APEDA blocks efforts to get GI tag for Ponni rice
A move to register Tamil Nadu’s Ponni rice as a Geographical Indication (GI) variety in 2016 hit a hurdle in the form of the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
Documents made available to businessline reveal that Nirmala Sitharaman, the then Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, had asked APEDA to look into demands to provide GI tag for Ponni rice, which is popular in Tamil Nadu. But the authority failed to proceed with the required documentation for the GI tag.