New Delhi,  India's non-basmati rice exports grew by 109 per cent from $2,925 million in FY2013-14 to $6,115 million in FY2021-22 even as the number of countries to which it was exported rose to over 150 in 2021-22, government data showed on Wednesday.

As per the data from Director General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS), Kolkata, India exported non-basmati rice worth $2,015 million in 2019-20, which rose to $4,799 million in 2020-21 and $6,115 million in 2021-22.

India exported rice to over 150 countries in 2021-22, of which 76 countries were sent non-basmati rice worth more than $1 million in 2021-22, indicating the diversification of rice export basket over the years, the government officials said.

The major rice producing states are West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Assam, and Haryana. India is the world's second-largest rice producer after China.

Highlighting the achievement in a tweet with title 'Annapurna Bharat', Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, and Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal said: "Modi government's policies helped farmers to get access to the global markets and also ensure food security."

Registering a growth of 27 per cent in 2021-22, export of non-basmati rice was the top forex earner among all agri-commodities, at $6,115 million, the government said.

"In collaboration with our foreign missions, we have coordinated development of logistics as well as focus on production of quality produce, which has boosted India's rice exports prospects," Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) Chairman M. Angamuthu said.

"India's thrust on expanding port handling infrastructure, development of value chain involving key stakeholders along with efforts to explore new opportunities in countries or markets for rice exports in the last couple of years have led to a huge spike in rice exports," officials said.

Notwithstanding logistical challenges posed by Covid-19 pandemic, India continues to expand its rice exports footprint in the African, Asian and European Union markets, thus having the largest share in global rice trade. The robust global demand also helped India's growth in rice exports.

West African country Benin is one of the major importers of non-basmati rice from India. Other destination countries include Nepal, Bangladesh, China, Cote D' Ivoire, Togo, Senegal, Guinea, Vietnam, Djibouti, Madagascar, Cameroon, Somalia, Malaysia, Liberia, UAE etc.