India's agricultural ministry has said that any attempts from Bangladesh to import 500,000 MT of rice from neighbouring India to meet its immediate post-cyclone needs could only be routed through government channels and not private exporters.

India had earlier anounced lifting its export  ban temporarily to allow Bangladesh to import 500,000 MT of rice to help Dhaka deal with the disaster.

Bangladesh needs 1.7 millions of food grains, including its main staple rice, either from import or grants, by the end of June. This is in the wake of Cyclone Sidr which destroyed large tracts of crops in the South Asian Country last month.