At a glance
Mustard in India, in four facts
Top Oilseed
India’s leading edible oilseed by production, about 28.6% of total output.
Top State
Rajasthan dominates, growing over half the national crop.
2025-26 Output
An estimated 13.331 million tonnes, up from 12.667 million.
GM Mustard
DMH-11’s legal battle remains unresolved, referred to a larger bench.
On this page
- India’s top oilseed, grown in winter
- Rajasthan dominates
- A research directorate, and a real yield gap
- Mustard is outperforming other Rabi crops
- Import duty swings, and mustard oil’s own adulteration scare
- What GM Mustard’s genes actually do
- A record MSP, and production that still misses target
- MCQ on Mustard Cultivation in India
India’s top oilseed, grown in winter
Ahead of every other oilseed
Mustard, also called rapeseed-mustard, is India’s leading edible oilseed crop by production. In 2023-24, it produced about 13.2 million tonnes, roughly 28.6% of India’s total oilseed output. It is grown as a Rabi, or winter, crop, since it is a cool-season annual plant.
Q1. True or False: Mustard is India’s leading edible oilseed crop by production, ahead of every other oilseed grown in the country.
Rajasthan dominates
Five states, most of the crop
Rajasthan is by far the largest producer. Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat follow. These five states together account for about 81.5% of India’s mustard-growing area and 87.5% of its output.
In the 2024-25 Rabi season, Rajasthan alone cultivated about 34.74 lakh hectares, producing an estimated 52.03 lakh tonnes. That’s more than half of India’s entire mustard crop from one state.
A research directorate, and a real yield gap
Backed by ICAR since 1993
ICAR‘s Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research, based in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, has backed the crop since 1993. It started life as the National Research Centre on Rapeseed-Mustard, before its 2009 redesignation.
Behind Canada’s canola, not behind mustard by name
India’s national mustard yield is roughly 1,443 kg per hectare. Canada’s canola, the closest global comparison crop, yields about 2,000-2,100 kg per hectare, some 40-45% higher.
Watch for this trap: don’t confuse canola with Canada’s own separate, much smaller condiment “mustard seed” crop, which actually yields far less than canola. Canola is the right comparator here, not mustard seed by name.
A strong harvest feeds the bigger mission
The National Mission on Edible Oils – Oilseeds (NMEO-Oilseeds) targets raising India’s primary oilseed output to 69.7 million tonnes by 2030-31, up from 39 million tonnes in 2022-23. A strong mustard harvest directly supports that goal, since mustard oil is one of India’s most widely used cooking oils.
Q2. True or False: India’s mustard yield per hectare is higher than Canada’s canola yield per hectare.
Mustard is outperforming other Rabi crops
At or above MSP, while others lag
In 2025-26, mustard has traded at ₹6,200 to ₹6,600 per quintal, at or above its MSP. Several other Rabi crops, including wheat and gram, were reportedly selling below their own MSPs over the same period.
Import duty swings, and mustard oil’s own adulteration scare
A duty swing that targets rival oils
In September 2024, the Centre raised import duty on competing crude edible oils: soyabean, palm, and sunflower. The duty rose from 0% to 20%, to support domestic farm prices. It was then cut back to 10% in May 2025, to ease retail cooking-oil prices.
Watch for this trap: these duty swings target imported soy, palm, and sunflower oil, not mustard oil directly. But since consumers can substitute between cooking oils, the swings still shape how competitive mustard stays.
A dropsy outbreak that changed the rules
In 1998, adulterated mustard oil caused a dropsy outbreak in Delhi, killing over 60 people and hospitalising thousands. The culprit was a toxic weed oil, mixed in to cut costs. That scare is why blending mustard oil with cheaper oils was eventually banned outright, effective October 2020. Blends had used up to 80% cheap palm oil, quietly depressing what farmers earned for pure mustard too.
A yield claim that scientists dispute
ICAR claims DMH-11 yields about 28% more than the older Varuna variety, based on confined field trials. Former scientists and independent experts dispute this. Some argue it isn’t even better than an existing non-GM hybrid, DMH-1. A separate, genuine concern sits alongside this: about half of India’s honey comes from mustard bloom, and beekeepers have petitioned against GM mustard’s release, since its effect on bee health hasn’t been thoroughly studied either way.
Q3. True or False: A 1998 dropsy outbreak from adulterated mustard oil in Delhi led to a later outright ban on blending mustard oil with cheaper oils.
What GM Mustard’s genes actually do
These papers test precise technical claims about GM mustard (DMH-11), not just whether it exists. The right claim: its genes enable cross-pollination and hybridisation, not pest-resistance from a soil bacterium. DMH-11 was developed by Delhi University’s Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants, not jointly by IARI and Punjab Agricultural University, a distractor exam papers have tested before.
DMH-11 actually carries a third gene too, called bar, which confers tolerance to the herbicide glufosinate. ICAR’s own position is that this gene is used only to help select the right parent plants during hybrid seed production, not for spraying herbicide on commercial crops.
- UPSC CSP 2018 Asked which statements about GM mustard were correct, testing exactly this gene-function distinction. See the full paper.
A record MSP, and production that still misses target
Best margin among all Rabi crops
The CCEA set the mustard MSP for Rabi Marketing Season 2026-27 at ₹6,200 per quintal, up ₹250 from the season before. That gives mustard the highest expected margin over production cost, about 93%, among all Rabi crops.
Output climbs, but still falls short
Government estimates put 2025-26 mustard production at 13.331 million tonnes, up from 12.667 million tonnes in 2024-25. That’s still short of the government’s own 13.9 million tonne target for the season.
GM mustard’s legal path remains stuck. On 23 July 2024, a two-judge Supreme Court bench delivered a split verdict on the crop’s 2022 environmental-release approval, and referred the case to a larger bench. Both judges unanimously directed the Centre to formulate a national GM-crops policy. A three-judge bench then deferred the fresh hearing to mid-April 2025. No final ruling or commercial cultivation has followed since, though ICAR’s own Bharatpur directorate has continued sowing DMH-11 in contained field-trial plots for seed multiplication and yield evaluation.
Quick Q&A
Is mustard really India’s top oilseed?
Yes. It produced about 13.2 million tonnes in 2023-24, roughly 28.6% of India’s total oilseed output, ahead of every other oilseed.
Which state grows the most mustard?
Rajasthan, cultivating about 34.74 lakh hectares and producing over half of India’s entire mustard crop.
Why does India’s mustard yield trail Canada’s canola?
India yields roughly 1,443 kg per hectare against Canada’s 2,000-2,100 kg per hectare, a real 40-45% gap, not a naming coincidence.
What did the 1998 mustard oil scare change?
A dropsy outbreak from adulterated oil in Delhi led to an outright ban on blending mustard oil with cheaper oils, effective October 2020.
Has GM mustard (DMH-11) been cleared for commercial planting?
No. A split Supreme Court verdict in 2024 referred the case to a larger bench, and no final ruling has followed since.
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