On 19 August 2026, PIB published a backgrounder titled India's Makhana Sector: Traditional Crop to Global Superfood. It reads like a commodity note, and that is exactly why it is useful: it contains the kind of specific, checkable numbers that agricultural-economy questions are built from, and it tells a story that a candidate can use in an essay on value addition, farmer incomes and export diversification without any padding.
The short version: a crop grown in the flooded ponds of north Bihar, harvested by hand by one of the state's most marginalised communities, now sells at roughly ₹1,250 a kilogram and earns foreign exchange in Germany and Australia. How that happened, and what still constrains it, is the substance below.
The crop itself
Makhana is the popped seed of Euryale ferox, an aquatic plant of shallow ponds, lakes and wetlands. In English it travels as fox nut or gorgon nut. The edible portion is the seed, which is roasted and popped — the puffing you see in a packet is the same physical process as popcorn, applied to a very different botanical starting point.
Its geography is unusually tight. Cultivation concentrates in north Bihar, above all in the Kosi basin districts of Supaul, Saharsa and Madhepura, and across the neighbouring Mithila and Seemanchal regions, with smaller areas in West Bengal and Assam. The reason is physical: makhana needs standing water through the growing season, and the chaurs — the low-lying, seasonally waterlogged depressions left behind by the Kosi's shifting course — provide it at no cost. Land that flood makes useless for cereals is exactly the land makhana wants. That is a point worth carrying into any answer on flood-plain agriculture: the crop is a productive use of a hazard.
The scale of India's dominance follows from this. Bihar accounts for nearly three-fourths of Indian production and roughly 80–85 per cent of global supply. India is the world's largest producer, and for practical purposes the world's only significant one.
The numbers, current as of the release
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Production, 2024-25 (final estimate) | 63,910 MT, productivity 2.03 MT/ha |
| Production, 2025-26 (second advance estimate) | 80,590 MT, productivity 2.34 MT/ha |
| Bihar, 2025-26 | 60,000 MT, productivity 2.00 MT/ha |
| Exports, 2025-26 | 7,264.89 MT, value ₹192.96 crore |
| Share exported | about 40 per cent of output |
| Domestic market growth | 17–18 per cent a year, 2021-22 to 2024-25 |
| Projected market size | ₹11,000–12,000 crore by 2029-30 |
Two things in that table deserve a second look.
Productivity is rising faster than the crop's reputation suggests — from 2.03 to 2.34 MT per hectare in a single year, helped by field-system farming (growing in shallow managed fields rather than only in natural ponds) and improved varieties such as Swarna Vaidehi and Sabour Makhana-1. Field-system cultivation matters because it converts an activity dependent on where water happens to stand into one that can be planned, mechanised in part, and expanded.
And the price story is not a production story. Average prices rose from about ₹500 per kilogram in 2020-22 to nearly ₹1,250 per kilogram in 2025, while production volumes grew only 4–5 per cent between FY2022 and FY2025. A price that roughly doubles while supply barely moves is the signature of demand outrunning a slow supply response — driven here by health-food demand, premium branding and organised retail. For an economics answer, this is a textbook case of low short-run supply elasticity: makhana takes a season to grow, needs specific waterlogged land, and is harvested by hand, so producers cannot respond quickly to a price signal. The concepts sit alongside the wider treatment of consumer behaviour and utility and of market structures.
What the state has actually done
Three interventions, in order, and each is separately examinable.
The GI tag, 2022. Mithila Makhana received a Geographical Indication registration in 2022, obtained through the Mithilanchal Makhana Utpadak Sangh. A GI is not a brand and not a patent: it is a mark that ties a product to a place whose natural or human factors give it its qualities, and it can be used only by authorised producers from that region. Its economic function is to stop the value of a reputation leaking to producers elsewhere — and the reported effect here was a substantial rise in farm-gate realisation.
The National Makhana Board, 2025. Announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 and formally launched in Bihar on 15 September 2025, with Purnea as its base. A commodity board is an institutional answer to a coordination problem — research, seed supply, quality standards, market intelligence and export promotion are all things an individual farmer cannot provide for themselves.
The Central Sector Scheme for the Development of Makhana. Outlay ₹476.03 crore for 2025-26 to 2030-31, with ₹30 crore approved for 2025-26 and ₹90 crore for 2026-27. Note the term precisely: a Central Sector Scheme is fully funded by the Union Government, unlike a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, which is shared with the states in a specified ratio. That single distinction is asked directly and often, on schemes of every kind. The scheme's stated components are research and innovation, quality seed availability, farmer skilling, harvesting and post-harvest practice, value addition, branding and marketing, exports, and quality control.
