New Delhi, May 28: Stung by falling foodstocks with large scale exports and drought last year, India as part of a new grains export and import policy will soon dismantle the current regime under which government sells wheat and rice to traders at highly subsidised rates. The current grain export regime is not sustainable in the long run and an alternative system is being worked upon under which exporters will directly purchase wheat and rice from the market while government would reimburse them expenses permissible under the WTO, official sources said here.
They said at present, there is a large differential between the price at which the government sells wheat and rice to exporters and the rates at which they are available in the open market.
This differential is shown as WTO compatible subsidies in the records and has helped in large scale offtake for exports from the state godowns. Bureau Report