Amritsar basmati exporters cry foul over lack of container depot

Besides increased cost, it leads to loss of precious time in transit

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 2

Despite being one of the major hubs for basmati exports, Amritsar is yet to have an Inland Container Depot (ICD) which is hanging fire for the past 4-5 years. In the absence of infrastructure, exporters are dependent on Ludhiana which has a fully functional ICD with a capacity to handle over 25,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) per month. Also, there is a daily train from Ludhiana to Mundra port for consignments meant for exports.

“There is a need for an ICD at Amritsar as around 500 containers of basmati are exported from the city every month,” said AR Sharma, Chairman, Ricela Health Foods Ltd. Ideally, basmati is exported in 20-foot container, which has a capacity to accommodate 20-24 tonnes of goods.

According to the exporters, since there is no ICD at Amritsar, they have to first order an empty container from Ludhiana and after loading it with shipment they have to send the same to Ludhiana by road again.

In the entire process, they have to pay an additional Rs 8,000 per container. Due to this, the exporters are losing around Rs 40 lakh in transit. This not only affects their bottom lines but precious time is also lost in transit.

“Many exporters from Amritsar are star exporters and have permission for factory stuffing. However, we have to first arrange empty containers from Ludhiana and then after loading with shipments, these are sent to Ludhiana again for exports. It’s a tedious and time-consuming process,” said Arvinder Pal Singh, managing director of Amritsar-based Amar Singh Chawal Wala that produces ‘Lal Qila’ brand of basmati.

According to the exporters, the issue of setting up an ICD in Amritsar is hanging fire for 4-5 years. “Despite having made several representations to the ministries concerned and respective departments, we are yet to see the project on ground,” said another exporter.

There is a container freight station (CFS) at Chheharta (Amritsar) but the availability of containers is a big issue. Normally, a CFS is established to assist the working of an ICD by providing services such as packing, loading and unloading.

The exporters said an ICD at Amritsar would ensure easy availability of 20-foot containers. This would not only benefit basmati exporters but others also who prefer to send goods to ports in containers via road network rather than goods train.

Basmati is one of the major cash crops of Punjab and Haryana and these states account for over 70-75% of basmati exports from the country. Other major basmati-growing states include western UP, Uttarakhand, J&K, Himachal and Delhi, which contribute the rest of the exports.

According to Agricultural and Processed Foods Exports Development Authority (APEDA) data, the basmati exports in 2018-19 were 44.15 lakh tonnes as compared to 40.57 lakh tonnes in 2017-18.