supply regions including Europe: March 1-15 and March 15-31. If sourced from South America or Australia, shipment is one month earlier.

 

Algeria is a vital customer for wheat from the European Union, especially France.

The Indian Food Safety Authority, FSSAI, has decided to further extend the deadline for its order on requirement of ‘health certificate’ with imported food consignments. The date for implementation of the order is now set for March 1, 2023.

 

The previous extension was until January 1, 2023.

 

The food authority had issued an order in August 2022 and the subsequent clarification in September on the subject, wherein the FSSAI ordered that from November 1, 2022, the imported consignment of milk & milk products, pork & pork products and fish & fish products were required to accompany by a health certificate issued by a competent authority of the exporting country.

 

The food authority had also prescribed the format of the health certificate to  accompany such imported food categories wherein attestations were required regarding sanitary and food safety related conditions and a general condition that the source animal shall not be fed with feed containing meat or bone meal including internal organs, blood meal and issues of bovine or porcine origin material except milk and milk products and has/have not been manufactured using animal rennet.

 

Also, in September, FSSAI issued a clarification that an integrated/single certificate incorporating food safety related requirement/attestations is also accepted by FSSAI at the time of import clearance and it may be ensured that integrated certificates shall incorporate all the information as per format notified by the FSSAI in August 2022 order.

 

Meanwhile, the FSSAI has stated that the decision to extend the implementation by two months until March 1 was taken after considering the request from the WTO members wherein it was conveyed to the Indian Food Authority that many trade partners were in process of adopting the requirement.

 

Earlier, comments were sought from the WTO members on the subject and after considering the comments received from the trading partners in respect of implementation time, it was decided that the date of implementation of the order shall be extended by two months until January 1, 2023.

The ongoing negotiations of India for the proposed comprehensive free trade agreements with the UK and European Union (EU) are on track and the next round of talks with both the regions will happen soon, a top government official said on Monday. India has recently concluded the sixth round of talks with the UK and third round with the EU.

 

'The seventh round with the UK and the fourth round with the EU will be held very soon. Both the trade agreements are on track,' the official said.

 

The official added that both the agreements are comprehensive in nature and includes goods, services, investments, labour, environment and sustainability.

 

All these issues require a lot of unanimity among the negotiating countries and these talks are complex exercises.

 

'Last time when the UK negotiating team was here, we had a a good understanding. Now there is a much better understanding. Both the teams are negotiating at a convenient speed and pace and a lot of issues are being settled between the two teams,' the official said.

 

Negotiations with the UK started on January 13 last year.

 

The bilateral trade between the two countries increased to USD 17.5 billion in 2021-22 compared to USD 13.2 billion in 2020-21. India's exports stood at USD 10.5 billion in 2021-22, while imports were USD 7 billion.

 

After a gap of over eight years, India and the EU formally resumed negotiations on the proposed agreement on June 17, 2022.

 

India's bilateral trade with the European Union rose by 43.5 per cent to USD 116.36 billion in 2021-22.

 

When asked about India's demand for resumption of exports benefits by the US under Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the official said India would welcome if it would be resumed by America.

 

'We had requested the US during the meeting of trade policy forum...The US has to take the call. It would help enhance competitiveness of our exporters,' the official added.

 

The GSP is the largest and oldest US trade preference programme and is designed to promote economic development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary countries.

 

Under the programme, nearly 2,000 products including auto components and textile materials can enter the US duty-free if the beneficiary developing countries meet the eligibility criteria established by Congress.

 

In 2019, the US withdrew these benefits.

 

When asked about the issue of Iran stopping imports of tea and rice from India, another senior official said that it was a temporary measure.

 

'I believe that some rice exports have started,' the official said.

 

On the issue of under-invoicing of Chinese imports in India, the department of commerce has flagged the matter with its finance counterpart.

 

'We have received feedback that the finance ministry is taking actions. On some consignments from China, risk profiling to identify those consignments which are under invoicing. Some seizures are happening. We are waiting for some feedback from the finance ministry,' the official said.

 

On India-Russia trade, the official said India has taken up issues of domestic exporters with regard to market access and standards with Russia.

 

'We will be pushing exports of electronic items in Russia. India is also pushing rupee trade with Russia,' the official added.

 

Countries including Russia, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka are keen to have rupee trade with India.

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal today said that the Government today thinks like a startup, relentlessly focusing on newer and better ideas and striving to saturate them throughout the country to improve efficiency, effectiveness, productivity, transparency and integrity of systems and processes. He was addressing the gathering after distributing the National Startup Awards 2022 in New Delhi today. The Minister congratulated all the winners and expressed hope that the Award would inspire them further expand their horizons.

 

Applauding the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi as being both a generator and incubator of brilliant innovations to address the challenges that we as a nation face, Shri Goyal said that under his visionary leadership, the idea of startup India had taken root throughout the length and breadth of the nation. 

