India is the leading exporter of basmati rice
Apart from cultivating paddy, farmers of many north Indian states also grow the aromatic, long-grained rice variety basmati during the kharif season. As per the information collated by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), 45 varieties of basmati have been notified so far under the Seeds Act, 1966.
Under the Seeds Act, certified seeds can be produced only of notified varieties. Therefore, notification is compulsory for the production of certified seeds. Farmers benefit from the notification of varieties because they get seeds of assured quality of the notified varieties.
Notified basmati varieties:
- Basmati 217
- Punjab Basmati 1 (Bauni Basmati)
- Basmati 386
- Punjab Basmati 2
- Punjab Basmati 3
- Basmati 370
- Haryana Basmati 1
- Taraori Basmati (HBC 19)
- Type 3 (Dehraduni Basmati)
- Pant Basmati 1 (IET 21665)
- Pant Basmati 2 (IET 21953)
- Kasturi
- Mahi Sugandha
- Basmati CSR 30
- Malviya Basmati Dhan
- Ranbir Basmati
- Basmati 564
- Pusa Basmati 1
- Improved Pusa Basmati 1 (Pusa 1460)
- Pusa Basmati 1121
- Pusa Basmati 1509
- Pusa Basmati 6 (Pusa 1401)
- Pusa Basmati 1609
- Pusa Basmati 1637
- Pusa Basmati 1728
- Vallabh Basmati 22
- Vallabh Basmati 21
- Vallabh Basmati 23
- Vallabh Basmati 24
- Pusa Basmati 1718
- Punjab Basmati 4
- Punjab Basmati 5
- Haryana Basmati 2
- Pusa Basmati 1692
- Jammu Basmati 118
- Jammu Basmati 138
- Jammu Basmati 129
- Jammu Basmati 123
- Pusa Basmati 1847
- Pusa Basmati 1885
- Pusa Basmati 1886
- Pusa Basmati 1985
- Pusa Basmati 1979
- Pusa Basmati 1882
- Punjab Basmati 7
Areas of basmati cultivation
In India, basmati is cultivated in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh.
Basmati rice exports in 2023-24
India is the leading exporter of basmati rice in the world. According to the data compiled by the Kolkata-based Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS), India exported basmati rice worth about Rs 48,389.21 crore (nearly $ 5.74 billion) in the 2023-24 fiscal year. The country exported about 52.42 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of basmati rice in 2023-24. According to the DGCIS data, India exported basmati rice to 150 countries in 2023-24. Saudi Arabia was the biggest importer of Indian basmati rice in quantity at about 10.98 LMT, followed by Iraq and Iran at 8.24 LMT and 6.7 LMT, respectively. In 2022-23, Iran was the biggest buyer at 9.98 LMT; Saudi Arabia was second at 9.54 LMT, and Iraq was a distant third at 3.64 LMT.
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