Paper Title
Trends in Indian Agricultural Trade during Pre and Post Reforms Periods

Abstract
Indian economy is mainly based on agricultural trade as agriculture is the backbone of India and contributes to the global food basket. Indian agriculture has undergone a remarkable transformation in the second half of the twentieth century including the 1991 reforms and establishment of WTO. These reforms have caused agriculture to move in the direction of commercialization and diversification which has triggered the development and innovations in this sector. The present study is an attempt to analyze the trends in Indian agricultural trade during pre and post reforms periods. Secondary data were collected from various published sources like Agricultural Statistics at Glance, FAOSTAT, APEDA or Agriexchange, Indiastat, etc. The data were grouped into pre reform (1980-81 to 1990-91) and post reform (1991-92 to 2019-20) period. To analyze the data we employed descriptive statistics and Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) to identify growth over a period of time. The results revealed that the average quantity of agricultural exports in terms of quantity and value had increased in post reform period as compared to pre reform period i.e., 25190.07 thousand tonnes valued at 100837.29 crores to 4083.48 thousand tonnes valued at 3137.13 crores. Likewise, with respect to agricultural imports, the average quantity and value had increased in post reform period as compared to pre reform period i.e. 12654.66 thousand tonnes valued at 50533.38 crores to 3774.15 thousand tonnes valued at 2687.11 crores. Therefore, it is suggested that India needs to develop efficient global value chains and encourage contract farming on a medium to long-term basis and there is also a need to reduce the import of agricultural commodities to get a favorable balance of payment. Keywords - Pre and Post Reform Period, Agricultural Exports and Imports.