India's agri exports may stay at USD 53bn this fiscal: Official

India's agri exports may stay at USD 53bn this fiscal: Official

India's agriculture exports this fiscal are expected to reach the last year's level of USD 53 billion despite restrictions imposed on shipments of certain key commodities, including rice, wheat and sugar. In 2022-23 too, the country's agri exports stood at USD 53 billion.

"We expect that we would reach that level in spite of USD 4.5 billion-USD 5 billion impact due to the restrictions," Additional Secretary in the commerce ministry Rajesh Agrawal has said. The government has prohibited exports of wheat and non-basmati white rice and has imposed curbs on sugar exports.

The government is promoting exports of new products like bananas and value-added millet products to new global destinations. "In the next three years, we are hoping to increase banana exports to USD 1 billion," Agrawal said.

Exports of fruits and vegetables, cereals, meat, dairy and poultry products registered a healthy growth rate during April-November. Rice exports, however, declined 7.65 per cent to USD 6.5 billion during the same period.