• Exports of agricultural products (including marine and plantation products) for the year 2021-22 have crossed $50 billion, as per the provisional figures released by Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S).

• The agricultural exports have grown by 19.92 per cent during 2021-22 to touch $50.21 billion, the highest level ever achieved. 

• The growth rate is remarkable as it has been achieved in spite of unprecedented logistical challenges in the form of high freight rates, container shortages, etc. 

• Outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic during the first quarter of 2020 resulted in increased demand for staples, which provided an opportunity for increasing agriculture exports. Because of the institutional framework, already in place at state and district levels, and special efforts made to overcome the pandemic-induced bottlenecks, India was able to rise to the occasion and emerge as a reliable supplier of food.

• Highest ever exports have been achieved for staples like rice ($9.65 billion), wheat ($2.19 billion), sugar ($4.6 billion) and other cereals ($1.08 billion).  

• Wheat export has recorded an unprecedented growth of more than 273 per cent, jumping nearly four-fold from $568 million in 2020-21 to touch close to $2.11billion in 2021-22. 

• Increase in exports of these products has benefitted farmers in states like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, etc. 

• India has captured nearly 50 per cent of the world market for rice.

• Export of marine products, at $7.71 billion, is also the highest ever, benefitting farmers in the coastal states of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and Gujarat. 

• Spices exports have touched $4 billion for the second year in a row. 

• Despite facing tremendous supply side issues, coffee exports have crossed $1 billion for the first time, which has improved realisations for coffee growers in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S)

• The Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics (DGCI&S) is the premier organisation of the government for collection, compilation and dissemination of India’s trade statistics and commercial information. 

• The Directorate, headed by a director general, has its office at Kolkata and is responsible for collecting, compiling and publishing/disseminating trade statistics and various types of commercial information required by the policy makers, researchers, importers, exporters, traders as well as overseas buyers. 

• It is the first large scale data processing organisation functioning as a nodal agency for export and import data, with an ISO certification 9001:2015 for compilation and dissemination of India’s foreign trade statistics.

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