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| India tops world exports in beef, mostly that of water buffalo (Image courtesy: Buffalopedia) |
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reported that India was the world's top beef exporter in 2014.
CNN Money reports that by doing this, India earned $4.8 billion, much more than the $4.3 billion gained by exporting basmati rice.
The beef referred to is actually carabeef, or the meat from water buffalo. There is huge demand for Indian buffalo meat as it is cheaper than the regular beef.
Beef from India is mainly exported to Vietnam, Malaysia, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Brazil, Australia and USA follow India as the top beef exporting nations of the world.
According to Agricultural and Processed Foods Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India has 88 million buffaloes, making up 58 percent of all buffalo population in the world.
These animals are mainly maintained for milk and are even used as draught animals for farming in some parts of the country.
Some of them are exclusively raised for breeding. In 2014, it was reported that Yuvraj, a he-buffalo from Haryana who weighed 1400 kgs, was offered Rs. 7 crores by an interested buyer. Yuvraj reportedly earned his owner Rs.50 lakhs annually.
But as the ban on cattle, especially cows and bullocks, in various parts of the country isn't applicable to these animals, they can also be slaughtered for meat.
Despite the trend of rising meat consumption in the country, the number of Indians eating beef is quite low.
A 2015 analysis of National Sample Survey data from 2012 shows just four percent of rural Indians and five percent of those in urban areas reporting that they consumed beef during the last week prior to surveying.
Consumption also varied widely, from per capita monthly average of half a kilo beef in Nagaland to no consumption in the states of Punjab, Chattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh.