Kalpana Pandey

The Basmati Rice Farmers and Exporters Development Forum (BFDF) has formally escalated the basmati export crisis to a national level by writing to the chairman of the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, characterising the surging shipping charges on stranded consignments as a ‘national trade crisis’ that requires immediate government intervention. BFDF chairperson Priyanka Mittal flagged that repeated representations by exporters and industry bodies to shipping lines have yielded no meaningful response, and that the financial stress on exporters is deepening by the week as demurrage, detention, and surcharges compound on cargo that cannot reach its destinations.

India’s agricultural exports to the Gulf region are simultaneously recording a broad-based slowdown as elevated freight rates strain the trade economics of virtually all commodity categories — rice, fruits, vegetables, spices — that ordinarily move in high volumes to West Asian markets. Exporters report either deferring consignments entirely or renegotiating contracts to reflect the surging transportation costs, with container availability remaining tight on key West Asia routes even as carriers continue raising surcharges. The disruption is spreading beyond exporters to affect farmers in Punjab, Haryana, and Maharashtra — producers whose livelihoods depend on the Gulf markets that have absorbed Indian agricultural surpluses for decades.

The Systemic Failure: Shipping Lines Not Responding

The BFDF letter to APEDA pinpoints a critical systemic gap: while the government has provided RoDTEP extension, RBI credit relief, gem and jewellery deadline extensions, and customs duty waivers on petrochemicals, it has not yet found a mechanism to compel or persuade shipping lines to freeze demurrage and detention charges on Gulf-stranded cargo — the immediate financial pain point that is pushing exporters toward insolvency. The basmati exporters are asking for an intervention analogous to the force majeure provisions that would normally apply in contract law when cargo cannot be delivered due to events outside the exporter’s control.

DHL Express Accelerates India Bet Under Strategy 2030

Against the backdrop of the current crisis, DHL Express has reinforced its long-term confidence in India by announcing an acceleration of its India expansion as part of its global Strategy 2030 roadmap. R S Subramanian, Senior Vice President for South Asia, stated that DHL Express aims to increase its global revenue by 50 per cent compared to its 2023 baseline, with India positioned as one of the top 20 priority markets globally. The company is concentrating on high-growth verticals including life sciences, new energy, e-commerce, and digital sales — sectors whose logistics requirements have been intensified by the Hormuz crisis and the associated shift from sea to air freight for time-sensitive shipments.

DHL’s India bet is particularly significant for the pharma cold chain and e-commerce cross-border export segments, both of which are in the midst of structural transformation. The government’s removal of the ₹10 lakh courier export cap on April 1 directly expands the addressable market for DHL’s India express business by enabling higher-value consignments through the courier channel. And the pharma sector’s crisis-driven pivot from sea to air freight has created a surge in demand for the temperature-controlled, time-definite air express services that DHL specialises in. The freight crisis, paradoxically, is creating the conditions for DHL’s India strategy to outperform its targets in the near term even as it creates pain for the broader trade community.

Published Date: April 6, 2026