Adherence to NDPE (No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation) policies is not mandatory for import of palm oil into India, the Parliament was told on Wednesday.
To a question by Lok Sabha members Vinod Kumar Sonkar and Rajveer Singh alias Raju Bhaiya whether the palm oil imported into India conformed to the environmental norms, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that at present, the government had not made mandatory the NDPE policies for import of palm oil into India.
"However, both Malaysia and Indonesia, which are the major suppliers of palm oil to India, have certification schemes to promote sustainability in palm oil production. It is mandatory for palm oil produced in Malaysia to be certified under the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO).
"In addition, Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification is also gaining importance in Malaysia. Indonesia has also adopted the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) standard to promote sustainability in palm oil production. The Government has not received any quality-related complaints in palmolein imported from Malaysia and Indonesia," he added.
The Minister also said that India is the largest importer of edible oils i.e., palm oil, in the world with import of edible oils during the last three financial years at 1,50,19,308.54 tonnes in 2018-19, 1,47,22,123.78 in 2019-20, and 1,35,40,020.94 in 2020-21.
In order to reduce dependence on imports, the government has launched the National Mission on Edible Oils - Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) with the aim to augment the availability of edible oil in the country by harnessing area expansion and increasing crude palm oil production.