Centre may put temporary restrictions on rice, cotton exports

India may consider imposing temporary restrictions on exports of widely consumed non-basmati rice and cotton, whose prices are at historic high making fabrics costlier.

The move may be considered to control runaway inflation, which is nearing 8 per cent, a whopping two percentage points above the target India has set for itself.

"It is in the realm of consideration but any decision to this effect will be taken only after watching the monsoon behaviour. A good rice harvest is necessary this year because there is too much pressure on rice crop in the free food distribution scheme after tweaking the proportion of wheat and rice in the scheme," a source in the know of the development said.

The Centre will distribute over 6 million tonnes more rice than wheat to states from June this year to March 2023.

He said India has emerged as the biggest rice exporter in the past few years, if need be some can be saved for domestic use but it is too early to decide on those lines.

India's non-basmati rice exports grew by nearly 110 per cent to $6.11billion in 2021-22.

On cotton exports, too, the source said, the Centre has got a lot of representation saying there has been a reduction in the area of cultivation and yield. The prices of cotton have doubled compared to last year. Traders and millers are demanding a temporary ban.

"The government is still discussing their problem and whether a short-period restriction can help," he said.

The government's one-point agenda is now to control inflation by at least one percentage point without hurting economic growth. All decisions will be centred to that," the source said.