The Commerce Ministry has imposed a new condition for the grant of registration certificates for wheat exports as it looks to curb shipments by unscrupulous traders.

The government is allowing wheat shipments for which irrevocable letters of credit (LoC) were issued on or before May 13, when the ban of the export of the foodgrain was imposed.

According to the new condition notified by the DGFT, the message exchange date between the Indian and foreign bank/swift date for the issue of an LoC should be on or prior to May 13, 2022.

Exporters will have to submit the message exchange date with foreign banks along with a valid LoC, issued on or before May 13, to obtain registration of contracts (RC) to ship their consignments, according to a notice by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).

The DGFT issued the notice to prevent unscrupulous traders from exporting wheat on the basis of fraudulent back-dated letter of credits (L/C).

The notice stated that exporters having valid L/Cs would have to register with the regional authorities (RAs) of the DGFT to obtain registration of contracts (RC) to ship their consignments.

“Information has been received from sources that fraudulent back dated L/C showing date of issuance as on or prior to May 13, 2022, are being submitted by some unscrupulous exporters for issue of RCs, but as per the L/C, message exchange date between foreign and the Indian bank/swift message is after May 13, 2022,” the DGFT said.

The matter, it said “has been considered and it is clarified that for registration of L/C with the RAs of DGFT, apart from the L/C  date, the message exchange date between the Indian and foreign bank/swift date should be on or prior to May 13, 2022”.