बेबाक · Editorial
Priyagold Ban in Nepal and Shelved Coal Imports Show India's Trade Rests on Its Regulators
From biscuits in Nepal to coal for power plants and whisky under new trade pacts, India's place in trade depends on regulators who catch failures early and explain them openly.
What Crossed the Border
In recent weeks, the integrity of what India sells and buys abroad has come under scrutiny on several fronts. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has begun legal proceedings against Surya Food & Agro over the alleged use of cattle-feed bran in the manufacture of Priyagold biscuits. After FSSAI flagged food safety violations, Nepal's Food Technology and Quality Control Department issued a notice on Monday restricting the import, sale and distribution of Priyagold biscuits made by the company. At home, the Union government has decided not to require power plants to import coal, citing high global prices and a weaker rupee, even as stockpiles at many power stations are reported to be critically low. Trade is not only tariffs. It is trust, and trust has to be maintained.
Openness Versus Assurance
India is opening up through new agreements while asking the world to trust its exports, and these two efforts depend on each other. Under the India-New Zealand free trade agreement, the Commerce Ministry has notified tariff-rate quotas that let specified quantities of apples, kiwifruit and Manuka honey enter at concessional duty. Indian tax authorities are also examining whether Pernod Ricard and Diageo wrongly classified bulk Scotch whisky imports to obtain lower tariffs, following reduced import duties under the India-UK trade pact. That inquiry is an examination, not a finding, and proves nothing yet. Taken together, these cases show that cheaper market access works only when every consignment is classified and certified honestly, whichever way it crosses the border.
The Strongest Case Each Way
The cautious view deserves a fair hearing. When the rupee is weak and global coal is expensive, ordering power plants to import would push those costs onto electricity consumers, and the households at the bottom would feel it most. Equally, FSSAI initiating legal proceedings against a manufacturer shows that enforcement is working, not failing. The opposing view is also strong. Low coal stocks are a known risk, and choosing not to buy now can turn into shortages later. And when a foreign regulator acts on an Indian warning, any gap in what Indian buyers have been told publicly risks damaging the 'Made in India' label in a region where it should be strongest. Both views are honest. Neither settles the matter alone.
The Verdict
FSSAI acted, and it deserves credit for that. The allegations against Surya Food & Agro must still be proven through due process, and the company is entitled to a fair hearing. The concern is about public communication. Indian consumers should not have to piece together the facts from a ban across the border. On coal, the decision to spare consumers the cost of mandated imports is defensible only if the government also explains how it will rebuild stockpiles before demand peaks. In both cases the institutions may have chosen correctly, but they should set out their reasoning more fully in public. In trade, as in governance, a decision that is not explained is easily mistaken for one that is not justified.
A Practical Way Forward
Four steps would help. First, FSSAI should publish the status of its proceedings against Surya Food & Agro, any domestic recall or advisory, and its communications to trading partners, so that Indian buyers are informed as early as foreign regulators. Second, the Union government should publish station-wise coal stock data regularly and state the stock level at which import mandates would be reconsidered. Third, India's customs and tax authorities should issue clear classification guidance for product lines covered by new trade agreements, so that disputes like the whisky inquiry are prevented rather than pursued after the fact. Fourth, the Commerce Ministry should set out openly how the New Zealand tariff-rate quotas will be allocated. Credibility is built through steady, routine transparency.
A trade pact lowers a tariff; only a credible regulator lowers suspicion, and suspicion is the costlier barrier.
What this editorial rests on
Drawn from our live multi-newsroom feed — read the reporting at source.
An editorial is the considered opinion of the FarziUPSC desk, argued from the sourced reporting above and written under our published persona, बेबाक. We name institutions, not parties. If we are wrong, we will say so. How we work →