India may import rice if domestic supplies are inadequate to meet the government’s requirements for the so-called central pool, a minister said.
“The government has assessed the stock position and decided that import of rice for central pool is not required at this stage,” Junior Trade Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said in a written reply to a question in parliament in New Delhi today.
India’s monsoon-sown rice output may decline 18 per cent to 69.45 million tonnes from a record 84.58 million tonnes last year, after a drought in almost half the country ravaged crops, the farm ministry has said.