China alleges the presence of GMO in Indian rice consignments, but no GM food crop is grown in the subcontinent as stakeholders slam the move as ‘malafide’.

By Subramani Ra Mancombu

Rice trade between China and India has grind to a halt after Beijing revoked the registrations of 7 Indian rice exporters on the alleged presence of genetically modified organisms. The development comes after having suspended three of them earlier this year.

The revocation of the registrations by the General Administrations of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC) is actually a ban on these exporters, including the three suspended ones. The companies are based in Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. 

“China’s intentions are malafide. It has resorted to this step since its rice requirements for this year have been fulfilled,” said an official source, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Questionable move

Officials, traders, exporters and analysts say that the Chinese move is questionable since one of its agencies clears the pre-shipment consignments before being loaded. India does not grow any GM crop at all, leave alone GM paddy.

Until the end of May this year, China rejected at least 70 India non-basmati rice consignments, alleging they contained GMO. China’s rejections and revocations of exporters licence are despite the Narendra Modi government’s communication to Beijing specifically that no GM crop is grown in the country. 

“How can a consignment cleared by its agency in India suddenly contain GMO when it reaches the destination?” wondered an exporter, whose licence has been revoked.

Building narrative

“China seems to be finding GMOs in alternate shipments. Exports to China are not worth the risk. Half of the costs of the consignments goes towards freight. As a result, rice trade with China has come to a total halt,” said another exporter, whose licence too has been revoked. 

“China is building a narrative against India in the global market. It could be that it is trying to prop up Pakistan rice,” said a trade analyst. 

A narrative like this can harm India’s exports of basmati and non-basmati rice to the western nations, particularly the European Union. Indian exports make up 40 per cent of the global rice export market.

“The Government must come out to take on this narrative. Otherwise, it could harm our interests. Silence may work in some cases, but it cannot be construed as weakness,” said the analyst.  

Rice body writes to APEDA

Meanwhile, The Rice Exporters Association, Chhattisgarh, wrote to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) Chairman Abhishek Dev to approach GACC to resolve the issue of China’s claim of GMO in India rice shipments.

It said that a 520 tonnes consignment of Swarna white rice 100% broken sent from the Visakhapatnam port to Shekou in China was rejected recently for the alleged presence of GMO. The consignment had undergone a pre-shipment test in India, but Chinese authorities rejected it.

“Genetically modified paddy is not approved in India and there is no commercial cultivation of GM paddy in the country,” said Mukesh Jain, the association president in the letter.

Chinese silent

The development comes at a time when India is planning to begin the cultivation of gene-edited paddy from the oncoming kharif season. A gene-edited crop is different from a genetically modified one. The latter has a foreign gene inserted in it.

Official sources told businessline in May that Indian officials held talks with GACC officials in the third week of that month. However,  Chinese officials did not explain the methodology for rejecting Indian consignments. The Chinese move has triggered fears of a trade war being waged by Beijing. 

The ban on the 7 exporters comes despite APEDA having clear cut procedures to follow for shipments of rice to China. Exporters’ worry is that Beijing is not being openly questioned by New Delhi. 

In the 2025-26 season, India exported 21.56 million tonnes (mt) of rice, including basmati, valued at $11.53 billion. Globally, rice trade was estimated at 59.8 mt. This fiscal, over 4 mt of rice valued at $2.03 has been exported in April and May. 

Published Date: August 12, 2026