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Economic Highlights
Revenue Shortfall, But……:No More New Taxes, Plug Loopholes, by Dr.Vinod Mehta,15 December 2005 |
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ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS
New Delhi, 15 December 2005
Revenue Shortfall, But……
No More New Taxes, Plug Loopholes
By Dr.Vinod Mehta
The
economy is buoyant, yet the total revenue collections this financial year again
may fall short of the expectations. This
has almost become an annual feature now. The economy keeps growing and so does
the deficit, while the revenues do not increase in the same proportion as the
economy grows. The shortfall in revenue collection ultimately affects social
spending and development of infrastructure. It is being apprehended that the
Finance Minister may raise the indirect taxes or may bring in more transactions
under the tax net: For instance, it is reported that the Finance Minister is
thinking of bringing some more financial services in the ambit of tax. But that
will not solve the problem.
There could be a number of reasons for shortfall in revenue
collection, which may vary from year to year like recession in the industrial
sector or shortfall in agricultural production. But one factor that has been
constant for the last five decades is the tax evasion. There are so many
loopholes in the tax system that allows people and organizations to evade taxes
with impunity.
There are no reliable estimates of the extent of tax evasion
in this country. But available studies
on black money show that the size of such money has grown significantly over
the past many years. If this tax evasion
were checked, the Finance Minister would never be faced with shortfall in tax
collection and would have a very low or zero deficit. Therefore, the Finance Minister instead of
resorting to increase in tax rates, bringing in more transactions under the tax
net or coming out with amnesty schemes, should find other means to increase the
revenue collection. One such way is to
plug the loopholes, which encourages tax evasion. The current budgetary exercise may address
this question.
Tax evasion is there almost in every country. But the degree
varies. Most of it occurs when
transactions are done in cash and never recorded. This has been the experience of many
countries. So, some of them have come
out with measures that discourage cash transactions and encourage recorded
transactions. One such mechanism has
been the use of debit and credit cards combined with payment through banking
mechanism. The use of credit and debit
cards is increasing in India
and needs to be further encouraged.
It has
been reported that the Republic
of Korea has been using
debit cards and credit cards very effectively to curb tax evasion. The South Korean Government allows 10% rebate
in taxes if the payments are made through credit/debit cards. This is an idea which needs to be adapted to
Indian conditions. The Finance Minister should come out with such a provision,
which encourages cashless transaction.
As a
first measure it may be made mandatory that all salaries above a certain
amount, say, Rs. 10000 per month, both
in the public and in the private sectors, be directly credited to individuals’
accounts in their respective banks.
Secondly, payments above a certain amount may also be made mandatory
through debit/credit cards and through cheques or bank drafts. It is better
than taxing money withdrawals. With electronic banking gaining importance,
transfers through banking mechanism will become as easy as receiving or making
payments by cash. In most of the
countries the use of debit and credit cards for making and receiving payments
has reached a point that for buying even one small ball pen payment is made
through credit/debit card.
Similarly,
the payment for the sale and purchase of immovable property, various kinds of
consumer goods and services beyond a certain stipulated amount should also be
made mandatory through banking channels.
While doing so the Finance Minister will not only be plugging one of the
biggest loopholes leading to tax evasion but would also reduce the need for
ready cash and hence the printing of currency notes on a large scale.
The
biggest chunk of black money is invested in real estate and gold. The
circulation of black money in the housing sector is beyond someone’s
imagination. Since the house tax is based on the current purchase price only
one fourth of the money is paid by cheque
and the rest in unaccounted cash. Even the honest buyer of flats/houses
is forced to pay in black money to acquire a flat or a house.
Additionally
the Finance Minister by encouraging use of plastic money for purchasing foreign
currency for making payments abroad would also be curbing hawala racket
that has been responsible for all the illegal and terrorist activities in this
country.
