The Role of Rice Exports in International Trade in India

Munni Ram Jakhar

Master's thesis

Abstract:

One of India's most significant agricultural products from an economic standpoint is rice. It creates a significant amount of job days in rural areas, sustains millions of farmers and makes a significant contribution to the agricultural GDP. India is one of the biggest producers and exporters of rice in globally when it comes to commerce as well as production. India is a major exporter, providing both premium basmati markets as well as bulk non- basmati markets in South Asia, Africa, and across the globe, as per FAO reports. It also accounts for a significant portion of the world's rice production and stockpiles. Therefore, the research aims to examine the patterns, connections, and contributing elements affecting rice production, consumption, availability, imports, and exports in India. Making use of secondary data and statistical techniques the research dives in to long term variations in domestic rice consumption, production, cultivation, per capita availability and trade performance. The results show that, despite little growth in cultivated area, rice output rose significantly by 26.64 million tons throughout the research period. While per capita availability fluctuated periodically, consumption increased by 16.56%. India's export composition showed that parboiled non-Basmati rice accounted for a large portion (35.8%) and that places like South Asia and Africa were becoming more and more dependent on its exports. Strong positive correlations between rice production and consumption, imports, exports, and GDP; significant connections between consumption, export categories, and GDP; and moderate relationships between import and export flows were all revealed by hypothesis testing. On the other hand, there were weak and insignificant connections between output and per capita availability as well as between production area and production. The Self-Sufficiency Ratio (SSR) of 109.32% demonstrated that India is a rice- surplus, export-focused economy.

Keywords

India Rice Exports, Global Rice Market, Non-Basmati Rice Exports, Basmati Rice Exports

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 14. 12. 2025

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 6. 2. 2026
• Supervisor: Ing. Olga Regnerová, Ph.D.
• Reader: Ondřej Dvořák, externi

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Economics and Management

Master programme:
Business Administration