Govt relaxes deadline for duty-free wheat import

The Government on Wednesday extended the deadline for importing duty-free wheat by two public sector companies even as private companies have been barred from doing so after the Feb. 28 deadline expired.

State Trading Corporation (STC) and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) can import 5mn tons of wheat duty-free until the end of April, the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification dated March 13.

DGFT allowed import of 3mn tons of wheat by STC and 2mn tons by FCI at zero duty. Last year, the public sector companies had contracted to import the wheat by March 31, 2007.

India was forced to import grain last year, for the first time in six years, after output fell sharply.