Lucknow, Nov 9 (IANS): The Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) on Friday signed an agreement with US-based Research Institute for Fragrant Materials (RIFM) for improving the quality of fragrant oils, a spokesman of the institute said.

The pact was signed by Anil Kumar Tripathi, Director CSIR-CIMAP and Jim Romane, President of the RIFM at the conclusion of the two-day annual conference of the International Fragrance Association in Paris. Since the RIFM internationally standardizes the quality of fragrant materials, it will give a big boost to the fragrance quality in India, spokesman Manoj Semwal said.

"The pact will go a long way in standardizing the fragrant material produced in India and bring it to an international level," he told IANS while adding that the CSIR, under the "aroma mission" was aiming to enhance production of fragrant materials. To increase the acceptability and demand of Indian fragrances on a global level, a team of the RIFM had visited the Lucknow headquarter of CIMAP earlier in 2018. The deliberations during the visit resulted in the signing of the MoU.