High-level Expert Group Will Suggest Ways to Push Agriculture Exports

A high-level expert group has been set up by the fifteenth Finance Commission to recommend measurable performance incentives for the states so as to encourage agriculture exports & promote crops to enable high import substitution.

The seven-member high-level expert group headed by chairman of ITC Sanjiv Puri, has 3 months time to submit the report to the Commission.

The commission said that the expert group has been made to assess export as well as import substitution opportunities for India’s agricultural products including commodities & semi processed and processed food items in the changing global trade scenario and also suggest ways to increase exports sustainably and cut import dependence.

The members of the expert group include former agriculture secretary Radha Singh, UPL Ltd CEO Jay Shroff, Nestle IndiaNSE -1.11 % chairman Suresh Narayanan, Olam Agro India Ltd country head Sanjay Sacheti, chairman of Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and Delhi-based think tank Research & Information Systems for Developing Countries (RIS) DG Sachin Chaturvedi.

It is mandated to recommend appropriate performance-based incentives to the state governments for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 to step up reforms in the farming sector and implement other policy measures in this regard.

The group will suggest strategies and measures to boost farm output, enable higher value addition, strengthen logistics infrastructure, and ensure waste reduction to enhance the sector’s global competitiveness.