According to Mr. P Chandrashekhara Reddy, Sr. V.P. Sales and Marketing, Gemini Edibles & Fats India Ltd. “Central government has been mentioning for the past few years regarding increasing the domestic production of oil seeds to reduce the dependence on imported edible oils. To this effect there was an increase in MSP of certain oil seeds recently. In this budget, there is mention that five oils seeds such as ground nut, sesame, mustard, soyabean and sunflower oil seeds for Atmanirbharta in edible oils and a priority for the government to work on production, warehousing and marketability.
Edible oil Industry firmly believes that to increase the production of these oil seeds at a faster pace, is only possible by increasing the prices of edible oils by increasing the customs duty on imported edible oils to motivate the farmer to switch from other crops to cultivation of oil seeds. Also, the support would be required to provide high yielding seeds for a better output of oil seeds. It will be interesting to note how these concerns are addressed through the initiatives of transforming agriculture research as mentioned in the budget.
There is no mention of customs duty on edible oil in today’s budget. However, we need to read the fine print to make a final comment.
India requires 24 Mn Tonnes of Edible Oils per annum. The domestic production is around 8 Mn Tonnes therefore India imports almost 16 Mn Tonnes of edible oil primarily comprising of Palm Oil, Sunflower Oil and Soyabean Oil. This implies that India is importing 60-65 percent of the requirement of edible oils which is huge. This requires very resolute decisions along with huge investment in research to increase farm yields for edible oil crops to make it viable alternative crop for the farmers.”
