GROWTH TRENDS AND INSTABILITY IN EXPORT OF AGRICULTURAL CROPS FROM INDIA: AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

India is the largest producer and exporter of cereal products in the world. The present paper analyse the growth trends and instability in export of agricultural crops from India with the objectives to examine growth trends and instability in export of agricultural commodities from India and to identify the major destination of India for exporting of agricultural commodities from India. To fulfill the objectives secondary data from 2010-11 to 2023-24 has been utilized for analysis using the statistical tools like Compound Annual Growth Rates, Coefficient of Variation and Cuddy Della Valle’s Instability Index. The study revealed that during the period the export of some commodities in terms of quantity like maize and other cereals show a negative growth rate. In terms of value other cereals also showed negative growth. The export growth rates of foodgrain such as basmati rice, non-basmati rice, wheat and millets are positive in case of quantity. The quantity of export of agricultural cash crops such as coffee, sugar and groundnut has shown positive growth rate while tea, cashew and cotton have shown a negative growth rate. Other cereals have shown the highest instability index value indicating the highest instability and variability among others in both cases quantity and value term. In term of value, cotton has shown the high level of instability index value indicating the highest instability and variability among others. India’s key markets for cereals crops are Saudi Arab, Benin, Vietnam, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, Russia and Bangladesh, while cash crops are mainly exported to the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Sudan, Indonesia and Bangladesh. KEYWORDS: Agriculture, foodgrain, cash crop, export, growth, instability