The Indian government will give a 5 per cent subsidy for non-basmati rice exports for four months until March 2019 to boost flagging overseas sales. The decision was made after shipments of the commodity declined 13 per cent during the first half of the current fiscal year. The Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) was started in 2015, under which exporters get 2-5 per cent of their exports as duty credit scrip. The value on the scrip can be adjusted against payment of the import duty and the GST. President of Kakinada-based Rice Exporters Association, B.V. Krishna Rao said: “This has come at an opportune time. Hopefully, the decline in export of non-basmati rice may be recovered in the next four months. “However, the decline in shipments to Bangladesh may not see an immediate jump due to the MEIS.”