Govt may rollback import duty on wheat: Paswan

At present, import of wheat attracts a 25 per cent duty, which is applicable till June 30. Despite expected increase in production this crop year, the prices have shown a rising trend over the past few weeks.

“The government is keeping a close watch on wheat prices. So keeping in mind the recent rise in price trend of wheat, we can rollback the import duty on wheat. We don’t want extra burden on consumers,” Paswan said.

He added that wheat  procurement is so far down by 50 lakh tonnes to 229 lakh tonnes compared with 280 lakh tonnes in the year ago period. In March, the government had extended the import duty on wheat by another three months, till June, to curb imports as domestic production is estimated to rise by over 8 per cent this year.