World Trade Organization Organisation Mondiale du Commerce Organización Mundial del Comercio

Reply: No agricultural product or food item is currently subjected to export tax.

Canada 69:

Report by the Secretariat (WT/TPR/S/249): Part IV. Trade Policies by Selected Sector: (2) Agriculture; (ii) Agricultural policy objectives: (c) Internal measures: paragraph 33, page 133:

The Secretariat's Report indicates that direct or explicit subsidies to agriculture as reported in the Central Government's annual Budget amounted to Rs 1,413.5 billion in 2009/2010 (2.2% of GDP), up from Rs 571.3 billion (1.3% of GDP) in 2006/2007.

69. 
    Can India please indicate if there are specific sub sectors in agriculture benefiting in greater proportion from direct or explicit subsidies, or if those subsidies are directed at the sector as a whole? Are the amounts of these subsidies, reported by the central government, additional to the amounts of subsidies financed by the state governments, as described in paragraphs 41 and 42 (such as subsidies for water, electricity, and seeds)?
    

Reply: There is no separate classification of subsidies to agriculture in the central government Budget. The figure of Rs 1413.5 billion is the total subsidies outgo in 2009 10 and not the explicit subsidies to agriculture alone as incorrectly indicated in the Secretariat's Report.

Canada 70:

Report by the Secretariat (WT/TPR/S/249): Part IV. Trade Policies by Selected Sector: (2) Agriculture; (ii) Agricultural policy objectives: (c) Internal measures: paragraph 36, page 134:

According to the Secretariat's Report, "there is an additional scheme (the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS)) that covers perishables not under the minimum support prices (MSPs). Under the MIS, the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED) and other State designated agencies purchase perishables at a market intervention price (MIP) when the prices decline because of a bumper crop, and distribute the product". Footnote 29, at the end of this sentence, mentions that there have been few interventions since the inception of the program.

70. 
    Can India please elaborate on how it determines the market intervention prices, which commodities have led India to implement a program outside the MSPs, and why it maintains this program if there has been few interventions?
    

Reply: Market intervention prices (MIPs) of perishables are determined taking into consideration estimated cost of production and a bare minimum margin. Perishables for which MIS operations have been carried out during the last five years are: potatoes, arecanut, apples, palm oil, fresh fruit bunches, orange, chillies, ginger, passion fruit, malta and chow chow. These operations have been carried out only in some states based on emergent conditions.