India's agri trade story: Trends, comparative advantages and future perspective

For India to be integrated into the global value chain, as envisaged in the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Mission, the agriculture sector in general and agriculture trade, in particular, will play a critical role. The paper attempts to lucidly present a picture of the trends and patterns in agricultural trade from 1991–2021. The paper also highlights the stellar performance of agriculture exports during 2020–21 despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) Index and Trade Specialisation Coefficient (TSC) Index are used to know the trade advantage for agricultural commodities and the potential Indian agriculture exports. However, to achieve the target of expanding agri-exports to US$100 billion requires persistent efforts to create a brand value of agricultural exports, diversification of agri-products and reach out to new markets. This would require a revamping of agricultural value chains by fostering and nurturing Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), agri start-ups and agri-export clusters.