The matter of ban on export of non-basmati white rice reached the Supreme Court

03-Aug-2024 04:41 PM

New Delhi. The Central Government, citing increasing supply and availability in the domestic sector and curbing rising prices, had issued a notification on 20 July 2023 announcing a ban on the commercial export of non-basmati white rice, due to which the goods of many exporters were stuck and they could not get the opportunity to ship it under old contracts.

Indian exporters have been repeatedly demanding the government to lift the ban on the export of white (raw) rice, but when no positive sign came from the government,

an export firm filed a petition in the Supreme Court. In this, the validity of the government notification has been requested to end and the company has been allowed to export rice.

The Supreme Court has accepted this petition of the company for consideration and started trying to know the process of the government on this.

For this, the Central Government, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), National Cooperative Export Limited (NCEL) and other related parties have been asked to present their side.

The petitioner firm has also challenged the notification issued by DGFT in September 2023, which allowed shipment of 75 thousand tonnes of rice to UAE only through NCEL.

The Supreme Court has also issued a notice to the Customs Department. The company has said that before the DGFT notification was issued,

it had purchased 1.30 crore kg of rice which is still lying in the warehouse. Despite receiving payment from importers, rice has not been supplied to it till now.