Over-reliance on imports hampers India's edible oil self-sufficiency plan

Dependence on import for meeting the domestic requirements of this mass-consumed kitchen staple has continued to remain untenably high

The government’s recent decision to set up a National Mission on Edible Oils and Oilseeds to achieve self-reliance in edible oils in the next seven years does not inspire enough confidence in meeting the hitherto elusive objective. The reasons for the paucity of optimism on this count are many. For one, oilseed missions of this kind, and with similar mandates, have existed since the mid-1980s, but without much success. In fact, one such mission, called the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), set up in 2021 with an outlay of Rs 11,040 crore, is in operation even now, though