APEDA inaugurates regional office in Raipur to boost agri and processed food exports from Chhattisgarh
NEW DELHI: In a significant step towards positioning Chhattisgarh as a major hub for agricultural and processed food exports, the Regional Office of the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) was inaugurated at Raipur during the 2nd India International Rice Summit held in Chhattisgarh. The Inauguration was attended by Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Minister of Medical Education, Government of Chhattisgarh, Shri Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, along with other dignitaries. Chhattisgarh, with its rich and diverse agri-ecosystem, offers significant export potential across a wide range of products. These include premium non- basmati rice varieties and Geographical Indication (GI) tagged products such as
3. Indian shipyards capable of building submarines are fully committed
to existing submarine projects.
4. The Need for Fast Paced Procurement
5. We will set aside the first two explanations as overly speculative and
assume that Project 751 procurement through a foreign OEM is driven by the Indian Navy’s urgent operational need to replenish its ageing submarine fleet.
6. It is noteworthy that the Indian Navy had initially stipulated that only operational submarine designs would be considered under Project 751. TKMS, however, has proposed a submarine based on its Type 214 design, incorporating specific modifications for the Indian Navy, such as enhanced stealth and AIP. Clearly, TKMS is not offering a fully operational, off-the-shelf design. As such, the possibility of delays runs counter to the objective of fast paced procurement.
According to Khalil Rahman, head of TKMS India, the company successfully demonstrated the AIP capability on its Type 212 submarine during evaluation.
India’s Limited Options The qualitative requirements (QRs) stipulated by the Indian Navy (IN) when Project 751 was initiated were extremely ambitious. They included construction of all boats at Indian shipyards, fitment of DRDO-developed Jeeraphool Rice and Nagri Dubraj Rice. The State also produces a variety of fruits and vegetables including guava, banana, dragon fruit, jackfruit, custard apple, tomato and cucumber, along with important minor forest produce such as mahua, tamarind, herbal and medicinal plants, providing strong opportunities to expand its presence in global markets.
The establishment of the APEDARegional Office in Raipur marks an important milestone for Chhattisgarh’s agrarian economy. The new office will facilitate farmers, producer groups, cooperatives and exporters by providing services such as export registration, advisory support, market intelligence, certification assistance , export facilitation, infrastructure development and market linkage support. Recently, the APEDA Regional Office in Raipur also facilitated the export of fortified rice kernels from Chhattisgarh to Costa Rica and Papua New Guinea.
Addressing the occasion, Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Deo Sai stated that the opening of the APEDA Regional Office in Raipur is a mission to integrate Chhattisgarh’s farmers with the global AIP, and the ability to launch land-attack cruise missiles (LACMS).
The draft RFI mandated that, in addition to DRDO-developed AIR, the submarine should be fitted with Indian steel, missiles, and torpedoes, including the DRDO-developed heavyweight torpedo.
The Navy also wanted all intellectual property rights for the submarine to rest with India after the initial batch of six boats, enabling India to export the design.
No submarine OEM met these QRs. As a result, the QRs were repeatedly diluted, delaying procurement by nearly a decade.
Only Germany and Spain eventually submitted bids for Project 751, after multiple deadline. extensions, culminating in July 2023. However, Spa in’s Navanti a wa s unable to immediately demonstrate an AIP system whiles u b merged , having only demonstrated it on a surfaced submarine. Procurement negotiations progressed under the Strategic Partnership model of the defence acquisition proc edur e . L&T and MDL were shortlisted as Indian partners to collaborate with foreign submarine manufacturers.
Robust Existing MDL-TKMS Relations Fortunately for India, MDL and TKMS share a long-standing working relationship dating back to the early 1980s. In December 1981, India signed an agreement with Howaldtswerke
Deutsche Werft (HDW) to procure Shishumar-class diesel-electric attack submarines. The Shishumar boats are Indian variants of the HDW Type 209, featuring a larger-diameter pressure hull.
economy. He highlighted the potential of the State’s farmers, exporters and entrepreneurs in glohal agri-markets and expressed confidence that Chhattisgarh would emerge as a leader in high-value and sustainable agricultural exports. He thanked Union Minister of Commerce and Industry. Shri Piyush Goyal, for sanctioning the APEDA office in Chhattisgarh based on the request of the State Government, and assured full support to APEDAand the Department of Commerce in expanding exports of agricultural and organic products from the State.
The APEDA Regional Office was inaugurated during the 2nd edition of the India International Rice Summit, organised by the Rice Exporters Assoc i a tion of Chha ttisga rh in collaboration with APEDA and other organisations. A two-day Chintan Shivir on rice exports also concluded on the same day, featuring dedicated sessions on export promotion of organic rice and measures to boost exports of non-basmati rice, including GI-tagged rice varieties from India.