APEDA's Online Registration Process & Schemes for Agricultural Exports
The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) is an Export Promotion Council founded by Government of India under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) Act 1985. With this act coming into effect, APEDA replaced the Processed Food Export Promotion Council (PFEPC).
We have covered some of the major initiatives undertaken by APEDA in this article such as - Registration of Exporters through RCMC and how to apply for it online, Financial Assistance Scheme for its members and Measures for Ease of Doing Business, through which it regulates and promotes growth of agricultural and processed food exports.
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Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) is a government organization established in 1985 through an act for the development and promotion of export of scheduled products. It provides financial assistance, information, guidelines towards the development of scheduled products. The products specified under the APEDA ACT are called schedule products and exporters of such scheduled products are required register under APEDA.
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Functions of APEDA Authorities
- Promotion of export-oriented production and development of the Scheduled products
- Setting the standards and specifications for the scheduled products
- Registration of exporters of the scheduled products on payment of required fees
- Improving packaging and marketing of the Scheduled products
- Carrying out an inspection of products for the purpose of ensuring the quality of such products
- Training in various aspects of the industries connected with the scheduled products
- Development of industries relating to the scheduled products and undertaking surveys, feasibility studies etc
- Collection of statistics from the owners of factories or establishments and publication of such statistics
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Objectives of APEDA
- Registration of Exporters of APEDA's products through RCMC Certificate to help them grow their businesses
- Financial assistance to exporters who are members of APEDA via various schemes
- Fixing standards and specifications for the purpose of export
- Improving packaging and marketing of the Scheduled products
- Carrying out inspection for ensuring the quality of products
- Improving packaging and marketing for better a better product offering in the global market
- Promotion of export-oriented production to increase exports
- Collection and publication of useful statistics
- Conducting trainings to educate exporters about latest practices in the industry
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Products under APEDA
- Fruits, Vegetables and their Products
- Meat and Meat Products
- Poultry and Poultry Products
- Dairy Products
- Confectionery, Biscuits and Bakery Products
- Honey, Jaggery and Sugar Products
- Cocoa and its products, chocolates of all kinds
- Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Beverages
- Cereal and Cereal Products
- Groundnuts, Peanuts and Walnuts
- Pickles, Papads and Chutneys
- Guar Gum
- Floriculture and Floriculture Products
- Herbal and Medicinal Plants
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Becoming a member of APEDA / Apply for RCMC
As per Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act 1985 any person exporting any of the scheduled products listed above must apply to APEDA for a Registration Cum Membership Certificate (RCMC) after one month from the date on which he undertakes such export.
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Benefits of becoming a member of APEDA
After being registered with APEDA an exporter can avail benefits such as financial assistance schemes, receive guidelines related to export of scheduled products, access to trainings and seminars which will improve the performance of their export business. RCMC was earlier issued manually, however with the ease of doing business initiative being implemented across all government bodies, the registration for RCMC has been made available online.
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Online application for RCMC
- Go to APEDA Website’s Home Page and click on “Register as Member”
- Enter basic details such as IEC Code, Email ID, Mobile Number and submit.
- OTP will be sent to Mobile Number and Email ID for authentication.
- After the details are verified, exporter has to fill up a form and submit his documents which should be in JPEG, PNG or PDF format. Following documents are required along with the application form: - In case of an exporter who is a manufacturer a self-attested copy of the registration of the company with the relevant certification agencies (as per the product) must be furnished
- Post completion of payment an Application Number will be generated which the exporter should note down for future reference to view the status of his application.
- The exporter can view the status of his application online by clicking on Track Application.
- After the approval of RCMC from APEDA exporter can take the printout of his certificate by logging in with his APEDA credentials and clicking on “View RCMC Certificate” under RCMC Menu.
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Financial Assistance Scheme for Exporters
One of the functions of APEDA as an Export Promotion Council is to develop businesses involved in export of scheduled products by providing them financial assistance. For this APEDA has rolled out its Financial Assistance Scheme which has three major components - Infrastructure, Quality & Market Development. If any expenses incurred by an export business for activities which fall under any one of these components, then the exporter can file a claim with APEDA for a rebate on the same.
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Export Infrastructure Development
Under this APEDA provides financial assistance to exporters for establishment of harvest infrastructure facilities for fresh horticulture produce such as integrated pack house, insulated reefer transport, mobile pre-cooling units, cable handling system for banana etc. A claim can be filed for up to 40% of the total cost with a ceiling of Rs 100 Lakhs for each activity. The budget allocated for this component in 2019-20 is Rs 83 crores.
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Quality Development
Under quality development, costs incurred on activities such as implementation of food safety management systems, standardisation & sarmonization with international standards and procuring hand-held devices for capturing farm level peripheral coordinates for traceability systems are eligible for a refund for up to 40% of the total cost subject to a ceiling of Rs 4 Lakhs for each beneficiary. The budget for Quality Development component in 2019-20 is Rs 56.6 crores.
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Market Development
For the Market Development component, currently APEDA provides financial assistance for activities such as new market or product development through feasibility studies, trial shipment for fresh horticulture produce and registration of brand outside India. The claims can be made up to 40% of the total cost subject to a ceiling of Rs 10 Lakhs for each activity. Market Development has been allocated a budget of Rs 46 crores under Financial Assistance Scheme.
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Major Initiatives taken
APEDA has taken major initiatives to implement Ease of Doing Business in the agricultural exports sector. Four of its major projects under this have been discussed below.
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Documents To Be Submitted
- Self-certified copy of Import-Export code issued by DGFT
- Bank Certificate duly signed by the authorities
- Individual’s or company’s or firm’s cancel cheque copy of current bank account
- Copy of Rent Agreement or Electricity Bill Copy of the premise