India Gives 5% Subsidy For Non-Basmati Rice Exports

India, the world’s biggest rice exporter will give 5 percent subsidy for Non-Basmati Rice exports for four months. This move of the Government will help to boost flagging overseas sales.

The Trade Ministry said in the order dated Nov 22, “The Government will give a subsidy of 5 percent for non-basmati rice exports for the four months from November 26 till March 25, 2019.”

The decision was made after shipments of the commodity declined 13 percent during first half of the current fiscal. The move is expected to boost the shipments of exporters.

The Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) was started in 2015 under which exporters get 2-5 per cent (of FOB value) of their exports as duty credit scrip. The value on the scrip can be adjusted against payment of the import duty and the GST.

President of Kakinada based Rice Exporters Association, BV Krishna Rao said, “This has come at an opportune time. Hopefully, the decline in export of non-basmati rice may be recovered in the next four months.

He further added, “However, the decline in shipments to Bangladesh may not see an immediate jump due to the MEIS.”

India exported 37.23 lakh tonne of non-basmati rice (worth Rs 10,426 crore) during April-September, against 42.87 lakh tonne in the year-ago period.

Total non-basmati exports in 2017-18 were 86.5 lakh tonne valued at Rs 22,968 crore, of which 20.28 lakh tonne was shipped to Bangladesh. The non-basmati rice export to the neighbouring country stood at only 3.40 lakh tonne in the first half of FY19.

Hence India's rice exports fell 9.6 per cent to 5.8 million tonnes in the first six months of the financial year that began in April despite a weaker rupee that makes the grain cheaper for holders of other currencies.