 

The Minister observed that many more innovative ideas and initiatives must be nurtured to ensure that the nation grew at a much faster pace than ever before in the Amritkaal and to meet the aspirations of a young India. He said that the initiatives taken by the government under the leadership of the Prime Minister in the last few years, were timely and had been successful in building the foundation for a powerful, resurgent India, a nation recognized as an emerging growth story, set to drive global growth.

 

Shri Goyal noted that the Prime Minister placed great focus on speed, skill and scale in the execution of projects. Citing the example of Digital India Mission launched in 2015, he said that early on, the Prime Minister had recognized that unless Digital India was taken to the remotest corners of the country, the vision of equitable development wouldn’t become a reality. Initiatives like Digital India, 4G and now 5G rollout, broadband connectivity in villages drove the growth of this highly technology dependant startup ecosystem, especially in small towns and in remote parts of the nation, he opined.

 

The Minister said that the government came up with highly impactful innovations like COWIN app, One Nation, One Ration Card (ONORC), PM GatiShakti National Master Plan, UPI which has powered so many startups and unicorns, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) which will democratise e-Commerce and save millions of mom and pop stores across the country and JAM Trinity that ensured that the truly deserving received assistance from the government directly, ushering in honesty, integrity and transparency in entire system.

 

The Minister appreciated the ‘MAARG’ portal and said that it would help focus, refine and fine-tune ideas. He referred to the investor connect portal and said that it would help innovators from remote parts get access to crucial opportunities and give many deserving startups access to the funding ecosystem. Technology can be an enabler to leapfrog into the new age where the fruits of development can be taken to every last citizen, helping them achieve a better quality of life, he said.

 

Referring to the MAARG portal, the Minister said that the focus of the government is to simplify the interaction of citizens with the government. In line with this approach of the Government, PM had removed the need to notarise documents, placing trust in the common man and this has never been misused, he noted. He urged startups to give suggestions to improve processes to make it simple, economic.  He also mentioned that over 39000 compliances have been reduced, he asked for suggestions on what more can be decriminalized to reduce compliance burden.

 

The Minister emphasized on the need for a more robust database on startups to connect them in a better manner with the government, industry bodies and the general public and to capture more ideas of our innovators. Shri Goyal concluded by reiterating that this is a government that listens and wants to engage more with everyone to build the future of India.  

 

Shri Som Prakash, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, spoke about how government has been providing handholding and support to the startups of the country, in terms of funding, mentorship and much more. Mr Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Jury, National Startup Awards, congratulated the contribution of Startup India, DPIIT and highlighted the pivotal role of the government in promoting startups. 

 

A ‘National Startup Awards 2022 Report’ was also released on the occasion today. The report provides detailed insight into the support provided to previous National Startup Awards recognized startups and the National Startup Awards 2022 winners. The MAARG platform which stands for Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience, and Growth was also launched during the felicitation ceremony today. This platform is envisioned to facilitate mentorship between startups and entrepreneurs across sectors, stages, and functions. There are over 600 mentors and over 800 startups registered on the platform currently. The portal will now allow for live matchmaking of mentors with startups, helping startups to access the guidance that will help them grow and increase their impact in India and globally.

 

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had conceived the National Startup Awards to recognize and reward outstanding Startups. The National Startup Awards recognize exceptional startups across various categories that provide innovative solutions which lead to large-scale employment and sustainable economic development. The first edition of the National Startup Awards was concluded in October 2020. 36 startups, 1 incubator, and 1 accelerator were recognized as winners in their respective categories.

 

The third edition of the National Startup Awards was launched on 1st February 2022. In line with Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, National Startup Awards 2022 acknowledges startups and enablers who have been instrumental in revolutionizing the development story of India and in demonstrating exceptional capabilities not just in terms of financial gains but also for the measurable impact on society.

 

National Startup Awards 2022 focused extensively on diversity, inclusion, and innovation. The sectors and sub-sectors covered under the National Startup Awards 2022 have been increased to 17 and 50 respectively from the previous editions, thereby increasing the coverage of the startup ecosystem. 2 sectors, 5 sub-sectors, and 2 special categories have been added to this edition. Manufacturing Excellence and Startups from North-East and Hilly States and Union Territories are the two new special categories added to further encourage startups.

 

A total of 2,667 applications were received from startups, incubators, and accelerators from 31 states and union territories across the country. These applications were screened and evaluated by more than 50 jury members. These jury members include senior Government officials, Venture Capitalists (VCs), startup CEOs, Industry stalwarts, and renowned educationists, among others.

 

In this third edition, 41 startups, 2 incubators, and 1 accelerator were recognized as winners in their respective categories. Winners have emerged from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, indicating the spread of the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation across the last mile in the country.

 

The winning startups (per category) will be awarded Rs. 5 lakh each, and the winning incubator and accelerator will be awarded Rs. 15 lakhs respectively. The results for National Startup Awards 2022 can be found on the Startup India website. (https://www.startupindia.gov.in/nsa2022results/).

 

National Startup Awards is a long continuous journey. The call for applications for National Startup Awards 2023 will be live soon. For details, https://www.startupindia.gov.in/ may be seen.