India is known as the “Land of Spices”. In 2024-25, India produced 12.99 million tonnes of spices, accounting for a 45 per cent share in global production. Approximately 70 to 80 per cent of this is consumed in the domestic market, with food accounting for the largest end-use. In 2025, the Indian spice market for food was valued at around USD 5.15 billion. While spices are available in various forms for foods, whole and ground single spices have a market share of 63 per cent. Around 60-80 per cent of the entire spices market is in the informal sector. While there are concerns related to food safety and standards, and micro, medium and small enterprises (MSMEs) are not able to scale up into the formal branded segment, various measures have been taken by the government to help formalise the sector and ensure food safety and standards.
In this context, the objective of the policy brief is to understand the challenges in food safety and standards across the spices value chain and suggest measures to enhance food safety, formalisation of the Indian spice sector, and help MSMEs scale up into the formal segment.
Based on secondary data analysis, key informant interviews (KIIs) and stakeholder consultation, this policy brief found that the growth of the Indian spices market is below potential and even below the country’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth. This is due to certain regulatory and standards gaps, implementation, and testing and monitoring issues, primarily in the conventional spices supply chain. Product contamination and food safety issues can happen in different parts of the supply chain, from farm to retail, because there is no traceability and little accountability, which leads to adverse public health effects.
This brief makes recommendations on strengthening supply chain traceability, product standards and testing, and data-driven policymaking to help the market formalise, integrate supply chains, ensure that food is safe for consumption and help MSMEs grow in the formal sector. If these measures are implemented, the growth rate will be doubled, and the Indian spices market will reach over USD 13 billion by 2034.
