Cashew Industry

The Kerala government on Wednesday decided to bear a portion of the PF and ESI payments of the private cashew companies in an effort to revive the crisis-hit industry in the southern state. State Industries Minister P Rajeev while launching eight new value-added cashew products by the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation (KSCDC) for the Onam market here, said the government has also decided to bear 50 per cent of the loan interest burden of these factories and has reached a settlement with the banks to write off all interest and compound interest on Non-Performing Assets of cashew factories. "Now the government has intervened with the banks, and the banks are now ready to write off the penal interest and the accumulated interest, and they are ready to settle these NPAs by settling 50 per cent of the amount of the loan up to Rs 2 crore and 60 per cent of the principal amount up to Rs 10 crore," Rajeev told PTI. He said the Kerala cashews produced by the KSCDC and Kerala State

The United States is a distant second, accounting for 10-15 per cent of global consumption

Most units will not take in fresh kernels and will only work on partially-processed stocks lying with them

Cashew Export Promotion Council of India was asked to file an anti-dumping investigation request with the DGTR

The increase in costs is due to a hike in import duty on raw cashew kernels from 45 per cent to 70 per cent, in the Union Budget for 2019-20

The industry had earlier sought the govt to look at the issues related to the higher wages and bonus and bring in some conditions so that the wage levels in effect can come down