The chairman of the Indian Grape Processing Board (IGPB), set up under the ministry of food processing industries, has been appointed as the coordinator for the newly formed International Organisation of Vine & Wine (OIV) on raisins.
Jagdish Holkar, chairman, IGPB, will be coordinating with 21 nations, also members of the OIV, at the meet that gets underway in Paris from Monday.
The appointment is particularly significant because India had joined the OIV through IGPB in 2011 when it was elected unanimously as a member with full rights. India is also the first country from Asia to become the member of the Paris-based International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV).
The OIV membership helps India get access to the state-of-the-art scientific knowledge about vines wines and grapes. Earlier, India was also invited by the World Wine Trade Group ( WWTG) as an observer at an international level meet of the group held at Washington DC.
The meeting at Paris will discuss issues related to drafting of standard guidelines for raisins, grapes and wine, their quality, productivity and consumer protection issues, Holkar told FE. OIV has a membership of some 45 nations, including Russia, Hungary, Spain, Cyprus, Portugal, Romania, Belgium, Australia, Turkey, Chile, Argentina, Switzerland, Brazil and Bulgaria among others.
The IGPB has been making attempts to ship Indian raisins abroad, especially to the US. Last year, IGPB had officials from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and Codex Alimentarius Commission to develop quality standards for raisin production in the country so that the product conforms to consumers’ safety norms abroad.
India exports around 30,000 metric tonnes of raisins each year to 80 different countries (70% of which comes from Maharashtra). Annually, around 6 lakh metric tonnes of grapes are used in India to produce1.5 lakh metric tonnes of raisins. Nashik, Sangli, Solapur, Latur, Karnataka, Bijapur, Osmanabad, Gulbarga, Beedar, Bagalkot and Anantpur in Andhra Pradesh are some of the main raisin regions. The total turnover of raisins in India is around Rs 1,500 crore.