India is well known for spices since ancient time, the Indian spices are well known for their aroma, mouth-watering taste and texture. India is the world’s largest producer of spices, 75 of 109 varieties of spices listed by Indian Standard Organization are produced in India.  History says that other countries started trading relations with India because of Spices. Even today, India exports many spices all over world and are majorly done to countries like United States, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Indonesia, China, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.The total spices export during April 2020 to February 2021 was US$ 3.55 billion and for the month of February 2021 it was US$ 348.32 million.

Chilli, cumin, turmeric, coriander, ginger, pepper, cardamom were the most-exported spices from India. Chilli retained its position of being the largest exported spice from India with a shipment of 2,64,500 tonne, fetching Rs 3,605 crore. Spices are exported not only in whole form but also in powdered form. Spice blends like Garam Masala are also exported in good quantities. The Spices Board of India is one of the five Commodity Boards functioning under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. It is an autonomous body responsible for the export promotion of the 52 scheduled spices and development of Cardamom (Small & Large). It works towards the development and worldwide promotion of Indian spices. It provides quality control and certification, registers exporters, documents trade information and provides inputs to the central government on policy matters.

The board participates in major international fairs and food exhibitions to promote Indian spices, apart from organising various domestic events.Spices export value stood at US$ 3.65 billion in FY20, witnessing a growth of 10% y-o-y. Despite the COVID-19 Pandemic, export of spices from India continued its upward trend during 2020-21 and crossed the 3.5 billion US $ mark. Estimated export of spices/ spice products from the country during 2020-21 is 15,65,000 tons valued Rs.27193.20 crores (US $3624.76 million) against the 12,08,400 tons valued Rs.22062.80 crores (US $3110.63 million) of the previous financial year. Exports of spices and other value-added products during six months of FY21 stand at 7 lakh tonne, valued at Rs 12,273.81 crore as against the shipment of 586,090 tonne worth Rs 10,588.97 crore in the year-ago period.Higher demand for immunity boosting spices like turmeric has helped the nation in reporting a 19% growth in export of spices and spice products during the first half of the year, state-run Spices Board said on 29th June 2021.

India still has maintained the charm of its spices. It brings the diversity in the dish as India experiences the diversification among different cultures of people. Trend in production of spices in India gives a positive signal as area; production and productivity of spices are increasing every year. Due to high demand from European country and rest of the world, the export of Indian spices is also showing a positive trend. The new marketing initiative such as future trading in spices has also proven a remarkable success in spice marketing. With these entire positive aspects one can conclude that the future of Indian spices is very bright and the unit/firms involved in production, processing and trading of spices (raw/processed) will gain a better growth.