Russian
timber exporters fume at Indian fumigation rules
Moscow,
June 9 (IANS) With investors'
mood turning positive after the Narendra Modi government came
to power, Russian businessmen expect India's archaic business
rules to change in line with the global ones.
The
business community also favoured the use of Astrakhan route
for shipping products and to cut the transit time in a major
way, V. Rajagopalan, general secretary of Indian Business
Alliance, told a visiting IANS correspondent.
"We
see a change in the attitude of Indian embassy officials here.
They are now more proactive and have sought our views as to
how we percive them and the ways they can improve to meet
our needs," he added.
A
director in the $25 million Silverline Ventures Ltd that is
involved in timber exports, Rajagopalan cited his own industry's
experience with regard to phyto-sanitary stipulations as an
example of India's "archaic" rules that need to
be changed.
It
beats logic as to why India insists on fumigation of timber
with methyl bromide, a substance banned in many countries
including Russia, he said.
"Fumigating
containers carrying food items is understandable. But fumigating
timber shipments after reduction in moisture content by heat
treatment, in which all bugs die, is not understandable,"
Rajagopalan said.
According
to him, Indian rules stipulate that timber shipments be either
fumigated or heat treated for 30 minutes at 56 degrees Celsius
whereas his company did it at 65 degrees Celsius in a kiln
to reduce the moisture content.
The
matter has been taken up with the Indian embassy here for
an early resolution, he remarked.
According
to him, rules and regulations could be changed for better
and faster business transactions as well.
Rajagopalan
said if the rules were changed, exporters could directly ship
their supplies to Indian manufacturers, rather than sending
the logs to other importers who in turn sell to the Indian
companies.
According
to him, Russian timber was very good as trees grew slowly
due to the cold climate and the wood too was very hard.
Russia
has the largest forest cover in the world and hence there
is good potential for timber exports to India, he added.
Educated
in Madurai in Tamil Nadu in India, Rajagopalan - a chartered
accountant - went to Moscow in 1995 as an employee of a Middle
East-based company and then turned into an entrepreneur by
shipping out timber and setting up timber mills in Siberia.
After
selling off his timber mills, Rajagopalan is now making profits
by exporting timber the world over.
Rajagopalan
said the Indian business community was also hoping for an
early start of shipments between Russia and India through
the port in Astrakhan, a Russian city on the shores of Caspian
Sea.
"A
test container was sent from India to study the route and
cost savings some time back. We do not know the status. It
is better if Indian businessmen here are also taken into consultation,"
said Rajagopalan, who came to Russia as a 26-year-old.
According
to him, consignments sent via Astrakhan port are said to take
around 14 days less than the 40-45 days taken by consignments
at present.
He
said shipments of automobile components are sent to Russia
from India, apart from tea, pharma products and others.
As
for his business in Russia, Rajagopalan said it was much safer
now since the mafia had been nearly wiped out in Moscow.
"Earlier,
we used to pay money to the mafia. But after Vladimir Putin
came to power, the mafia menace has been eradicated,"
Rajagopalan said.
Initially,
shipping timber was difficult as shipping companies did not
provide ships for carrying consignments of non-Russian exporters.
"I
had to pay much higher freight charges as compared to the
Russians," Rajagopalan said.
After
running timber mills for some years in Siberia, Rajagopalan
decided to sell them off and restricted himself to trading.
(Venkatachari
Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)
Source:
IANS
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