India's rice industry looks beyond grain for next billion-dollar opportunity

New Delhi India's rice industry is looking beyond exports of raw grain to tap growing markets for rice-based noodles, edible oil, protein, specialised ingredients and industrial materials, with a new industry assessment set to identify the value-added products that could offer the biggest commercial opportunities.

The Bharat International Rice Conference (BIRC) 2026, to be held in New Delhi from Oct. 23-25, will examine the potential at a session titled "Beyond Raw Rice: The Next Billion-Dollar Opportunity".

The session will conclude with an IREF-EY assessment identifying products that offer the most promising combination of market demand, margins, investment requirements and export potential, the organisers said in a statement.


The push comes as global markets for several rice-derived products expand. The global rice-noodle market is projected to rise from USD 6.4 billion in 2024 to USD 11 billion by 2030, according to Grand View Research, while the rice-bran-oil market is forecast to increase from USD 4.8 billion in 2023 to USD 6.3 billion by 2030.

India could also have significant room to expand rice-bran-oil production. A 2024 NITI Aayog report estimated potential production at 1.9 million tonnes, including about 850,000 tonnes of untapped potential.

Specialised ingredients are another emerging opportunity. The global rice-protein market is projected to grow from USD 168.5 million in 2023 to USD 281.4 million by 2030, according to Grand View Research.

The conference will examine rice protein alongside rice flour and functional starches, with a focus on processing requirements, customer specifications and commercially viable production.

The opportunities extend beyond food. The global market for rice-husk-ash-based silica is projected to more than double from about USD 640.6 million in 2025 to USD 1.41 billion by 2033, according to Grand View Research. Rubber and tyres accounted for about 40 per cent of the market's revenue in 2025.

Goodyear announced in 2025 that it was using silica derived from waste rice-husk ash in its European truck-racing tyres.

The conference will examine three broad routes for value creation: "Better Product", covering premium and speciality rice; "Better Consumer Offering", including noodles, snacks, ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat products; and "Better Utilisation", covering bran oil, flour, protein, starch, husk-derived products and bioenergy.

Rice-derived beverages, including sake and ethanol, will also form part of the discussion. Japanese sake exports reached 45.9 billion yen in 2025, up about 6 per cent from a year earlier, according to the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association.

"The next opportunity is not simply to export more tonnes of rice, but to earn more value from each tonne. A miller, an exporter and an ingredient manufacturer will need different pathways. At BIRC 2026, we want to distinguish attractive market forecasts from businesses that can actually be built-identifying the products, buyers, investment requirements and partnerships that can turn potential into commercial growth," said Rajeev Setia, President, Basmati, Indian Rice Exporters' Federation (IREF).

The IREF-EY assessment will evaluate market demand, achievable margins, processing yields, investment requirements, market access and export potential. It will also assess what share of global growth Indian companies could realistically capture, rather than equating a larger market with higher profitability.

The final "Next Billion-Dollar Opportunity in Rice" announcement at BIRC 2026 is expected to outline the products identified as having the strongest commercial potential, along with target markets and potential routes for investment, partnerships and pilot projects.

For India, the exercise reflects a broader shift from treating rice primarily as an agricultural commodity toward developing higher-value products from the grain and its by-products, potentially allowing processors and exporters to capture more value from each tonne produced.