Govt gives big relief to farmers; registration certificate will now be valid for 3 years

Tobacco Farmers: Big news for farmers. In a major relief to tobacco growers, the government on Tuesday said the registration certificate or license of tobacco farmers will now be valid for three years instead of one year.

Increasing the license period from one to three years will help around 83,500 farmers across the country to renew their registrations in states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, and Odisha. “This measure will save farmers the time of renewing their registration/license every year so that they can plan their logistics and finances for farming for three years,” the commerce ministry said in a statement.

India is the second-largest producer and fourth-largest exporter of raw tobacco in the world in terms of value during 2023. In FY 2024-25, exports contributed around two billion dollars (Rs 16,728 crore) to the Indian exchequer. Virginia tobacco in India is regulated under the Tobacco Board Act, 1975. Accordingly, every grower wishing to cultivate Virginia tobacco is required to obtain a registration certificate as a grower and a license to operate a barn. Accordingly, the Tobacco Board is providing registration/licensing facilities on an annual basis.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry stated in a release that the Government of India has decided to renew the registration certificate as a Virginia tobacco producer and the license for operating warehouses for three years instead of one year to ease the burden of mandatory annual renewal of the registration certificate as a Virginia tobacco producer and the license for operating warehouses.This means that the registration/license will be valid for a period of 3 years instead of the current practice of annual renewal. Extending the license period from one to three years will help about 83,500 farmers covering nearly 91,000 warehouses in states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, and Odisha with their registration renewals.

Now, the government has considered extending the validity of the Certificate of Registration as a Virginia Tobacco Grower and License for Operation of a Barn as a part of ease of doing business so as to reduce the burden of mandatory annual renewal of the Certificate of Registration as a Virginia Tobacco Grower and License for Operation of a Barn.