Economics of paddy processing industry in India: a case of Karnataka

With the growth of demand for food crops, especially the rice and quality product, the need for improved technology of paddy processing industry has been realised. This improvement of technology saves post-harvesting losses to some extent. However, the viability of the industry depends on the economics of paddy processing done by different mills. With the help of 92 sample mills (67 modern and 25 traditional), the conversion ratio of rice was found to be 63 percent and 58.7 percent by the modern and traditional mills respectively. Though, the net profit accrued by the modern mills was found to be lesser than the traditional mills, the former is beneficial and preferred than the latter, on the ground of economies of scale and quality of production