The government has allowed 5% MEIS benefit on export of non-basmati rice during the next four months after shipments of the commodity declined 13% during first half of the current fiscal. The move may help exporters boost shipments.
Non-basmati rice has been made eligible for MEIS benefits at the rate of 5% for exports made between November 26 and March 25, 2019, the Directorate General Foreign Trade said in a notification. The Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) was started in 2015 under which exporters get 2-5% (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.
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“This has come at an opportune time. Hopefully, the decline in export of non-basmati rice may be recovered in the next four months,” said BV Krishna Rao, president of Kakinada-based Rice Exporters Association. However, the decline in shipments to Bangladesh may not see an immediate jump due to the MEIS, he said.
India exported 37.23 lakh tonne of non-basmati rice (worth Rs 10,426 crore) during April-September this year, compared with 42.87 lakh tonne in the corresponding period last year, according to the official data.
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.
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Earlier this week, FE had reported rice exports from India might decline for the first time in three years in 2018-19 owing to a 13% hike in minimum support price for paddy (kharif 2018) and a drop in demand from Bangladesh and several other key markets. While a decline is most likely in volume terms, exports could at best see a flat growth in value terms, trade sources had said.