As the debit and credit cards are now becoming important,
the Finance Minister had wisely relaxed last year the rules pertaining to the
purchase of foreign exchange by individuals and organizations. Since the money in foreign exchange can be
withdrawn by an individual in any part of the world from its own personal
account, or make payment for goods or services purchased abroad against
debit/credit card, it will immediately get recorded automatically. If the money so withdrawn is up to the limit
laid down by the RBI no question need be asked.
However, if the money so withdrawn in foreign exchange exceeds the
amount laid down by the RBI only then the person may be asked to inform the RBI
as to the purpose for which the foreign exchange was used.
The tax amnesty schemes in the past have not been helpful in
checking tax evasion and curbing the black money in this country. It has only punished the honest tax payers.
So long as cash transactions continue to be made tax evasion will continue to
be there and black money will continue to be generated. It is high time the Finance Minister starts
thinking in terms of developing mechanism to encourage recorded transactions
instead of cash transactions. With computers all around, it would be much
easier to administer cashless transactions rather than cash transactions and
thus check tax evasion to a significant extent.
It appears that the Income Tax Department has already done
much of the homework and it is being made mandatory to quote PAN number while
making deposits above a certain amount.
But this needs to be followed rigorously. There should not be another
tax amnesty scheme. But the Finance Minister’s emphasis should be on checking
the growth of black money and penalize the tax evaders.
Also, efforts should be made to do something to reduce stamp
duty, property taxes as well as other kinds of taxes to encourage recorded
transactions.
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
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Economy on Upswing:Sustaining High Growth Rate, by Dr. Vinod Mehta,29 November 2005 |
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ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS
New Delhi, 29 November 2005
Economy on Upswing
Sustaining
High Growth Rate
By Dr. Vinod Mehta
India’s economy is enjoying a high rate
of growth for the past few years, despite not-so-good performance of the
agricultural sector. The current rate of growth is around 7% with the
manufacturing sector booming. The agricultural sector is also expected to
perform well. The Finance Minister feels that this growth rate can be pushed to
8% provided we increase investment as well as push FDI. The Deputy Chairman of
the Planning Commission feels that this growth rate can be pushed to 10% but
the coalition politics is coming in the way.
The economy is on the upswing. It is not only the
computer software sector but the traditional manufacturing sector like steel,
cement etc., which is leading the upswing.
The economists believe that the upswing in the manufacturing sector will
continue. The National Council of
Applied Economic Research has already projected the GDP to grow by about 7%
during the next three years. The
manufacturing sector is expected to grow by more than 6.21%, infrastructure by
6.54% while mining and construction by 5.89%.
The farm sector which saw a decline of 3.1% in 2003 is expected to grow,
which in business terms implies increased demand for manufactured products in
the coming years.
Apart from this, the economic reforms of the past one and a
half decade have made the Indian industry by and large competitive in the
international market. With foreign
exchange regulations being relaxed in a phased manner, the Indian industry is
acquiring manufacturing units abroad.
Some have started acquiring new technologies to stay competitive. For instance, the Indian motor parts
manufacturers were initially opposed to the inclusion of motor parts in the FTA
(free trade area) between India
and Thailand,
but now when it has been signed, they are now scouting for new processes and
technologies in the South East Asian and other countries.
At the moment, India
and China are enjoying
relatively high growth rates China
around 9% and India
7%. This has particularly attracted the
attention of foreign investors who wish to set up manufacturing bases in India or invest
in the service sector. This is high time
that we have a foreign direct investment (FDI) policy which covers all the
sectors of the economy, except for those sectors where the state feels that
there should be no foreign investment, as in the case of atomic power.
Foreign direct investment in the manufacturing,
infrastructure and other sectors of the economy is much better than commercial
borrowing or investment in scripts by foreign institutional investors. The investment by foreign institutional
investors (FII) could be considered as hot money which can be withdrawn
by them at any time depending upon their judgment of the economic scene. The FDI in manufacturing, infrastructure etc.
leads to the creation of assets which will remain within the territorial
boundaries of the country if, the foreign investor wishes to withdraw from the
company for some reasons.
