The Union government is taking measures to protect Indian industry from the fallout of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal informed the Parliament on Friday amid concerns related to stuck payments of Indian exporters following the US sanctions and the surge in global commodity prices.
He added that the government was also monitoring the opportunities that the global crisis opened up for New Delhi.
“Various measures are being taken to ensure payments come on time and businesses do not suffer. In terms of facilitation for importers and exporters, the government is in dialogue with all those who are impacted by the Ukraine Crisis," said Goyal in response to a question in Rajya Sabha on Friday.
He further said that Indian farmers have increased the production of wheat meet rising global demand and that the government was also in dialogue to break into newer markets,
“From 2 lakh metric tonnes two years ago, our exporters have exported 10 times more …wheat last year… and in the current year, we will close the year with over 70 lakh metric tonnes in a year," Goyal said.
India’s wheat exports are projected to jump from 70 lakh metric tonnes in the ongoing fiscal to nearly 100 lakh metric tonnes in the next fiscal after Russia-Ukraine -- which contributed nearly one-third of the global wheat export -- got into an armed conflict from February 24.
Whie Goyal attributed the rising edible oil prices to the Russia Ukraine conflict, he added that the although the imports of sunflower oil were impacted as it largely came from Ukraine, it formed a small portion of India’s edible oil basket.
Mint had reported that Ukraine and Russia accounted for nearly 13% of all of India’s edible oil imports in 2021, supplying 1.6 million tonnes.
“Sunflower oil is a smaller portion of our edible oil basket. In the context of the Ukraine crisis, fortunately, our farmers are doing a great job and we are looking at a robust mustard crop that will give us good quality oil seeds," Goyal further said.
The government is also looking to promote indigenous production through the oil seeds mission. “We will appeal to states to encourage farmers to diversify produce to look at oil seeds apart from traditional crops, Goyal added.
He pointed out that India is able to expand trade due to excellent relations with many countries and that it was important that trade and geopolitics are not mixed. “While one may have an impact on the other….our approach is that trade stands on its own legs. Our national and strategic interests will always be supreme," said Goyal.
