New Delhi: In order to contain inflation, which touched 6.5 per cent recently, the Government has announced a complete ban on export of wheat and milk.
The ban covers all varieties of wheat, including durum and seeds.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in the Commerce Ministry has notified that the ban would remain in force till the end of 2007.
Export of all types of milk, including skimmed milk, milk and milk food for babies and whole milk have also been put on hold by DGFT up to September 30.
The ban on milk products would be lifted earlier than that set for the wheat export hoping that the milk supply would improve, in line with the annual trend at the beginning of winter.
The wheat crop for this season is estimated to be 72.5 million tonnes, a marginal increase over last year's production of 69.5 million tonnes.
Though there were negligible exports of wheat in 2005-06, the ban is meant to ensure that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) would have sufficient stocks this year.
FCI's procurement had seen a sharp decline last year at 9.2 million tonnes from 14.8 million tonnes the previous year, forcing the government to go in for imports.
The free imports of maize is likely to check the rise in prices, which has been triggered by increasing demand from the poultry industry and low production.
Concerned over the rising price level, both the Government and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have in the recent past unleashed a number of steps to curb inflation and money supply.
In a move to curb inflation RBI took complementing steps on Tuesday and hiked the Cash Reserve Ratio by 0.5 per cent to 6 per cent to control money supply in the banking system.
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