At the moment there is no single policy on FDI and there is
some kind of ad hocism in it. It
varies from sector to sector. In
insurance business, the FDI cap is 26%; in the banking sector been set at 74%; in certain cases 100%
foreign equity is allowed while there is automatic approval in some cases where
foreign equity participation is up to 51%.
There are certain areas like real estate where no FDI is allowed at the
moment.
Moreover, foreign companies are not as yet allowed to take
over sick companies. There are a number
of them in the textile sector, bicycle manufacturing sector or there are
individual public sector undertakings like pharmaceuticals and photo films
which could be allowed to be taken over by foreign companies with salutary
effect. This will not only bring in new
technology and new management system but also turn them into profitable units.
In the past the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB)
has been a big failure in attracting
foreign investment. As early as
in 1997, while speaking at the plenary session of the Economic Summit,
organized by the CII and World Economic Forum, the then Industry Minister observed: ”Foreign funds can find their own
direction. It is my personal opinion
that the FIPB must go. There should be
no Central interference in matters related to inflow of investment.” Last
year an Investment Commission was set up
to advise the Government on FDI, while the role of FIPB was changed. But the
observations of the former Industry Ministry on the FDI are still relevant.
Sometime back the
Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) is already reported to
have made a proposal to allow a maximum
of 76% stake in the form of FDI across all the sectors, including the real
estate. This is as good as 100% FDI as
it will allow full management control to the foreign firm. But at the same time
it will also be obliged to disclose its financial results; at the moment 100%
owned foreign companies are not expected to make any disclosures.
The other feature of DIPP proposal is that the balance of
24% equity would have to be sold to the Indian public. It means that the Indian investor will be
allowed to share the prosperity of the foreign firm. But it is much more than that—24% equity to
Indian public means that the liquid stock (shares that are regularly
bought and sold in the share market) will grow which is not only good for the
stock exchanges but also for the widening of the share market. It may also have positive impact on mutual
funds and the proposed pension funds.
If we can have such a policy as proposed by the DIPP with
suitable modifications, one can expect a large inflow of FDI into India. The timing is very important; and that time is here! The economy has
finally come out of the Hindu Growth Rate (about 3%) and FDI can provide the
necessary push.
It may be mentioned that not only the developing countries
but also the developed countries are looking for opportunities to increase inflow
of FDI. A study prepared by the FICCI
three years ago stated that countries like Germany
and France
still allow investment allowance or accelerated depreciation to foreign direct
investors. China grants 10-year tax incentive
to promote firms engaged in infrastructure, energy sector and knowledge
industry. South Korea provides special
incentives for capital investments. Countries like the Netherlands, Denmark,
Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg provide tax incentives; they follow the
concept of group taxation.
If India encourages FDI it will not be doing something
unusual or against its own interest. The
FDI in the current context would mean creation of assets, creation of more jobs
and competitive economy; it is also likely to contribute significantly to the
exchequer in the form of direct and indirect taxes. Therefore, the Left parties
as well as opposition parties should have a realistic approach to FDI and
should welcome it in almost all the sectors, including real estate and retail
except for certain sensitive areas like atomic energy.
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
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Creating More Jobs:NEED FOR LONG-TERM STRATEGY, by Dr. Vinod Mehta,24 November 2005 |
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ECO ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS
New Delhi, 24 November 2005
Creating More Jobs
NEED FOR LONG-TERM
STRATEGY
By Dr. Vinod Mehta
The UPA Government had promised to create more jobs
under the Common Minimum Programme (CMP). It has been in power for almost one
and a half year and we have yet to see the results. Generally speaking, increase in the level of
investment will generate more jobs in the country, but it will not guarantee
generation of more jobs on its own. People are already talking of jobless
growth.
The time, however, is ripe to devise strategies, both
at the local and national levels, which lead to the creation of more jobs
without resulting in mass migration of population from village/towns to large
cities. Manufacturing sector is growing and the rate of growth is around 7 per
cent. Many economists are of the view that we can sustain this growth rate in
the coming years.
