‘India imported Rs.189 crore worth white poppy seed’

New Delhi, Dec 18: The government has allowed the import of Rs.189.91 crore worth of white poppy seeds in the first six months of the current fiscal.

The information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan to the Rajya Sabha.

According to the minister, the government protects the domestic cultivators of poppy seeds against cheap imports by imposing customs duty and prescribing a minimum tariff value.

"At present, the effective custom duty on imported poppy seeds is 25.42 percent ad valorem and the minimum tariff value is fixed at $4,395 per MT (metric tone),"Natchiappan informed the Rajya Sabha.

The country imported about Rs.189.91 crore of white poppy seeds from April-September amounting to about 8,893 metric tones. India had imported about 1,3209.55 metric tones of white poppy seeds in 2012-13.