Archive · 21 Nov 2025
India's Unused Farm Import Quotas Reflect Market Demand
India's farm import quotas for certain goods were mostly unused in the last year.
This is because India has enough domestic production to meet demand, and sometimes it's cheaper to import without using the quota.
India's dairy sector has grown a lot in the last 10 years, and maize production has also increased.
For sunflower oil, India imported much more than the quota limit because the regular import tax was lower than the quota tax.
India's farm import quotas for milk, maize, mustard, rapeseed oil, and sunflower oil went largely unused in FY25
Market fundamentals and tariff decisions, not protective restrictions, drove India's agricultural imports
India's dairy sector showed robust growth, with milk production up 63.56% in the last decade
Maize production increased to 43.41 million tonnes in FY25, up from 37.66 million tonnes in FY24
Sunflower oil imports exceeded the quota limit by over 20 times due to lower applied MFN tariff
- Who
- India
- What
- Did not use farm import quotas for milk, maize, mustard, rapeseed oil, and sunflower oil in FY25
- When
- FY25
- Where
- India
- Why
- Due to sufficient domestic production, market dynamics, and tariff conditions
- Milk and cream powders quota
- 10,000 tonnes
- Maize quota
- 500,000 tonnes
- In-quota tariff on skimmed milk and cream powders
- 15%
- In-quota tariff on maize
- 15%
- Sunflower oil quota
- 150,000 tonnes
- Total sunflower oil imports in FY25
- Over 3.5 million tonnes