India has started losing its global market share in basmati rice following the government’s decision to fix a minimum export price (MEP) of $1,200 per tonne for the commodity, industry executives and exporters said. At the recently concluded Istanbul food fair, not a single Indian company could bag an order for the new basmati crop of any variety because of the $1,200 benchmark fixed by the Centre. Global buyers are resorting to arm-twisting tactics and delaying payments for orders that were shipped before the Centre’s instructions came in. They are also putting pressure on the Indian basmati trade to send the contracted orders at the price that was fixed earlier to get payments for the already shipped consignments. India produces five varieties of basmati rice – Pusa, Pusa 1401, Pusa 1121, Pusa 1509, and Pusa 1718. The average FOB (free on board) price of basmati rice last year was around $1,050 per tonne. Without orders in hand, exporters are not buying good quantities of rice from farmers or creating an inventory.