NEW DELHI: India’s agriculture exports this fiscal are expected to reach last year’s level of $53 billion despite restrictions imposed on shipments of certain key commodities, including rice, wheat, and sugar, according to a senior government official.

In 2022-23, the country’s agri exports stood at $53 billion.”We expect that we would reach that level in spite of $4.5 billion-$5 billion impact due to the restrictions,” Additional Secretary in the commerce ministry Rajesh Agrawal told reporters here on Thursday.

The government has prohibited exports of wheat and non-basmati white rice and has imposed curbs on sugar exports. He said the government is promoting exports of new products like bananas and value-added millet products to new global destinations.

“In the next three years, we are hoping to increase banana exports to $1 billion,” he said. Exports of fruits and vegetables, cereals, meat, dairy and poultry products registered a healthy growth rate during April-November. Rice exports, however, declined 7.65 per cent to $6.5 billion during the same period,” he added..