India exported $441.7 Bn in FY 2025-26. Here is what the data says for commodity buyers
India closed FY 2025-26 with exports of Rs 39.04 lakh crore, about $441.7 billion, spread across 1,217 products and 234 countries. Most commentary on this number talks about smartphones. Fair enough: smartphones added $16.8 billion in two years, a 99% jump driven by the PLI scheme and iPhone assembly, and now sit second only to refined petroleum. But if you buy or sell physical commodities, the more useful findings are elsewhere in the file.
Rice is India's most diversified export
Rice earned $11.5 billion in FY 2025-26, sixth among all products, and India ships more than 40% of the world's rice exports. What matters for buyers is the shape of that demand. Rice has no single buyer above 10%: Saudi Arabia leads at 9%, then Iran at 7% and the UAE at 6%. Compare that with smartphones, where 59% goes to one country, or jewellery, 43% to the UAE. A supply base spread across two hundred destinations does not seize up when one government changes a tariff. That is a structural argument for sourcing rice from India, not a sales line.
One caveat the data forces us to state: rice and medicines both dipped in 2025-26 against 2024-25, even though both are up over two years. Season and policy still move this trade.
Where India is world number one
Leadership and size are different things. Petroleum is India's biggest export, but a market India does not lead. The categories India actually dominates are mostly mid-sized, and several of them are ours:
| Product | Global position | FY 25-26 exports |
|---|---|---|
| Rice | #1, 40%+ of world rice exports | Rs 102,031 Cr |
| Cut and polished diamonds | #1, ~90% of world's diamonds processed | Rs 109,951 Cr |
| Generic medicines | #1 by volume, 20% of global generics | Rs 193,231 Cr |
| Spices (chilli, cumin, turmeric) | #1 spice exporter | Rs 23,008 Cr |
| Buffalo meat | #1-2 in boneless buffalo meat | Rs 40,890 Cr |
| Castor oil | Near-monopoly, 80%+ of global supply | Rs 11,208 Cr |
| Guar gum | #1, dominant world supplier | Rs 9,773 Cr |
Global positions are from external trade sources (GJEPC, IBEF, APEDA); values are from the export file itself.
Concentration cuts both ways
The USA bought Rs 7.70 lakh crore of Indian goods, nearly 20% of everything India exports, 2.3 times the UAE at number two. The top ten destinations absorb 51% of export value. The jewellery chapter shows what that exposure does in practice: US sales fell 19% in a single year on tariffs, then the UAE absorbed the shortfall under CEPA duty benefits, and a tariff cut from 50% to 18% is now expected to bring roughly $3 billion back. One policy decision in one capital moved a whole product category twice in two years.
Growth worth watching from a commodity desk
Measured in USD to strip out rupee depreciation, the fast risers above $500 million include refined copper at +142% (volatile), alumina at +110% (steady both years), and coffee at +71%, helped by the global price spike. Ammunition grew 330% on defence exports. The broad pattern is manufacturing-led growth: autos, turbines, wires and cables, engines. India's export basket is shifting from commodities toward factories, which makes the commodity niches where India genuinely leads more valuable to specialise in, not less.
Sourcing from the world's largest rice and spice exporter
Vreeha Globals exports rice from its own milling and partner mills, along with sugar, spices, edible oils and metals. Diversified demand is exactly why we built the desk around these products.
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