New Delhi, May 14: To control the price hikes at home, the Union Govt. has banned wheat exports with immediate effect as part of its precautionary steps.
The move to ban wheat exports comes after huge crop loss due to a heatwave in March. The government is also under pressure to rein in inflation that surged to 7.79 per cent in April.
Only export shipments for which letters of credit have been issued on or before yesterday’s notification will be allowed, the government said.
Besides, the government will allow exports on requests from other countries, the notification issued by Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said.
The notification said that the government had taken the decision “in order to manage the overall food security of the country and to support the needs of the neighbouring and other vulnerable countries”.
As the second largest wheat producer after China in world, the Global buyers are banking on India- for supplies after the exports from the Black Sea region dropped since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine late last February.
Also, the move is a u-turn two days after the government announced its plans for a big export push.
“The Centre will send trade delegations to Morocco, Tunisia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey, Algeria and Lebanon for exploring possibilities of boosting wheat exports from India. India has set a target of a record 10 million tonnes of wheat in the 2022-23 amid rising global demand for the grain globally,” a government statement said Thursday.
