India may allow tax free rice import: Report

NEW DELHI: India may scrap 70 per cent import tax on rice up to September next year to ensure steady supply and prices after this year's drought hit cultivation, media reported.

A ministerial panel, headed by Finance Minister Pranb Mukherjee, has recommended the proposal, the agency said quoting unnamed sources.

The government estimates rice production this year is likely to fall by 10 million tonnes from last year's output of 99.15 million tonnes.