What we export

The origin of the trade’s benchmark grades — Malabar Garbled and Tellicherry Extra Bold — and the spice the EU checks hardest for Salmonella.

India’s single largest spice export — 27% of the basket by value — and the one product where heat and colour are two separate specifications you cannot buy in one pod.

A small, extreme-heat frutescens from India’s Northeast — a different species from the mainstream annuum chillies.

Pippali — a piperine-rich Ayurvedic pepper distinct from Piper nigrum.

Traded on colour and splitting behaviour — bright green "eagle" seed for whole sale, single/double parrot grades for milling.

India produces the bulk of the world’s cumin and prices it every morning at Unjha — but the EU now checks Indian cumin at 30% for pesticides.

Sold on greenness and sweetness — bold bright-green Lucknowi and Rajasthani fennel are the premium export grades.

A dual-use seed — culinary spice and the raw material for diosgenin and soluble-fibre nutraceuticals.

A small aromatic seed India supplies to seasoning and spice-blend manufacturers, notably from Punjab and Madhya Pradesh.

True anise — distinct from star anise — supplied for confectionery, liqueur and pharmaceutical flavouring.

The thymol-bearing carom seed — sharp, thyme-like, and a source of extracted thymol.

A cool-climate Apiaceae seed grown in the Indian hills and Kashmir for the spice and rye-bread trade.

Indian brown/oriental mustard seed (rai) for the condiment, pickle and oil trade.

Anardana — dried wild-pomegranate seed used as a tangy souring spice.

White poppy seed (khus khus) — a thickener and topping, tightly controlled as a licensed crop.

India is the world’s highest-priced cardamom origin, sold at Kerala auction floors that set the domestic benchmark every afternoon.

A smoke-dried Himalayan capsule that is a different species from green cardamom, not a darker grade of it.

Exported both fresh and as dry ginger (sonth), with the Northeast’s low-fibre GI gingers commanding a premium.

True cinnamon (C. zeylanicum) — the low-coumarin species, distinct from the cassia India also lists separately.

The higher-coumarin bark the trade often sells as "cinnamon" — a separate species India schedules in its own right.

Exported fresh and dehydrated, with two Tamil-Kerala hill GIs prized for high pungency and allicin.

A Konkan souring fruit rind — GI-tagged, and the source of edible kokum butter.

Kashmir’s GI-tagged Mongra saffron — among the world’s highest-crocin, and sold by the gram, not the tonne.

A cured South Indian orchid pod — a small, quality-sensitive origin in a Madagascar-dominated world market.

The true "Indian bay leaf" — a Cinnamomum leaf, botanically distinct from Mediterranean Laurus bay.

The star-shaped badian of garam-masala blends — largely re-exported, as India grows little.

A scheduled aromatic rhizome used mainly medicinally — with regulated safety limits on β-asarone.

A ginger-family rhizome supplied to Southeast-Asian cuisine and the extract trade.

A temperate pungent root, a minor entry in India’s schedule grown in hill regions.

A brined flower bud from arid zones — a minor scheduled spice in India.

A South Indian bud grown at Kanyakumari (GI-tagged) and valued for high eugenol oil.

India consumes most of the world’s hing but grows almost none of the raw resin — it compounds and re-exports it.

The HCA-bearing Malabar tamarind — a souring rind and a nutraceutical raw material.

A Himalayan-highland berry used for flavouring — a minor scheduled spice.

The Kerala-grown seed half of the nutmeg-and-mace pair, sold shelled/unshelled and by count per pound.

The crimson aril wrapping the nutmeg seed — a separate, higher-value spice from the same fruit.

A New-World berry tasting of several spices at once — grown only marginally in India.

A high-volume souring fruit — exported as pods, deseeded pulp, paste and concentrate to the food-manufacturing trade.

India’s colour play — low-heat Capsicum grown and extracted for ASTA colour and paprika oleoresin rather than pungency.

Curcumin is an origin fact, not a grade you can dial up — Alleppey finger’s 4–6% floor sits above Nizamabad’s ceiling.

Indian dill seed (sowa), a distinct chemotype from European dill, supplied to the seasoning and extraction trade.

Exported fresh and dried to the diaspora and seasoning trade, and processed for its aromatic leaf oil.

The quiet giant of the basket — mint products (menthol, mint oil) are ~8% of India’s spice export value.

Grown and dried for the dehydrated-herb and seasoning trade.

A temperate Mediterranean herb listed in the schedule but barely grown commercially in India.

True Mediterranean bay (Laurus nobilis) — not to be confused with the Cinnamomum "Indian bay leaf" (tejpat).

A celery-scented herb of the schedule with negligible Indian commercial trade.

Sweet marjoram grown for the dried-herb and essential-oil trade.

Grown for dried leaf, basil seed (sabja) and essential oil across the seasoning and beverage trade.

Grown for dried leaf and for rosemary extract, a natural antioxidant in demand from food manufacturers.

A Mediterranean culinary herb grown in Indian hill zones for the dried-herb trade.

Summer savory — a peppery culinary herb scheduled in India with minimal commercial cultivation.

Grown for dried leaf and thymol-rich thyme oil for the seasoning and flavour trade.

A fast-growing demand herb — dried oregano for the pizza-seasoning and QSR supply chain.

An anise-scented French culinary herb, scheduled in India but barely grown for export.