Budget 2025 Expectations: Special package on the cards for commodity exports?

Budget Expectations: The Union Budget 2025-26 is likely to focus on steps to promote the country's commodity exports, with a possible special financial package for this area, sources told Zee Business. 

The Budget may contain a special Budget for commodities such as rubber, tea, coffee and cardamom, as well as the Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), they said. 

APEDA is the national agency responsible for promoting and developing agricultural and processed food product exports. One of its primary tasks is to boost the country's global agricultural trade. 

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has sought around Rs 9,000 crore for 5 years from the Ministry of Finance. 

The Budget may include significant steps including a heritage fund for Darjeeling tea and a special fund for APEDA to enable it to promote such exports, said the sources. 

Additional measures could include a fund for states to support export facilities, a dedicated fund for export-related infra, and another fund aimed at supporting rubber farming, they said.    

Agriculture and allied activities have been one of the top priorities of the government in its recent Budgets. 

In the July Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated Rs 1.52 lakh crore for farming and allied sectors, in tandem with the central government's priority of enhancing productivity and resilience in agriculture in the country. 

The government also announced a slew of steps aimed at supporting productivity and resilience in the country's agriculture sector. 

It announced 109 new high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties of 32 field and horticulture crops. 

With an aim at promoting natural farming, the central government announced support, in the form of certification and branding, for around one crore farmers across the country over the next two years. 

Buoyed by the success of a pilot project, in partnership with the states, the central government announced the implementation of the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in agriculture aimed at covering farmers and their lands over the next three years. 

Typically, the Finance Minister presents the Union Budget in Parliament on the first day of February.