Certified for Global Markets: The Role of Organic Certification in Driving India’s Agricultural Export Growth
Prakhar Deep
Department of Agricultural Economics, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, U.P. – 211005, India.
Bulbuli Meher *
Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Odisha University of Agricultural and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha – 751003, India.
Aman Kumar Tiwari
Department of Agricultural Economics, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, U.P. – 211005, India.
Ipsita Sen
Department of Agricultural Economics, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, U.P. – 211005, India.
Virendra Kamalvanshi
Department of Agricultural Economics, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, U.P. – 211005, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Growing global demand for safe, sustainable, and environmentally friendly food products has increased the importance of organic certification as a key mechanism for accessing premium international agricultural markets. This study employed CAGR, market share, and log-linear regression to evaluate India's certified organic agricultural exports from 2020–21 to 2024–25. Secondary data was sourced from APEDA, NPOP, and FAO STAT. The data indicates a significant reduction in India's organic export sector. India's organic goods exports declined, with a 10.6% decrease in value and a 19.8% reduction in volume, notwithstanding a price premium in international markets. The proportion of organic exports in total agricultural exports decreased from 5.03% to 2.37%, while the volume share fell from 2.77% to 1.11%. The regression analysis indicates that worldwide demand is the sole statistically significant variable influencing India's agricultural exports, with an elasticity coefficient of 1.256. Production is low, negative, and statistically insignificant, but organic exports are positive yet statistically insignificant (0.167). The analysis indicates that internal supply-side and institutional obstacles constrain India's organic export potential more significantly than insufficient global demand. Policy must prioritize NPOP legitimacy, certification expenses, traceability, cold chain infrastructure, premium branding, and APEDA-led market integration in high-value export markets such as the EU, USA, and Japan.
Keywords: Organic certification, agricultural export performance, global demand elasticity, export competitiveness.