Krishi Udan scheme to give a boost to agro product exports

Hyderabad: In line with the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s (MoCA) Krishi Udan Scheme to give a boost to agro product exports and to aid farmers in transporting agricultural products, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL) signed a tri-partite MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with SpiceJet Ltd. and Ras-Al-Khaimah International Airport, UAE, on Saturday at the aegis of the Wings India 2020 in Hyderabad.

The MoU aims at promoting export of Agro Products from India to United Arab Emirates and neighbouring countries via Hyderabad. GMR Hyderabad International Airport was represented by, SGK Kishore, CEO, GHIAL; Pradeep Panicker, Deputy CEO, GHIAL; Saurabh Kumar, CEO, GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo and Mr. Ashish Kumar, Chief Commercial Officer, GHIAL; representation from Spicejet included, Sanjeev Gupta, CEO, Spicexpress Ltd; while Ras-Al-Khaimah International Airport, UAE was represented by Sanjay Khanna, CEO.

As part of this initiative, GMR Hyderabad International Airport has collaborated with Spicejet and Ras-Al-Khaimah International Airport to create a dedicated freight corridor to leverage the tremendous agro and farming sector potential from centrally located Telangana and the neighboring regions.

This will also give direct marketing access and open up new opportunities for both Export and Import that would benefit the farming community in India. Special arrangements are being made for handling the goods both at exporting and destination airports.

The target market for this endeavor includes Dubai, Abudhabi, Sharjah and Bahrain. Specially designed equipment will be used for transportation of goods through the dedicated freighter aircraft of SpiceJet.  Ras-Al-Khaimah International Airport would provide infrastructural and local support for the goods and facilitate the onward connection to the Middle East Countries. Operations are expected to start from April 2020 onwards.

Speaking on this occasion, Mr. SGK Kishore, CEO, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd., said, “GMR Hyderabad International Airport is proud to partner with SpiceJet Ltd. and Ras-Al-Khaimah International Airport to boost the export of Agro Products from India to the United Arab Emirates and its neighbouring countries through Hyderabad. This MoU is a strategic step to foster the visionary outlook of the Govt. of India, which introduced the ‘Krishi Udan scheme’ to assist our farmers and extend all the logistic support that enables our farming products to reach global destinations.

Through this endeavor, we are also collaborating with farmer associations towards enabling a perennial supply of farm products through a dedicated freighter corridor. This MoU will also create a robust platform to harness our agricultural markets and help create an entire ecosystem for exporting perishable agro products from Hyderabad.”

Mr. Ajay Singh, Chairman, and Managing Director, SpiceJet said, “SpiceJet is delighted to partner with GHIAL and Ras-Al-Khaimah International Airport. This partnership will immensely help boost our farmer’s income by providing them ready access to international markets, strengthen the government’s ‘Krishi Udaan Scheme’ and promote export of agro products from India.”

Mr. Sanjay Khanna, CEO of Ras Al Khaimah International Airport, said, “We are extremely happy to have partnered with two best companies in India from airport and airline industry, and it gives me immense pleasure to be a part of something which going to create precedence in logistic industry.

We are very pleased that we would be supporting the Krishi Udan Scheme and will be committed to assist and ensure smooth cargo operations at our airport and support point-to-point value chain. With our partnership, we shall be opening up new markets and increase options for the home market and neighbouring countries.”

Key Benefits of the MoU:

  • This would promote exports from the region under the Krishi Udaan Scheme also entail extension of support to the Agro Trade by achieving Operational Efficiencies, On-time Uplift/Delivery and Networking.
  • There will be sustained efforts to promote the Air-Corridor between Telangana and neighbouring states; the United Arab Emirates and neighbouring countries with time-bound service to the agro exporters

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