New Delhi, July 9 (PTI) Import of cut flowers are now allowed only through Chennai airport, according to a notification of the commerce ministry.

Earlier there were no such restrictions on the import of these flowers which include Roses, Carnations, Orchids, Chrysanthemums and Lilies.

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"Import policy of cut flowers... continues to remain free. However, import will be through Chennai airport only," Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification.

DGFT is an arm of the ministry which deals with export and import related issues.

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Import of these flowers stood at USD 3.92 million (about Rs 29.4 crore) in 2019-20 as against USD 3.96 (Rs 29.7 crore) million in the previous fiscal.

India imported roses worth Rs 11.48 lakh in 2019-20 mainly from Ecuador.

Inbound shipments of Carnations in 2019-20 stood at Rs 0.22 lakh from Spain and Nepal. Similarly, India imported Orchids worth Rs 15.86 crore in the last fiscal from Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa and Thailand.

Chrysanthemums imports aggregated at Rs 42 lakh in that fiscal from Colombia, Kenya, Netherland, New Zealand and Thailand.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)