Many years ago, when I first learnt this, I was very surprised. I had always assumed that either the USA or China would have the largest agricultural land in the world. It is neither the USA, China, nor Russia- India has the largest arable land in the world. I’ve given below the gist of an article published by Moneycontrol. Reading the below makes you realise that, as a country, we lack vision or more accurately, execution. Here we go: India holds nearly 14% of the world’s arable land and ranks among the top producers of many farm commodities. Yet it accounts for less than 2% of global processed food exports, missing out on as much as $110 billion in annual export potential. This finding comes from a paper by Johns Hopkins economist Shoumitro Chatterjee, presented at NCAER’s India Policy Forum 2026. The global processed-food market is huge, averaging $1.2 trillion a year (plant based alone is about $700 billion)- larger than the world apparel trade. Food processing can bridge Indian agriculture and manufacturing by creating formal factory jobs, raising farm incomes, and absorbing surplus rural labour. The underperformance stems from weak productivity, high energy costs, fragmented supply chains, poor quality controls, and unstable trade policies. Closing these gaps across the farm to export chain could unlock a major labour intensive manufacturing opportunity for India.

80% of PLI money for food processing is for "branding and marketing abroad" - Is this the route to a Viksat Bharat? @shoumitro_c PLI is The Production Linked Incentive Scheme - For the Food Processing Industry (PLISFPI) is a ₹10,900 crore central sector initiative run by Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

India's underperformance in food processing reflects weak productivity growth in both cultivation and processing, high energy costs, fragmented farm supply chains, inadequate quality-control systems, and an unstable trade policy. A paper presented at NCAER's India Policy Forum (IPF) 2026 argues for a comprehensive policy approach spanning the entire farm-to-export value chain—including production, infrastructure, finance, and market access—while ensuring that farmers also benefit from these reforms. The session was chaired by Mr Suresh Goyal, Director General of NCAER, and featured Dr @shoumitro_c (Johns Hopkins University) as the lead presenter. The discussants were Dr Mekhala Krishnamurthy (Ashoka University), Dr @shilpa_555 (Indian School of Business), and Mr Harish Damodaran (The Indian Express).

In this excellent piece, @martinwolf_ , citing the @PIIE work by @shoumitro_c and me on the China Squeeze (piie.com/publications/workin…), affirms that developing countries too are victims of Chinese mercantilism

The "China Squeeze" paper by @shoumitro_c & @arvindsubraman -- on how China's model is blocking other LMICs from the ladder of development -- has struck a nerve. piie.com/publications/workin… China's foreign ministry responds piped.video/watch?v=wH_gkaif…

Interesting to see the Chinese foreign ministry compelled to respond publicly about the "China squeeze," that Chinese production and exports are stunting development in countries in the global South, as @arvindsubraman @shoumitro_c wrote persuasively inFA piped.video/watch?v=wH_gkaif…

Ageing is often treated as a national problem. But it has a very uneven geography. Our paper shows how young outmigration today creates older, smaller places tomorrow — with rising costs of public service provision and difficult policy trade-offs. New VoxEU column below.

Discussion of China's manufacturing juggernaut is dominated by the threat to high-tech incumbents -- e.g., Europe's car industry -- but arguably the global welfare consequences are bigger for low-tech entrants: e.g., Africa's inability to export t-shirts.

Good piece. And why China is going to face mounting pushback in trade. Esp from countries whose industrialisation is threatened. This China trade dog ain’t going to hunt

Sajjid Chinoy speaks with @srajagopalan @IdeasofIndia on India's economic challenges. Confirms what I've long believed--Sajjid is one of the absolute best (not to mention nicest!) economists working on India today. I hope policymakers take note mercatus.org/ideasofindia/sa…

Very interesting article. Is China staying in low-skill manufacturing far too long for its own and world's good?

.@ForeignAffairs essay by @shoumitro_c & me China is not vacating space in low-skill goods despite rising wages Which squeezes development opportunities (hundreds of bn. $ of lost exports) for poorer countries What if anything can be done about it? foreignaffairs.com/china/chi…