Import of sunflower oil from Ukraine: India looking at other countries to plug shortfall, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

India currently imports sunflower oil for cooking from Ukraine, which is a large producer of sunflower oil. “Edible oil supply, to that extent, will affect us,” she said at an informal chat with media editors at the BJP office in Bengaluru.

India is looking at other places from where, not sunflower but any other edible oil can be imported, she said, acknowledging that this is an area the government will have challenges and they are looking at how they can adjust to the changing scenario.

At another level, the government is also seeing how rapidly it can export its surplus wheat in view of the war in Ukraine. The ministry concerned is working on it, she said.

To make the country self-reliant in edible oil, the government, Sitharaman said, has been supporting cultivation of oil palm as part of its palm oil mission as well as groundnut, soya, sesame, etc. In oil palm, for instance, the trees have a gestation period of six years to bear berries. Till then, the government must keep supporting them, she added.

About importing crude from Russia at a discounted price in view of the US ban on Russian oil imports, Sitharaman said she is in touch with the ministry concerned, but it is not as easy as one can see it from a macro level as for any such import to fructify, a whole lot of things including the complex issues of logistics and insurance are sorted out.

About disinvestment of LIC of India when the markets are volatile, the finance minister said, there is no change in the government’s plans as it is a Cabinet decision.

The finance minister dismissed as mere speculation reports of moves to raise the minimum GST rate from 5% to 8%. A GST Council’s committee headed by Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai is looking at the complete GST rates to see where a rate rationalisation is necessary. Where is an inversion of duty or a reduced rate because of which there had been collateral damage on other products etc. Anything discussed outside before the report reaches the GST Council are all “pure speculation”, she said.

Asked about Bommai’s request to extend the GST compensation to states by at least three more years to manage future liabilities, the finance minister said the collection of GST cess has been extended up to March 2026 to help states use the cess amount to repay loans the Centre arranged to compensate for the shortfall in GST compensation during the Covid-19 years of 2020 and 2021.