Madhya Pradesh announces mandi tax waiver to boost export of wheat

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday said that there will be no tax on wheat exported from the state. The announcement came after Chouhan and Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal held a virtual meeting with exporters.

Speaking to ANI, Chouhan said, "There will be no mandi tax imposed on wheat exported from Madhya Pradesh. We will provide all possible facilities to the exporters." With this, the exporters can now buy wheat from mandis or farmers directly, said the Chief Minister.

"Railway Board has assured us to provide racks for wheat export," Chouhan added. Notably, India is in talks with countries like Egypt, Turkey, China, Bosnia, Sudan, Nigeria, Iran and other countries beyond its Asian and South Asian neighbours to export wheat.

According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India is in final talks to start wheat export to Egypt, while discussions are going on with countries like Turkey, China, Bosnia, Sudan, Nigeria, Iran and others to start wheat export. The export of wheat recorded a huge surge at USD 1,742 million during April-January 2021-22, growing 387 per cent over the corresponding period in 2020-21 when it touched USD 340.17 million.

India has reported a wheat export worth USD 2,352.22 million in the last three years, including the first 10 months of the current fiscal 2021-22. In 2019-20, the wheat export was worth USD 61.84 million which rose to USD 549.67 million in 2020-21. Though India is not among the top 10 wheat exporters in the global trade, its rate of growth in exports has surpassed that of other countries, indicating the rapid strides it is taking in reaching new markets worldwide.

India's wheat exports are mainly to neighbouring countries with Bangladesh having the largest share of more than 54 per cent in both volume and value terms in 2020-21. In 2020-21, India entered new wheat markets such as Yemen, Afghanistan, Qatar and Indonesia.