October 19: Three months after Nepal wrote a letter to India seeking for supply of rice, the southern neighbor has responded positively to Nepal’s request.

India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade issued a notice on Wednesday informing that the quota of rice export to Nepal has been set at 95,000 metric tons.

The notice mentions that India has agreed to supply non-Basmati rice to seven countries including Nepal. The export of rice under quota system will be carried out by the National Cooperative Export Limited of India.

In mid-June, Nepal had written a letter to India demanding 100,000 metric tons of rice, 50,000 metric tons of sugar and 5,000 metric tons of paddy.

Gajendra Thakur, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, confirmed that India has agreed to supply rice nearly three months after Nepal's request.

The price of rice in the domestic market had increased recently after India banned the export of rice and paddy.

There was also a fear of increasing risk of food insecurity in Nepal. According to spokesperson Thakur, there is no need to worry now as the new lot of rice will arrive in Nepal soon.

According to the notice, India has set a quota to export 10,34,800 metric tons of rice to Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Seychelles along with Nepal. Among these countries, the Philippines will received the maximum 295,000 tons of rice followed by Cameroon, which will get 190,000 tons and then, Malaysia, which will get 170,000 tons of rice.