New Commodity Board
A proposal to form a Cashew Board by merging the activities of Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI) under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry and Cashew Division of the Directorate of Cashew and Cocoa Development (DCCD) of the Ministry of Agriculture is planned. The Planning Commission in this connection had held two meetings on 9th December, 2009 and 14th June, 2011 with the Department of Commerce and the Ministry of Agriculture. Presently, a draft Note in the form of EFC is under preparation of this Ministry for seeking approval of the Expenditure Finance Committee of the Ministry of Finance and the Project Appraisal & Management Committee of the Planning Commission.
Presently, there is no Commodity Board to look after the cashew industry. However, the Directorate of Cocoa & CashewnutDevelopment (DCCD) under the Ministry of Agriculture, looks after production related activities whereas the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI) sponsored by the Department of Commerce, looks after the export related activities of the cashew industry.
Under the Plan scheme in the XI Five Year Plan, the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India was provided an assistance of Rs.9.02 crore for upgrading processing facilities. In addition, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry has put in place various schemes namely Market Development Assistance (MDA), Market Assistance Initiative (MAI), Assistance to State for Development Export infrastructure and Allied Activities (ASIDE), Vishesh Krishi and Gram Upaj Yojana, Focus Product Scheme, Focus Market Scheme, Town of Export Excellence etc. to boost export ofagri products which includes cashew industry also. The foreign exchange earned from export of cashew and allied products during the last three years are given below:-
CASHEW KERNEL | CASHEWNUT SHELL LIQUID | TOTAL (CK+CNSL) | ||||||||
YEAR | Qty | Value | Qty | Value | Qty | Value | ||||
(M.T) | (Rs.Crs) | (M.T) | (Rs.Crs) | (M.T) | (Rs.Crs) | |||||
2008-09 | 109522 | 2988.40 | 9099 | 26.06 | 118621 | 3014.46 | ||||
2009-10* | 117991 | 2801.60 | 11227 | 27.62 | 129218 | 2829.22 | ||||
2010-11* | 91559 | 2598.15 | 11364 | 31.85 | 102923 | 2630.00 | ||||
Source : CEPCI, * : Various Custom Houses | ||||||||||
This information was given by Shri Jyotiradiya M. Scindia, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha