The Kendu Leaf Trade: Problems & Prospects in Orissa - Vasundhara

Total export to SL & Pak.
and the share(in %age) of
NE therein
Chart-19
Share of National Enterprises in the total export of KL
from India to Sri Lanka & Pakistan
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1999-2000
2000-01
2001-02
Year
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
Total export(quantity)
to SL & Pak. in '00 MT
Total export(value) to
SL & Pak. in '00 lakh
rupees
Share of NE in the
total quantity exported
to SL & Pak.
Share of NE in the
total value of export
SL & Pak.
(based on the statistics provided by National Enterprises, Rourkela; Export Promotion Council,
Bhubaneswar; and DGCIS, Kolkata)
What is the reason that while exporters of the country were successful in maintaining a kind of
stability in their export (total), NE failed in the same
The reasons are many. For instance, export requires transactions through international banking
whereas Orissa, particularly Rourkela, lacked this facility for years. The unnecessary delay to
making this transaction possible through Kolkata(etc.) is not only discouraging in terms of the
whole process, but also in terms of financial gain because exporters of Mumbai or Kolkata, who
need not waste this much of time, earn some interest over their receipts by this time which
contributes 5-10% on their net profit. Besides, there are some other problems also which are
faced simply because activities are controlled from Rourkela and not from Kolkata/Mumbai.
Given this situation, the Government of Orissa, which ironically runs an Export Promotion
Council, should have considered providing special concessions/facilities to NE as the latter
happens to be the only exporter from Orissa among the exporters(around 10 in number) of the
country. Instead of doing so, the attitude of the concerned agency has been as if more favourable
towards exporters from other states; and the irresponsible behavior is also reflected in the fact
that an arbitration case filed by NE has been pending since many years ‘without any justifiable
reason’. On one hand, the exporter has to struggle due to lack of facilities and problems in the
marketing; and simultaneously has also to struggle against heavy corruption and unfavourable
attitude. How can we expect such an export agency to perform better In fact, NE’s bitter
experiences of the official- as well as unofficial systems here(Orissa) may result in gradual
withdrawal from this export business of KL.
Although export accounts for only 8-10% of the total sale quantity of processed leaves, the
value(sale/export)-wise share is about 14-17%.While export provides an opportunity to access
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