Agartala, Jan 23 (PTI) Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Thursday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal for revising export limits on agarwood chips, powder and oil, providing a significant boost to the state’s agarwood trade.

In a notification on January 20, the ministry of commerce simplified the export process and increased export limits for agarwood products obtained from artificially propagated sources.

In a Facebook post, Saha said, "A big boost to Agarwood and Agaroil export by Hon'ble PM Narendra Modi and UM Piyush Goyal ji. Paving the way for Unnat Tripura Shrestha Tripura, the Central govenrment's DoC_GOI has revised the export limits of Agarwood and Agaroil multiple times further easing the terms of supply".

"This is a revolutionary step that will help Tripura to walk on the path of Viksit Bharat rapidly", he added.

Prasada Rao, director of the Non-Timber Forest Products Centre of Excellence (NTFP-CoE) under the Tripura government, described the policy revision as strategic for the state’s agar growers and economy.

"After continuous efforts by the state government and DoNER, the revised policy has simplified documentation, reducing the export clearance timeline from five to six months to just one to one-and-a-half months," Rao said.

He added that the substantial increase in export limits for agar chips, powder, and oil positions the state to achieve its goal of a Rs 2,000 crore agar trade within two to three years.

The northeastern state has 1.50 crore agar trees concentrated in North Tripura and Unakoti district. PTI PS MNB

Agarwood export policy eased, increasing permitted shipments and simplifying procedures to accelerate trade and market access. A central notification increased export limits and simplified export procedures for agarwood chips, powder and oil obtained from artificially propagated sources, reducing documentation burdens and cutting export clearance timelines to around one to one-and-a-half months to facilitate faster market access for growers and traders.