IMF encourages India to remove export restrictions on rice, cautions against 'retaliatory measures'

The news comes soon after reports on rice hoarding in the United States among Indian households.

The ban applies to about 25 percent of India's total rice exports but does not affect the export policy for par-boiled non-basmati rice and basmati rice, which are the major contributors to India's rice exports.

India's non-basmati white rice exports were valued at $4.2 million in the 2022-23 fiscal year, compared to $2.62 million in the previous year. Key export destinations for non-basmati white rice from India include the United States, Thailand, Italy, Spain and Sri Lanka.

Later in an interview, when asked about India's rice export ban, Daniel Leigh, Division Chief, IMF Research Department, told PTI that the context is clearly, an environment of declining inflation around the world.

"We see it in the interest of the overall global community to keep that food and energy inflation trend down. Now the challenge is that if we see restrictions in other countries as well as India, we've been very clear that in our view we understand the domestic consideration, but if you see that global impact, then that would go against the reduction in inflation. So our perspective is that such restrictions should be phased out as soon as feasible," Leigh said.