Impact of Global Economic Crisis on Export Diversification of Agricultural Commodities: The Case of Indian Horticulture Market

Abstract

The present external environment is conducive to export expansion and emerge India as an important exporter for agricultural commodities, but the post crisis slump in the world commodity market and declining commodity prices, forced India to diversify export of its agricultural commodities from traditional to non traditional exports to recover from the slowdown. The economic recession of September 2008 which first emerged as a financial crisis in one country has now spread his hand in almost all corners of the globe but the developing economy like India which is still in slow down stage and not yet in recession, is struggling tough to vanish this. The present paper examines some of the striking trends of India’s exports of overall agricultural commodities in general and horticultural commodities in particular during the last decade. The Herfindahl index has been used to analyze the export diversification in agricultural commodities. As densification is one of the effective measures to mitigate the risk during crisis, this study provides practical insights for exporters and policy makers for designing effective framework to promote export during risky period.