Stock Limits and Movement Restrictions on Specified Foodstuffs (Amendment) Order, 2021 has been issued with immediate effect from July 2, 2021
New Delhi: In an effort to crackdown on prices of essential commodities like pulses, Government of India today issued an order where it has imposed stock limits on pulses applicable to wholesales, retailers, millers and importers. The Removal of Licensing Requirements, Stock Limits and Movement Restrictions on Specified Foodstuffs (Amendment) Order, 2021 has been issued with immediate effect from today.
Under this order, stock limits have been prescribed for all pulses except Moong until 31st October 2021 for all States/Union Territories. Stock limit will be 200 MT (provided there should not be more than 100 MT of one variety) for wholesalers, 5 MT for retailers and it will be the last 3 months of production or 25% of annual installed capacity, whichever is higher, for the millers. Lastly, for importers, the stock limit will be the same as that of wholesaler for stocks held/imported prior to 15th May 2021 and for stocks imported after 15th May 2021, stock limit applicable on wholesalers will apply after 45 days from date of customs clearance. It has also been stated that if the stocks of entities exceed the prescribed limits, they have to be declared on the online portal (fcainfoweb.nic.in) of Department of Consumer Affairs and have to be brought within the prescribed limit within 30 days of the notification of this order.
It may be mentioned that in March-April, 2021, there was a sustained increase in the price of pulses. The need for an urgent policy decision was felt to send the right signal to the market. “For the first time ever, a mechanism has been adopted to declare the real time stock of pulses all over the country, for keeping a check on the undesirable practice of hoarding, which leads in turn to artificial scarcity and price escalation,” the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution stated. It informed that in order to enable real-time monitoring of the prices of the pulses and ensure transparency, a web portal has been developed by the government to declare the stocks held by different stockholders. States/UTs were requested by the government on 14th May 2021 to register and declare the pulses stocks of Millers, importers, dealers and stockists under the EC Act, 1955. “This step has received a positive response as so far there have been 7001 registrations and stocks worth 28.31 lakh MT have been declared,” it said.
Simultaneously, to enhance the domestic availability and smoothen the inflow of pulses import, changes have been made in import policy by shifting Tur, Urad and Moong from restricted category to free category for the period from 15th May 2021 to 31st October 2021. Additionally, 5-year MoUs have been signed with Myanmar for annual import of 2.5 LMT of Urad and 1 LMT of Tur, with Malawi for annual import of 1 LMT of Tur, and MoU with Mozambique for annual import of 2 LMT Tur has been extended by another 5 years. These MoUs will ensure predictability in the quantity of pulses being produced abroad and exported to India, thus benefiting both India and the pulse exporting country.
Moreover, to soften the prices of edible oils, a mechanism has been institutionalized involving nodal offices of the Customs department, FSSAI, Plant Quarantine division to monitor the speedy clearance of food commodities like Crude Palm Oil (CPO) at shipping ports. Also, to protect the interest of consumers, the duty of CPO has been cut by 5% from 30th June 2021 until 30th September 2021. Pertinently, this reduction is only valid until September as the government is committed to protecting the interest of its farmers as well. This reduction will bring down the effective tax rate on CPO to 30.25% from the earlier 35.75% and will, in turn, bring down the retail prices of edible Oils. Further, the duty on Refined palm oil/Palmolein has been reduced to 37.5% from 45%.
A revised import policy for Refined Bleached Deodorized (RBD) Palm Oil and RBD Palmolein has been put in place from 30th June 2021 under which they have been removed from restricted to free category. To further support streamlined and smooth processes at the ports, particularly to speed up clearances delayed due to COVID-19, Standard Operating Procedure for faster clearance of consignments of imports of pulses and edible oils have been prepared. The average dwell time for clearances of consignments has come down to 6.9 days from 10 to 11 days in case of pulses and 3.4 days in case of edible oils.
– global bihari bureau
