India wants WTO rules on foodgrain scrapped

India will seek the removal of entitlements in trading rules that have helped developed countries dominate global farm exports and obstructed developing countries' fair access to export markets, a person aware of the development said

- Ravi Dutt , Puja Das

At the next World Trade Organization (WTO) interministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi, India will seek the removal of 'additional Final Bound Total Aggregate Measurement of Support (FBTAMS) entitlements. These are fixed additional allowances over the 'de minimis limits' under the rules of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AOA).

In trade parlance, 'de minimis limits' are the minimal amount of domestic support that is allowed a country even though it distorts global prices. These have been set at 5% of the value of production for developed countries and 10% for developing nations.

This has been a matter of considerable friction over the years, most recently when New Delhi had to defend its minimum support price (MSP) programme the price at which it procures foodgrains for public stock holdings amid a looming global food crisis caused by the Ukraine war.