It is common knowledge that about 74 per cent of the
population lives in rural areas and 26 per cent in urban areas. In urban areas
the problem of unemployment is not acute; it is serious mainly in rural
areas. The sheer size of the urban
population in metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata or Chennai provide many job opportunities, more so in
the unorganized sector. There is so much demand for various kinds of labour and
services that anyone looking for a job can find some work even if it may not be
to one’s liking; the labour that migrates to these areas is bound to find some
work.
It is a different matter that unregulated migrations
leads to many problems in urban areas, like emergence of slums, increase in
crime rate and so on but which needs to be checked. But the real challenge of generating
employment is in smaller towns and villages where the size of the population is
so small that there are hardly any opportunities for generating remunerative
employment. Setting up of factories or small businesses does not make any
economic sense; where there are no factories or workshops the demand for labour
is almost nil. Again the total population of the area is so small that it does
not make economic sense to provide services or generate some kind of a work in
these areas.
According to the latest Census figures, out of a
total number of 5,88,781 villages, 2,90,093, i.e. about 50per cent, have
population less than 1,000. The number of villages having population between
1,000 and 2,000 is 1,14,395; the number of villages with population between
2,000 and 5,000 is 62,915; for villages with population between 5,000 and 10,000,
the number is 10,597 and the number of villages with over 10,000 population is
2,779. It means that for 70 per cent of the villages the size of the population
is less than 2,000.
What impact can it
have on employment generation?
For one you cannot make massive investments as it would not be able to
reap any economies of scale. It will not be able to supply the required skilled
or semi-skilled labour. The demand for services from the villagers will not be
enough to provide job opportunities. This means that the demand factor will
also not work. Thus there will be almost nil opportunities for young people of
these villages to find jobs even in the unorganized sector. This problem is
acute in the North-East.
In other countries, the rural population is small
while urban population is very large. Less than 25 per cent of the population is in rural areas. A large
number of jobs are being created in the service sector, followed by the
manufacturing sector. (Even though some of the services are being outsourced by
these countries, it has also been noticed that some of the affected employees
are also migrating to the developing countries.) Therefore, the employment
opportunities are relatively more in these countries than in a country like India where the
population is overwhelmingly rural. It is a sheer challenge how to generate
employment in areas where the population is less than 2000.
Therefore, the Government will have to have some kind
of a strategy to generate employment in these villages in the coming years. One
of the ways to overcome this situation would be to club these villages into
viable economic zones on the basis of some economic criteria before making
investment in these areas. Most of the activities may be centred around food
processing of various agricultural products, including milk and milk products
and smaller workshops, production units etc.
For instance, the Government can help these villages
to start food processing and marketing cooperatives, start small repair and
maintenance workshops to attend to repair of mechanical equipments, to set up
cold storages etc., which in turn will raise employment opportunities for the
local people both in the organized as well as the unorganized sector.
The second equally important point is to link all
these villages with towns and metropolitan cities with all-weather good quality
roads. This will help the rural people from these villages to take their
products to nearby towns and metropolitan cities where there is a market for
their products. Good roads can
facilitate the to- and-fro movement of
labour on daily basis to nearby towns where they are bound to find some
work. Once these villages are linked by
good roads many of the companies in the private sector may find it economical
to procure their raw materials or outsource their work from these places. They
may even come forward to set up small units.
Large-scale investment does not mean that one put in
big money and set up bigger projects. Large-scale investment also means that
one spreads out investment all over and helps people to engage in meaningful
economic activity. Food-for-work programme is not just enough. What is needed
is gainful employment on a sustained basis. This means easy movement of
agricultural and other products from one place to another and easy to-and-fro
movement of labour from village to nearby towns.
In the long run, however, the emphasis will have to
shift from creation of jobs in the agricultural sector to creation of jobs in
manufacturing and service sector. The experience of developed countries shows
that more jobs are created in the non-agricultural sector. Therefore, the
creation of jobs in the rural sector can at best be a medium term solution to
unemployment problem.
