Introduction

January 17^th 2016 was a memorable day in the annals of India’s sugar economy when the stakeholders in sugar sector viz., traders,international and domestic trade houses, sugar millers and refiners, bulk consumers of sugar, service providers to sugar sector etc. joined their hands together to deliberate on the matters of common interest. Realizing that there was a need to have a representative voice of those engaged in the entire sugar value chain, they decided to form themselves into an association to fill the vacuum and named it ALL INDIA SUGAR TRADE ASSOCIATION (AISTA).

AISTA presents an unbiased 360 degree appreciation of the situation as it does not represent any specific segment of the sugar value chain, but is the collective voice of all.

The principal objectives of AISTA are:

1. Policy advocacy for orderly development of the sugar sector;
2. Providing timely update on subjects of common interest and related regulations to the members;
3. Collection, analysis and dissemination of data and market reports;
4. Promoting harmonious relations in trade by, among other things, providing alternative dispute resolution mechanism;
5. Striving to provide cost effective services to members; and
6. Holding periodical events for knowledge sharing and networking between members.