Food Processing Industries Minister Chirag Paswan urged India’s rice sector to prioritize processing and quality, as the Department of Commerce reported $11.5 billion in fiscal year 2025-26 exports.
Paswan made the appeal Oct. 23 at the second Bharat International Rice Conference in New Delhi. The conference’s official site listed the event through Oct. 25 at Bharat Mandapam. The Indian Rice Exporters Federation (IREF), in event coverage, said he emphasized paddy processing and value addition.
Asian News International (ANI) reported that Paswan urged greater domestic production of machinery and technology used across the rice chain to reduce reliance on imports. He also called for improvements in traceability, sustainability, quality and research, ANI reported. “Since we have that volume with us, value is what we need to talk about,” he said, according to ANI.
The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) separately reported 15.01 million metric tons of non-basmati rice shipments in fiscal year 2025-26, valued at ₹51,892.32 crore ($5.82 billion). That figure covers non-basmati rice alone, while the Department of Commerce’s $11.5 billion total refers to rice exports as a whole.
APEDA’s dashboard, dated Dec. 15, 2025, projected 24 million metric tons of rice exports for marketing year 2025-26, defined as August through July. It forecast a 13% year-over-year increase and put India’s expected share at 41% of global exports. Those were projections for shipment volume and market share, distinct from the Commerce Department’s fiscal-year valuation.
Press Trust of India (PTI) reported that Paswan linked closer ties between agriculture and industry with higher farmer incomes and rural prosperity. PTI also quoted him invoking the Green Revolution as a response to food deficits: “The Green Revolution helped India overcome food deficits.”
The conference agenda lists a session examining worldwide rice availability and consumption in 2027.
