India has exported 198.65 lakh tonnes of rice till March 25 of the last fiscal year, surpassing the outward shipment of 163.58 lakh tonnes in the entire 2023-24 financial year. In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya said, "The domestic production of agri-commodities. their availability and import/export is monitored closely by the government..."
"...keeping in mind the interest of the consumers, domestic farmers and industry, the government makes necessary policy interventions as and when required to balance domestic food security in the country," she said.
The minister shared the rice export data for the last five fiscal years.
As per the data, India's rice exports stood at 198.65 lakh tonnes during April 1, 2024 to March 25, 2025.
Out of the total exports till March 25 of the last fiscal, basmati rice shipments stood at 59.44 lakh tonnes. Exports of parboiled rice stood at 90.44 lakh tonnes, non-basmati white rice 33.23 lakh tonnes, broken rice 7.95 lakh tonnes and other varieties of rice 7.59 lakh tonnes.
In the entire 2023-24 fiscal, the country exported 163.58 lakh tonnes and out of that basmati rice was 52.43 lakh tonnes. Exports of parboiled rice stood at 75.7 lakh tonnes, non-basmati white rice 23.6 lakh tonnes, broken rice 5.49 lakh tonnes and other varieties of rice 6.36 lakh tonnes.
The minister said that about 50-60 lakh tonnes of broken rice is produced annually in India.
"As broken rice is mainly used as poultry feed, feed for other animals & feedstock by the grain-based distilleries for producing ethanol, which is supplied to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) for blending with petrol, it had a positive impact in these industries," she said.
