India's tea exports volume likely to grow by 5% despite challenges'
Kolkata, June 24: India's tea exports are expected to clock a 5 per cent growth this year in terms of volume, provided shipments to Iran do not get disturbed, said Tea Board Chairman P.K Bezboruah.
"There are some challenges in the current year in terms of tea exports. India's tea exports to Iran, which was a good customer last year, may get disrupted as the US has threatened to re-establish (nuclear programme-related) sanctions on Iran. The Centre is working on it so that bilateral trade between the two countries (India-Iran) continues," Bezboruah told IANS.
India achieved the highest tea exports in 2017 after 36 years, exporting 251.91 million kgs in the last calendar year, up by 13.24 per cent from 222.45 million kgs exported during 2016.
"The exports growth this year would not be spectacular but it is expected to go up by 5 per cent in terms of volume, provided exports to Iran do not get disturbed," he said.
Indian exporters are keen to regain its market share in Kazakhstan which used to import significant volume of Indian tea earlier, he said.
Bezboruah exuded confidence that tea exports will continue to expand in the UAE, the US, China, Russia and the Middle East.
Notably, the country had exported 256.57 million kgs of tea in the last fiscal (2017-18), up by 12.71 per cent from 227.63 million kgs exported in the previous year (2016-17).
In the production front, the crop production was at 1,325.05 million kgs in the last fiscal, an increase of 74.56 million kgs as compared to 2016-17.
Production of the crop is expected to be higher this year as against last year though estimated April production at 85.74 million kgs was down by 7.21 per cent compared to year-ago month, he said.
In fact, estimated tea production stood at 177.94 million kgs during January-April period of 2018, down marginally compared to 181.32 million kgs produced in the corresponding period last year.
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ED summons AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan again on Apr 29
New Delhi, Apr 27: AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan has been asked by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to depose again next week in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the Delhi Waqf Board during his chairmanship, officials sources said on Saturday.
The MLA has been asked to appear on April 29 and continue with the recording of his statement under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.
The 50-year-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator from the Okhla assembly seat was questioned by the central agency for about 13 hours last week.
In a related development, a Delhi court on Saturday granted bail to Khan in this money laundering case for allegedly evading its earlier summons issued to him in the case.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Divya Malhotra granted bail to Khan on a personal bond of Rs 15,000 and one surety of like amount after he appeared before the court.
AAP leader and Delhi Cabinet Minister Atishi had earlier said that the ED case against Khan was "fake" and the party stood by its legislator.
The first deposition of Khan on April 18 came after the Supreme Court refused to entertain his anticipatory bail application in this case. The apex court had directed him to join the investigation.
Speaking to reporters before entering the ED office that day, Khan had claimed that he followed the rules when he was the chairman of the Waqf Board and did everything after taking the legal opinion and as per the new Act (for the board) that came in 2013.
The money laundering case against Khan and his alleged associates stems from a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR and three Delhi Police complaints.
The ED, which had conducted raids on his premises, has claimed that Khan acquired "huge proceeds of crime" in cash through illegal recruitment of staff in the Delhi Waqf Board and invested those to purchase immovable assets in the name of his associates.
The agency had alleged in a statement that "illegal recruitment" of staff took place in the Waqf Board and "illegal personal gains" were made by unfairly leasing the Waqf Board properties during Khan's chairmanship (2018-2022).
