Agri transport and marketing plan extended to dairy, aid hiked

The government on Friday extended the Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) for Specified Agriculture Products Scheme to dairy products and increasing the rates of assistance under the scheme.

Under the TMA scheme, the government reimburses a certain portion of international freight charges to mitigate the disadvantage of high freight costs faced by Indian agriculture produce exporters to faraway places, and provides assistance for their marketing.

The rates of assistance have been increased by 50% for exports by sea and 100% through air, the commerce and industry ministry said in statement.

Dairy products, which were not covered under the earlier scheme, will now be eligible for assistance, it said.

The revised scheme is applicable “for exports effected on or after April 1, 2021, up to March 31, 2022”, the ministry said. “The existing scheme will remain in operation for exports effected up to March 31, 2021.”

The TMA scheme was launched in 2019 to boost exports of agricultural commodities to certain countries in Europe and North America. It was initially applicable for exports effected from March 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020, and was later extended up to March 31, 2021.

The decision comes at a time when a huge surge in shipping freight rates has started impacting Indian exporters. Container freight rates have multiplied several times since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak last year due to an acute global container shortage.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) will shortly notify the procedure for availing assistance under the revised scheme, the ministry said in its statement.