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Central police welfare stores body, Kendriya Police Kalyan Bhandar, has withdrawn an order which had put fresh procurement of products on hold, after the government’s decision to sell only “Swadeshi” products at these canteens. The operations of Central Armed Police Force canteens across the country comes under the purview of Kendriya Police Kalyan Bhandar.
This withdrawal of its order comes as a relief for FMCG and consumer product companies, which had been asked to submit details such as whether their products are made in India, whether raw materials are sourced from India or whether their products are imported, by the Central Police Canteen (CPC) department.
Last week, the Ministry of Home Affairs had said that only indigenous products will be sold in CAPF canteens from June 1. Subsequently, the Kendriya Police Kalyan Bhandar issued an order stating that, "it has requested MHA to intimate the criteria of ‘Swadeshi’ in detail."
"Till clear instruction on Swadeshi firms and products is received from MHA, it is hereby directed that all the indents/supply orders be put on hold for all category of item with immediate effect," the order stated. It had also said that supply orders which have already been placed but the supplies have not yet mobilised from the respective firms' wheelhouses should be put on hold or cancelled.
However, in an order issued on Wednesday, Kendriya Police Kalyan Bhandar said that its office letter issued on May 15 on Swadeshi products "may be treated as withdrawn."
Leading consumer product companies had raised concerns, stating that the Central government's call for "Vocal for Local" which emphasises on "Made-in-India" products, was being misinterpreted in some departments.
Kendriya Police Kalyan Bhandar has nearly 446 registered vendors which include both domestic and multi-national companies. FMCG companies, which make large volume of products, almost fully source raw materials from the country to make their products in Indian factories, in a bid to leverage on economies for scale, analysts have pointed out.
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