The government said on Monday that it would continue to allow exports of rice, wheat and wheat products without quantitative restrictions as long as there were enough stocks for domestic consumption.
"The exports will be subject to the condition that the buffer stock of wheat and rice will not be less than 24.3 million tonnes," Cabinet spokeswoman Sushma Swaraj told a news conference after a meeting of the Union Cabinet.
Swaraj said the 24.3 million tonnes of stock should include 14.3 million tonnes of wheat and 10 million tonnes of rice.
India currently has stocks of about 40.6 million tonnes of foodgrains, Swaraj added. India has been a traditional exporter of rice and began exporting wheat just two years ago. Traders say the country exported a combined 8.7 million tonnes of rice and wheat in 2002, compared with 2.6 million tonnes in 2001.
Indian wheat is mainly sold to the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, South Korea and Africa, while rice is sold to Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
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