Supply Chain Management of Indian Agriculture Industry: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Indian Agriculture/Agro Industry (IAI) is an integral part of Indian society and economy. Approximately half of the total population relies on this industry as a principle source of income and it contributes around 14% of India’s GDP. Indian food business has increased to US$ 250 billion in 2015 as compared to US$ 220 billion in the year 2009 and expected to grow further rapidly in the next ten years. Indian Agriculture is a world leader in terms of production of many product categories As a result, on one hand engagement of huge population, rising demand, farm mechanization, increase in global markets, etc., offer huge potential for this industry. On the other hand, it faces many severe problems. Producers of agro products are getting merely 30–35 per cent of the market price in most of the cases due to lack of supply chain practices. Annual wastages of agricultural output are also very high which in monetary term sums up to around Rs 90,000 Crore. This wastage is mainly due to inadequate supply chain infrastructure. The objective of this paper is to highlight the present scenario of Indian Agricultural Industry in terms of prospects and explores various supply chain related issues of this industry.