Wheat imports undermine India's position in WTO

India is deliberately weakening its bargaining position in WTO by unnecessarily resorting to wheat imports against zero duty and relaxed quarantine norms when the granary is full.

The government has recently estimated that the wheat production in the current year will increase by 1.5% to beat 73.1 million tonne(mt), which is more than sufficient to meet domestic needs. Market arrival of wheat has already begun following the harvest. Despite the slackness of the government agencies in procurement, the stock in the Central pool has increased to over 7 mt in last few days.

The decision to import wheat was taken in February this year, when the stock in the Central pool was 4.8 mt. This was more than sufficient to meet the needs of the public distribution system and other welfare schemes till April, that is the beginning of the harvest season.

The government cited 'rising domestic prices due to shortage' as a pretext for imports. It was a fact that prices of wheat marked a phenomenal rise, particularly in the South in January and February. But it was due to artificial shortage rather than actual shortage. Last year wheat output was 72 mt. The government agencies procured about 18 million tonne. The private trade procured and stocked a substantial amount. In the name of