India meets more than half of its edible oil requirements through imports, with annual imports estimated at 17 million metric tonnes worth about $20 billion, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Ashok Kumar Lahiri said. Speaking at an event, Lahiri warned that India’s dependence on overseas supplies for essential food commodities leaves the country exposed to global supply disruptions and price shocks. India is also the world’s largest producer and consumer of pulses, consuming around 25–27 million tonnes annually, or roughly a quarter of global pulse consumption, but continues to import pulses from countries including Australia, Canada, Myanmar, African nations and Russia.
Lahiri argued that disruptions in supplies of essential commodities such as pulses and edible oils could become a significant strategic risk because they form a major part of the Indian diet. He called for greater crop diversification, particularly reducing the dominance of wheat and paddy and encouraging oilseeds and pulses, which have lower water requirements. He also stressed the need to reduce agricultural wastage. For the insurance and financial-services sector, the issue is relevant to agricultural risk, commodity-price volatility, supply-chain disruption and food-security risk, areas where better risk assessment and insurance solutions could become increasingly important.
Want to deepen your expertise beyond today’s news?
#Riskmanagementnews