Pawar moots sugar decontrol

Food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar today said that with enough sugar stocks in the country and a bumper crop in the offing, it is the right time for lifting controls on sugar industry in the country.

Pawar said his ministry would assess the situation properly before recommending to the cabinet on decontrolling the sugar industry. He did not provide a timeframe as to when the government would end the controls.

Pawar also said that the government is actively considering imposing tax on sugar imports.

Besides, he said, the government may lift stock limits on bulk consumers in order to avert a fall in sugar prices.

"Sugar sector is heavily regulated. This is the time the millers and the government should sit together to decide on easing restrictions on sugar sector," he told a conference of sugar industry in New Delhi.

Sugar mills in the country are required to sell 20 per cent of their production at below-market prices to the centre for resale to the poor through the public distribution system.