The export problem worth arguing about
Here the release becomes genuinely analytical, and the argument is one a candidate can reproduce.
Until 2025, makhana was exported under general HSN codes — the Harmonized System of Nomenclature, the international commodity classification used in customs tariffs — so there was no product-specific export data at all. In 2025 the DGFT introduced a separate HSN code for popped makhana and makhana products. This sounds like an administrative footnote. It is not: you cannot design an export strategy for a product whose exports you cannot measure, and a distinct code is the precondition for negotiating market access, tracking unit prices and detecting mis-declaration.
What the new data immediately revealed is a concentration problem:
- United States — 40% of exports, at $19.5/kg
- Canada — 20%, at $15.8/kg
- UAE — 17%, at $13.3/kg
Those three take 77 per cent of exports. Meanwhile the small markets pay better: Germany $26.0/kg, Nepal $21.6/kg, Australia $21.0/kg, each taking only 1–5 per cent of volume. The United Kingdom sits in between — a 10 per cent share at about $20/kg.
The conclusion writes itself, and it is the kind of point that earns marks: India's largest makhana markets are also its lowest-realisation markets. Volume has been chased ahead of value. Diversifying towards premium-paying destinations would raise export earnings without requiring a single additional tonne of production — which matters precisely because production, as we saw, cannot rise quickly. This is the standard argument for moving up the value chain, and it applies with unusual clarity here. It connects directly to the general treatment of international trade.
Domestic demand is the stabiliser. Monthly consumption of popped makhana runs at 3,000–3,500 MT, rising to about 5,000 MT in festive months. Of this, branded FMCG and organised snack players take 1,800–2,000 MT a month, with loose and unorganised retail at 1,200–1,400 MT, still dominant in Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets. A strong home market shields growers from a bad export year — an advantage many Indian agri-exports do not enjoy.
The part the numbers do not show
One honest qualification belongs in any serious answer. Makhana harvesting is arduous manual work — seeds are collected by divers from pond beds, then dried, graded, roasted and popped by hand — and it has traditionally been done by the Mallah community, fishers of the Mithila floodplain, among Bihar's more marginalised groups. Whether a fivefold rise in retail price has reached the person who dives for the seed is a distributional question the production and export tables cannot answer. The GI tag, FPO formation and the Board are all, in principle, mechanisms to move value back down the chain. Saying that the mechanisms exist, and that their effect on the harvester's share is the real test, is a more complete answer than reciting the tonnages.
🔑 Revision block
The event. 19 August 2026 — PIB backgrounder, India's Makhana Sector: Traditional Crop to Global Superfood.
The crop. Euryale ferox, an aquatic crop of shallow ponds, lakes and wetlands; edible part is the seed, roasted and popped. Grown mainly in north Bihar — Kosi basin districts of Supaul, Saharsa, Madhepura, plus Mithila and Seemanchal — with some area in West Bengal and Assam. Thrives in chaurs, the seasonally waterlogged depressions left by the Kosi.
Dominance. India is the world's largest producer. Bihar ≈ three-fourths of national output and 80–85% of global supply.
Production. 63,910 MT in 2024-25 (2.03 MT/ha) → 80,590 MT in 2025-26 second advance estimate (2.34 MT/ha). Bihar 60,000 MT in 2025-26. Gains from field-system farming and varieties Swarna Vaidehi and Sabour Makhana-1.
Prices. About ₹500/kg in 2020-22 → nearly ₹1,250/kg in 2025, while volumes grew only 4–5% FY22–FY25 — demand outrunning a low short-run supply elasticity.
The three interventions. GI tag for Mithila Makhana, 2022 (via Mithilanchal Makhana Utpadak Sangh) · National Makhana Board, announced in Budget 2025-26, launched 15 September 2025 at Purnea · Central Sector Scheme, ₹476.03 crore for 2025-26 to 2030-31 (₹30 crore in 2025-26, ₹90 crore in 2026-27).
Scheme vocabulary. Central Sector Scheme = 100% Union-funded. Centrally Sponsored Scheme = shared with States. Asked directly, on schemes of every kind.
The HSN change. Before 2025, makhana went out under general HSN codes, so no product-specific export data existed. DGFT created a separate HSN code in 2025 — the precondition for any export strategy.
Exports 2025-26. 7,264.89 MT, worth ₹192.96 crore; about 40% of output is exported.
