About Basmati

Basmati rices endowed with unique quality features - pleasant aroma, long slender grains with delicate curvature, remarkable linear elongation which is more than double its original length combined with excellent flaky soft texture on cooking makes it exclusive, a gourmet delight, with no celebration in India complete without some cuisine of basmati - Biryani or Pulao taking pride of place on the table.

Basmati is inter woven into the cultural ethos of the country like no other agricultural product and the farming community has a sovereign right over this wonderful bio resource, the nature given gift to Indian sub continent.
On account of the pleasant natural flavour, these rices are patronized by kings and zealously guarded by them since times immemorial. The traditional basmati varieties are tall, low yielding types.
There is a mysticism attached to basmati quality as soil / climate and temperature interaction plays a major role in it's retention and that only when grown in particular sub-Himalayas tracts it recites the unique quality. Although several aromatic rices are grown and consumed as basmati, it is only few like Basmati 370 (Punjab Basmati), Type 3 (Dehradun Basmati), HBC 19 (Taroari Basmati) and Pakistan Basmati are recognized by trade as possessing the required quality features for export.

Basmati cultivation is localized to Northwest Indian states - Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh and to a limited area in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi and Rajasthan. Estimates indicate that it is cultivated in about 0.7 to 0.8 million hectares. The production is about 1.2 million tones (rough rice basis) with an average of 1.5 to 1.8 t/ha.