Food Loss and Waste in India: The Knowns and The Unknowns

The paper examines food loss and waste in India, noting that post-harvest losses were valued at INR 926.51 billion in 2014. It identifies a lack of standardized measurement metrics and a scarcity of empirical research on household-level food waste and the social, economic, and environmental impacts of food loss. The authors recommend adopting the global Food Loss and Waste Accounting and Reporting Standard and establishing a multi-stakeholder action coalition to prioritize research and policy implementation.

• The economic value of post-harvest losses in India was estimated at INR 926.51 billion (USD 15.19 billion) in 2014, though this figure is considered an underestimation of the total food loss and waste in the country.
• Current research in India focuses primarily on the quantity of post-harvest loss, while empirical data on food waste—particularly at the household level—is almost nonexistent.
• Existing data on food losses lack comparability because of differing measurement metrics, and there is a significant lack of research regarding the social, economic, environmental, and gender-disaggregated impacts of food loss and waste.
• To improve decision-making and data comparability, the paper recommends that India adopt a standard metric, specifically suggesting the global Food Loss and Waste Accounting and Reporting Standard developed by the FLW Protocol.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Food Loss and Waste in India: The Knowns and The Unknowns. https://www.wri.org/research/food-loss-and-waste-india-knowns-and-unknowns

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Food Loss and Waste in India: The Knowns and The Unknowns. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/food-loss-and-waste-india-knowns-and-unknowns.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Food Loss and Waste in India: The Knowns and The Unknowns |url=https://www.wri.org/research/food-loss-and-waste-india-knowns-and-unknowns |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendfood, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Food Loss and Waste in India: The Knowns and The Unknowns}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/food-loss-and-waste-india-knowns-and-unknowns}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }