India's edible oil import bill likely to rise 9% to Rs 1.75 lakh crore in current marketing year: SEA

Industry body -- Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) has said that India's edible oil import bill is estimated to rise 9 per cent to Rs 1.75 lakh crore during the current marketing year ending October on higher volumes and rupee depreciation. SEA President Sanjeev Asthana expressed concern over rising import bills and said the oilseed revolution could no longer wait. He said ‘India stands at a defining moment in its edible oil journey, and the warning signs are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. The country's edible oil import bill, which stood at Rs 1.61 lakh crore last year, is now projected to cross an unprecedented Rs 1.75 lakh crore this year’.

Earlier this month, SEA has reported that India's edible oil import rose 7 per cent to 103.88 lakh tonnes during November 2025-June 2026 period from 97.29 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous oil year. The edible oil marketing year runs from November to October. In the first eight months of the current oil year, Asthana said the import bill stood at Rs 1.19 lakh crore as against Rs 99,000 crore in the year-ago period. He observed ‘This is not merely another statistic; it represents a substantial outflow of precious foreign exchange that could otherwise be channelled into strengthening India's agricultural infrastructure’. 

He pointed out that a weaker rupee has made imports costlier. He also said ‘At the same time, weather uncertainties, including below-normal monsoon forecasts and delayed sowing in several oilseed-growing regions, are raising concerns over domestic production’. He said the global developments are adding further pressure. He noted ‘Indonesia's expanding biodiesel programme is diverting larger quantities of palm oil from food to fuel, tightening global supplies, while geopolitical uncertainties and higher freight and insurance costs continue to keep international edible oil prices volatile. The net effect is that India may be compelled to import more, and pay considerably more for every tonne’.