The Union Commerce ministry has abolished the compulsory registration rule for groundnut shelling units to export to countries outside the European Union (EU).The move, industry sources say, may increase groundnut shipments from India.
Till now, exporters had to buy groundnut from shelling units registered with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) while shelling units had to get themselves registered through Indian Oilseed and Produce Export Promotion Council (IOPEPC). This rule was made applicable in 2013.
However, many shelling units from Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh had opposed this rule and were engaged in several discussions with Commerce ministry and APEDA pressing for its removal.
“We met Union Commerce minister, commerce secretary and APEDA chairman few times and informed them that compulsory registration is not necessary and export is going good without it. Thankfully, the officials agreed and removed the rule,” said Mukund Shah, president, Gujarat Oilseeds Processors Association (GOPA).
GOPA has been against compulsory registration since the beginning.Shah said, “Many shelling units are doing business seasonally and for them, registration process is costly. Moreover, because of this rule, many illegal transactions were being undertaken to match export requirements.”
As per the department of commerce letter to APEDA and IOPEPC, exporters would be allowed to purchase from unregistered shelling units or open market for exporting to countries outside the EU. Raw material, however, has to be mandatorily processed from APEDA grading, shelling-cum-grading and processing units.
According to the letter, if any unit wants to get registered, they need not go to IOPEPC and can get directly registered with APEDA.Kishore Tanna, chairman, IOPEPC said, "The rule was created to ensure quality but many players were not ready to register themselves. Number of registered shelling units is very low and looking at the demand of shelling units seeking removal of compulsory registration, IOPEPC held discussions with the concerned authority."
About 250 shelling units out of 4,000 are presently registered with IOPEPC.“Rise in export depends on production and demand but new rules will definitely benefit small shelling units in India,” said Vikram Duvani, managing director of Junagadh-based Rachana Seeds.India exported about 512,000 tonne of groundnut in 2013-14 and in the current financial year, shipments are estimated to touch 700,000 tonne.
Shah said, "Due to compulsory registration, exporters purchase only from registered units but now the market is open and this is expected to boost groundnut exports from India. But, it is too early to predict about rise in exports as it depends on the demand and supply scenario.”
Source:- business-standard.com
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