The urban renewal mission and the Bharat Nirman
mission for rural India,
apart from creating assets, need to focus on creation of jobs on a large scale.
Mix of appropriate strategies, both at the micro level and the macro level, can
do wonders.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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Towards Common Market:Cooperation within SAARC Countries, by Dr. Vinod Mehta,16 November 2005 |
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ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS
New Delhi, 16 November 2005
Towards Common Market
Cooperation within SAARC Countries
By Dr. Vinod Mehta
The 13th South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit
ended on a positive note in Dhaka. The leaders
agreed not only to curb terrorism but also to increase economic cooperation
among themselves and fight poverty in the region. Hopefully the SAFTA (South
Asia Free Trade Area) would now take off, which is in the interest of all the
member-countries.
Narasimha Rao’s Congress Government
initiated the move, called Look-East policy but it was mainly confined to
South-East Asian countries, especially the ASEAN. Now that India has
established good relations with ASEAN it is high time that we also look at our
neighborhood and try to work for a common market in the coming years.
The relations between India and Pakistan
appear to be improving and hopefully would not come in the way of trade and
economic relations between India
and other SAARC countries. The potential of trade and economic links with Nepal, Bhutan,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives are very high. It has been
stated in this column on two occasions just before the Agra Summit that both India and Pakistan stand to gain immensely
from trade and so also other countries. Together these countries constitute a
vast market to tap and there is a demand for each others’ products.
Let us not become hyper-sensitive on being labeled as ‘big
brother’ by some quarters in these countries. Both territory-wise as well as
population-wise India
is relatively much bigger than all the SAARC countries taken together. In
economic terms also, India
is very large; it is one huge market perhaps of the size of EEC. Its GDP is
much higher than those of its neighbours and at the moment it is enjoying a
very large and comfortable volume of foreign exchange reserves that it had not
seen in the last 50 years. The Indian economy is by and large growing at an
average rate of 6 to 7% per annum, which may not be good but is also not bad.
Therefore, at this stage India
can afford to be more liberal towards its neighbors than what it had been.
Apart from economic gains India is
looking for, it should also aim at earning the goodwill of the people of these
nations by being more accommodative to them. At this stage of our economic
development, we can also afford to allow duty free imports of certain selected
items from some of them. In fact, I had argued on similar lines more than a
decade ago in this column. At the moment, Bangladesh
is having adverse trade balance with India. Whether this measure will
help reduce the adverse trade balance of Bangladesh
vis-à-vis India
has yet to be seen, but it will have good impact on the relations between two
countries.
One would like to say that India should show similar gesture to other
neighbouring countries, especially Nepal,
Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives, and allow their products
to have an access to Indian markets in a big way. Let’s not get paranoid by the
fact that the goods from these countries would flood the Indian market. Their
production bases are so small that it will call for huge investment before they
can produce goods on a scale which can flood the Indian market. In fact, after
liberalization many Indian companies have shifted their production bases to some of these
countries.
At the moment, India’s
external trade is mainly oriented towards OECD countries and some West Asian
countries. ASEAN countries would come
second. The trade turnover between India and the individual SAARC
countries is so small that it does not attract attention even in our annual
Economic Surveys.
A few years ago it was said that the
cheap Chinese goods would swamp the Indian market when India would
open up its economy. The Chinese goods entered the Indian market in a big way
but had to beat a retreat as the quality of Chinese goods was low that the
Indian consumer did not accept it even though they were relatively cheaper.
Compared to China, our South
Asian neighbours are small in every respect and unlike China would not
be able to dump their goods on the Indian market.
There are also several additional opportunities to expand
cooperation with the SAARC nations. For instance, the tourist sector within the
SAARC region has been neglected for a very long time. Tourism sector has low
capital investment but relatively high earning potential. At one point of time
there was an idea to start daily air services to link the capitals of all the
SAARC countries. That the idea has been revived is welcome. We can learn from
the ASEAN experience. All the ASEAN capitals are linked by air and they have
special low fares for travel within ASEAN countries. In fact India is
prepared to have open sky policy with SAARC countries provided they also
reciprocate.
