State-owned trading firms PEC and STC have floated tenders inviting Indian companies to ship three lakh tonnes of non-basmati rice to Bangladesh.
Though India had banned exports of non-basmati rice in April 2008, the government has permitted exports of three lakh tonnes of the rice to Bangladesh on diplomatic grounds and at a concessional rate.
The tender by the state-run trading firms comes within a few days after Bangladesh Food Minister Mohammad Abdur Razzaqe met Food Minister K V Thomas to resolve the prices and quality issues of the grain.
"Now, we have agreed on this price at Rs 20,200 per tonne and also on the condition that rice would be inspected at Kakinada port," Razzaque had said.
Bangladesh had earlier insisted that the quality inspection should be done at its ports. However, India did not agree to the demand because of repeated instances of rejections of the consignment.
As per the tender specifications, the bidder has to transport 3,00,000 tonnes of non-basmati rice (par-boiled) from various FCI godowns in and around Kakinada Port in Andhra Pradesh to Chittagong and/ or Mongla Port in Bangladesh.
After bagging the contract, the succesful bidder will have to ship the consignment within 100 days.