The concentration problem. US 40% ($19.5/kg) · Canada 20% ($15.8/kg) · UAE 17% ($13.3/kg) = 77% of exports — and the lowest unit prices. Premium buyers are small: Germany $26.0/kg · Nepal $21.6/kg · Australia $21.0/kg (1–5% each); UK 10% at ~$20/kg. The biggest markets pay the least — the case for diversification without extra tonnage.
Domestic demand. 3,000–3,500 MT/month, up to 5,000 MT in festive months; branded FMCG 1,800–2,000 MT, loose/unorganised 1,200–1,400 MT. Market projected at ₹11,000–12,000 crore by 2029-30; growth 17–18% a year since 2021-22.
The distributional caveat. Harvesting is manual, done largely by the Mallah community. Whether the price rise reached the harvester is the real test of the GI, the FPOs and the Board.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. The botanical name of makhana is: (a) Euryale ferox (b) Nelumbo nucifera (c) Trapa natans (d) Eleocharis dulcis → (a) — an aquatic crop; the edible part is the seed.
Q2. Mithila Makhana received its Geographical Indication tag in: (a) 2022 (b) 2016 (c) 2025 (d) 2019 → (a).
Q3. The National Makhana Board was launched at: (a) Purnea (b) Patna (c) Darbhanga (d) Bhagalpur → (a) — on 15 September 2025, announced in Budget 2025-26.
Q4. Makhana cultivation is concentrated in the basin of which river? (a) Kosi (b) Gandak (c) Son (d) Damodar → (a) — Supaul, Saharsa and Madhepura.
Q5. The Central Sector Scheme for the Development of Makhana has an outlay of: (a) ₹476.03 crore (b) ₹192.96 crore (c) ₹90 crore (d) ₹11,000 crore → (a) — for 2025-26 to 2030-31.
Q6. A Central Sector Scheme differs from a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in that it is: (a) fully funded by the Union Government (b) fully funded by States (c) funded by the NITI Aayog (d) funded through the Finance Commission → (a).
Q7. India's largest export destination for makhana is: (a) United States (b) UAE (c) Germany (d) Nepal → (a) — 40% of exports, but at a lower unit price than Germany or Australia.
Q8. The separate HSN code for popped makhana was introduced in 2025 by: (a) DGFT (b) APEDA (c) FSSAI (d) NABARD → (a) — before this, no product-specific export data existed.
Q9. Makhana production in India in 2025-26 (second advance estimate) was about: (a) 80,590 MT (b) 63,910 MT (c) 7,264 MT (d) 60,000 MT → (a) — of which Bihar accounted for 60,000 MT.
Q10. Improved makhana varieties named in the release include: (a) Swarna Vaidehi and Sabour Makhana-1 (b) Pusa Basmati and Sona Masuri (c) Kufri Jyoti (d) Arka Anamika → (a).
Q11. Bihar's share of global makhana supply is approximately: (a) 80–85% (b) 40% (c) 25% (d) 95% → (a) — and about three-fourths of India's output.
Q12. The low-lying seasonally waterlogged depressions of north Bihar used for makhana are called: (a) chaurs (b) bhabar (c) khadar (d) terai → (a).
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Agricultural-commodity questions follow a predictable grammar, and makhana fits all four slots. The botanical/GI item — the scientific name paired with the GI region, where the standard distractor is Trapa natans (water chestnut, singhara), a different aquatic crop entirely. The state-leader item — which state leads in a named crop, asked with the share, and reliable because the answer rarely moves. The scheme item — the Board, its headquarters, the year of launch, and the Central Sector versus Centrally Sponsored distinction. The geography item — the Kosi basin and the flood-plain landform vocabulary, where chaur, khadar, bhabar and terai are set against one another; this is a north-Indian physiography question wearing an agriculture costume.
The fresh 2026 hook is the production jump to 80,590 MT and the separate HSN code, which makes export figures quotable for the first time. Expect the concentration statistic — three countries taking 77 per cent — to be used as a diversification argument in a descriptive answer. As always, this describes the recurring pattern, not any specific past question.
Preparing for CDS or OTA? Commodity stories are the cheapest marks in the economy section, because one crop gives you botany, geography, a scheme and a trade argument in a single sitting. Strengthen the base with our notes on international trade and the wider CDS/OTA economy hub, keep up with the daily CDS/OTA current affairs, and train with our faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Hitendra Deswal — Economy & international-trade faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk. The Cavalier, founded by ex-Army officers, has trained NDA/CDS/SSB aspirants since 2001 (Facebook · YouTube).
Source: PIB Backgrounder, 19 August 2026. GI and Board details cross-verified with independent sources.