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The Commerce Ministry is examining the possibility of coming up with an early edition of the proposed Agriculture Export Policy with measures to stabilise exports and imports — such as minimising export restrictions instead of waiting for approvals for the financial component of the proposal.
“Since consultations with stakeholders for financial measures take a lot of time, one line of thought in the Ministry is that we leave that for later and put out a draft only on the non-financial component.
“A final call on the matter will be taken by the Commerce Minister,” a government official has said.
Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu had earlier indicated that his Ministry will put up the draft Agriculture Export Policy online at the earliest so that all stakeholders can give their comments on the matter. This would ensure the final policy includes the best suggestions.
“If it is decided that the policy will be segregated into two, we will waste no time in circulating the draft of the first part of the policy that will not contain fiscal measures. The idea is to do all that we can as soon as possible,” the official said.
Once the financial measures get the nod from all the relevant departments and ministries, the second part of the policy could be announced, he added.
Less attractive
Some in the Ministry feel an Agriculture Export Policy without any fiscal announcements will not be very attractive and the government should wait to announce the entire policy as a whole.
However, other officials argue that there are some reforms that do not need any expenditure but can result in gains if implemented well.
For instance, the government is actively looking at doing away with imposing export restrictions in the form of minimum export prices (MEP) for non-essential items such as onions, tomatoes and potatoes.
“We want to consult all stakeholders on what the list of non-essential items should be, where there shouldn’t by any MEP. The sooner we put up our draft online the faster we will get comments,” the official said.
Value addition
Similarly, other non-fiscal measures which could be announced early are ways to promote value added exports, which would include re-orienting boards to focus more on value addition.
Prabhu earlier said that the Agriculture Export Policy will serve to double farmers’ income and also give them a choice of a large numbers of buyers for their produce.
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