Apart from this wherever possible rail, road and sea links
must be strengthened among the SAARC countries. With Nepal
and Bangladesh we can
develop world class road and rail links for speedy movement of goods and
people, extending beyond their borders to China,
Myanmar and Thailand. With Sri Lanka, Maldives
and with Bangladesh
we can develop sea links
India has also taken a lead in admitting
more members. The Dhaka Summit has
admitted Afghanistan
as a new member. We should work to admit China and Central Asian countries
as dialogue partners. It is India
which can again take the initiative in this direction by lobbying with SAARC
countries. Even if it calls for amending the original SAARC Charter, India should be
able to carry the other members along with it on this issue.
Afghanistan at the moment is engaged in
reconstructing its economy. It not only needs humanitarian aid but also trade
to put its economy on a strong footing in the long run. Now it would be more
easier for countries like Nepal,
Bhutan, Bangladesh and India
to send goods to Afghanistan by road through Pakistan. It would then be difficult for Pakistan to
block transit facilities to Afghanistan.
As for the land, locked Central Asian nations like
Uzbekistan, Tajikististan, Kyrghistan and Kazakhstan, they are also looking for
trade opportunities through land routes with India. If they become dialogue
partners or associate members of the SAARC, then Pakistan will find it
profitable to allow the movement of Central Asian goods to India, Nepal and
Bangladesh through its territory and vice-versa.
It is high time India plays an active role in the SAARC by
winning over its small neighbouring countries and allowing duty free to India
some of their goods which they feel are important for them. In the long run, India will benefit by large
trade turnover within the region.--- INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
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India’s White Revolution:Dairy Industry Should be Global Player, by Dr. Vinod Mehta,Nov 10, 05 |
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ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS
New Delhi, November 10, 2005
India’s White Revolution
Dairy Industry Should be Global Player
By Dr. Vinod Mehta
Thanks
to the Operation Flood Programme, India has today emerged the largest
producer of milk in the world and will retain this position in the coming
years. In 1950-51 the country was
producing only 17 million tonnes of milk, while in 2003-2004 its production
reached the level of 92 million tonnes; the projection is 114 million tonnes in
2010 and 138 million tonnes in 2015.
However,
behind this dry statistics lies the fact that this increased milk production
has also brought about a social change in the rural sector by way of dairy
cooperatives which put reasonable earnings in the hands of the poorest of the
families owning one or two cattle only.
There are more than 77,500 Dairy Cooperative Societies organized in more
than 170 milk sheds involving over 10 million farmer members. A major feature of our white revolution is
that the Government has ensured that a large percentage of the total milk
produced in the country is made available to the general public as fresh liquid
milk.
With
the opening of the agricultural sector under the WTO agreement, fears were being
expressed that all these achievements may be in danger if the Government did
not take appropriate measures to protect the consumer as well as the farmer
from the “unjust competition” and “unjust practices” of the milk exporting
countries. The multi-national corporations
already operating in India
in the fast moving consumer goods sector or the multinational companies that
may be thinking of entering the country may change rules of the game and the
gains made in the rural sector in the form of social change may be lost.
If
one goes by the experience of the past two years, the fears appear to be
unfounded. The Indian Dairy Industry need not worry about multinational
companies, but should concentrate on capturing a slice of the international
market, especially for milk-based products like cheese, dahi, ice cream
etc.
Though
India
is the largest producer of milk today in the world, yet it is not the largest
exporter of milk. According to the data
available for the year 2001, India produced 80.5 million tonnes of milk (the
projection for 2002 is 82 million tonnes), followed by USA 75 million tonnes,
Russia 33 million tonnes, Germany 28 million tonnes, France 25 million tonnes,
New Zealand 15 million tonnes, Australia 11 million tonnes, China 10 million
tonnes and Japan 8.3 million tonnes.
