Sugar industry suffered another jolt this week when the Central government dropped its plans to offer incentives to mills for raw sugar exports.
According to officials, the proposal was discarded after a discussion in the Cabinet and the Centre decided not to give any sops for raw sugar export.
The raw sugar export subsidy proposal was part of the total Rs 850 crore (Rs 8.5 billion) bailout package for the ailing sugar industry. An incentive of Rs 440 a tonne was proposed for raw sugar export.
Sugar mills, however, do not produce raw sugar in huge quantities, and consequently, the commodity is usually not exported.
Besides the proposed raw sugar export subsidy, the package also included an export freight subsidy of Rs 1,350 a tonne for sugar mills in coastal areas, and Rs 1,450 a tonne for those in non-coastal regions.
The package, approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on March 24, was however stuck, awaiting the Election Commission's approval.
The government's main aim to help out the sugar industry
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