New Delhi, Nov. 22 - India has decided to lift the ban on export of non-basmati rice to Bangladesh priced below $400 a metric ton on humanitarian grounds in view of devastating cyclone that hit the country recently, the Press Trust of India reported Thursday.
"The ban imposed last month in view of rising prices of non-basmati rice in India was lifted only in case of Bangladesh to help survivors of the worst cyclone in the century which devastated the southeastern coastlines of that country," the news agency said.
The decision to lift the ban was conveyed by Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to his Bangladeshi counterpart Iftikar Ahmed Choudhury during their meeting in Kampala, Uganda.
India had banned all non-basmati rice exports in October to build its buffer stocks. However, the ban was later relaxed to allow exports of higher priced rice in view of rising discontent among growers and a sharp fall in local prices.