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Rice millers and exporters are disillusioned with the Director-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT)'s move of ‘devising deficient procedures' for rice exports, though the Delhi High Court have stayed the measures, said Mr Vinod Agarwal, president of AP Rice Exporters' Association.
In a statement issued here on Friday, he pleaded with the DGFT to take quick steps to get the matter cleared in the Court and expedite rice exports.
It may be noted that the division bench of the Delhi High Court stayed the operation of DGFT notification of July 19, 2011, for export of non-basmati rice on Tuesday due to some anomalies in registration procedures and other problems.
Mr Agarwal said on Wednesday that despite orders of the Court not to allocate any quota before the next hearing on August 10, the DGFT has listed parties on its Web site — many of them of not related to rice trade and several others who have cornered the quota through sister companies or intermediaries. Instead of Indian non-basmati rice being traded internationally, quota trading has started domestically even though the matter is sub judice, he alleged.
The export procedures formulated by the DGFT were bound to be stayed by any judicial intervention, he alleged, as they provided enough scope for brokers, agents and middlemen to manipulate.
“Therefore, the purpose of opening exports of one million tonnes of rice stands defeated for the time being. AP needs to clear huge tonnage of rice from existing stocks — even 2-3 million tonnes could be made available for export — to mitigate distress of farmers and millers,” he said.
Mr Agarwal said the AP Rice Exporters' Association was of the opinion that non-basmati rice exports could be notified on OGL with quantity being monitored through customs feedback, defining ports as Chennai, Kakinada, Vizag, Krishnapatnam, Mumbai, Kandla, Mundra.
Registration of allocations may be made through DGFT or APEDA with 10 per cent bank guarantee on MEP of $400 fob on first-come, first-served basis, keeping maximum allocation to 12,500 tonnes.
Insistence of 10 per cent bank guarantee would limit applications of fake parties who perhaps want to encash quotas by brokering them for a premium, he said. “There is no need to modify the guidelines already approved by EGOM — but only a revised procedure to be detailed for fair play and equity. It should stand judicial scrutiny. The sooner the DGFT resolves the issue with the court, the better it is for all,” he added.
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