Punjab to export 1 MT of non-basmati rice of Rs 2,500 cr

Chandigarh, Oct 5: The Punjab government on Oct 4 said it would export 10 lakh tonnes of non-basmati rice, worth Rs 2,500 crore, in the ongoing Kharif Marketing season.

Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon on Tuesday said that the state Cabinet under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal gave a nod to allow levy-free private purchase of non-basmati paddy.

He said the Centre lifted the ban on export of non- basmati rice in September and the export of rice had only been permitted from private trade and not from the central pool.

The Minister further said that the state government had taken this decision pro-actively to ensure remunerative prices to the farmers over and above the MSP and to facilitate the private exporters to purchase paddy from mandis.

As per the information available with the food and supplies department, the private traders had hardly any stock for export because they were bound to give 75 per cent of the rice out of their private purchase to the central pool.

He further said the Cabinet also approved to refund the infrastructure development cess on the rice exported from the state.

Cess was 3 per cent which would be refunded along with other taxes on the production of the proof of rice exported from Punjab. An estimated amount of cess to be refunded was likely to be nearly Rs 80 crore.

Kairon further said that the Food and Civil Supplies department held several meetings with the Government of India to allow the quota for export of rice to the state of Punjab on the basis of its proportionate contribution to the Central pool. Kairon pointed out that the department of Food.

PTI