Since
milk is a perishable item it is converted first into milk powder to increase
its shelf life. The powder is again
reconverted into liquid milk and some chemicals added to prolong its shelf
life. Apart from conversion of fresh
liquid milk into powder, liquid milk is also converted into various dairy
products like butter, cheese, butter oil, ghee, ice cream, flavoured milk and
so on. All these are value added
products that fetch high prices to the manufacturer and not for the
producers. This is the normal practice in the developed
countries.
With
the opening of the agricultural sector multi-national corporations may enter the dairy sector in a big way in the
coming years and two of them, which are already in India, are trying to get a foothold
in the Indian dairy market. The cooperative milk sector, led by Gujarat
Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) has taken the competition
seriously and pushing ahead in a very big way.
However, to ensure level playing field, the multi-national corporations
should also be asked to ensure the supply of fresh liquid milk to the Indian
consumers before they can market the reconstituted milk or milk products. The proportion of fresh liquid milk to be
marketed by the multinational corporations must be clearly defined. Again while marketing fresh milk, they must
be asked clearly to state on the carton or pouch whether the milk is fresh milk
or reconstituted milk.
In a situation where MNCs are likely to enter the milk
sector, it is essential to protect the interests of the consumers. It is common knowledge that most of the
multinational corporations, especially in the fast-moving consumer goods sector
resort to various kind of undesirable practices to sell their products. Many a time they resort to play of words to
mislead the public.
This is most of the time true with many products. For instance, the reconstituted milk in tetra
packs is either described as pure milk or natural milk, which clearly means
that it is not fresh liquid milk. Since
people cannot distinguish between fresh liquid milk and reconstituted milk they
buy the reconstituted milk as if it is fresh milk. Again the milk powder they use to
reconstitute milk comes from various sources.
Therefore, the time is ripe to put in place strict quality
control norms for the sale of milk and milk products, both for the domestic and
the international market. It is thus important that, as a first step, the
Government makes it mandatory that every packet of milk and milk product should
carry the exact information whether a particular product is made from fresh
milk or reconstituted milk etc.
If reconstituted milk has been made from imported milk
powder then the information regarding the source and origin of milk powder must
be published. Similarly, if packed curd, cheese, etc. are being made from
reconstituted milk the people have a right to know that this is so. If any preservatives and chemicals have been
added that should also mention on the carton.
After
having met the liquid milk needs of the consumers, the domestic milk producers
are now going in for value added products like butter, cheese, curd, ice cream
in a big way. It was feared that such a move will lead to increase in the
prices of milk and milk products, but surprisingly the prices of milk and milk
products in India
have remained relatively stable in the past three years. This is to the credit of our dairy
The
cooperative and private dairy sectors should slowly look at the foreign markets where the prices are
quite remunerative for products like butter, cheese, ice-cream etc. The GCMMF has already taken a lead by
exporting large quantities of liquid milk to Singapore every day. It is now
eyeing the milk markets of Thailand,
Malaysia and Indonesia. The
day may not be far when India
may export milk to China
also. They should also enter the international market for dairy products.
It
should also be understood that in most of the countries the farmers get large
amounts of subsidies to maintain the production of milk at a certain
level. This factor should be taken into
account while allowing foreign companies to sell milk and milk products in India by
levying appropriate customs duties.
Now
the project patent regime has come into force from January 1, 2005 and all dairy processes and
products will become patentable and we should move fast to patent our processes
and products so that we are not edged out our own market. For instance, it is India which has
perfected the processes of producing milk powder and cheese from buffalo milk,
which needs to be patented immediately if not done so far.
In
the new WTO regime, India
must keep its edge over milk production and should aim at to emerging as
largest exporters of milk and milk products. For this we need not rear more
cattle but increase the milk yield through better feed to cattle and by
improving the pedigree of cattle stock.
Moreover, we must enforce stringent quality norms that conform to
international standards for the marketing of milk and milk products, both in India and
abroad. We must also move fast to obtain
patents for our processes and products. This is very important if we have to
develop and sustain international markets for our milk and milk products. –
INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)
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