Largest Rice Producing State in India

India grew about 154 million tonnes of rice in 2025-26, according to the 3rd Advance Estimates from the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) on the UPAg portal. But this harvest is not spread evenly across the country. A few rice producing states in India grow most of it.

Uttar Pradesh is the largest rice producing state in India, with 19.80 million tonnes and a 12.86% share. Telangana and West Bengal follow. For years, West Bengal was the largest producer of rice in India. That has changed.

Top 10 Rice Producing States in India (2025-26)

Here is the rice production in India state wise, ranked by each state’s share of the national harvest in 2025-26.

Note: You can check these numbers yourself in the official UPAg rice production dashboard, which shows the 3rd Advance Estimates for 2025-26.

Together, these 10 states grow about 81% of India’s rice. All other states and union territories make up the remaining 19%. The list also shows how quickly rankings can shift. Andhra Pradesh was ninth in 2024-25 and is now fifth. Chhattisgarh moved the other way, from fifth to eighth.

How Uttar Pradesh Took the Top Spot

In 2023-24, Uttar Pradesh produced 15.99 million tonnes of rice. The final estimates for 2024-25 put that at 20.76 million tonnes, a jump of about 30% in one year. It became the most rice producing state in India, ahead of Telangana and West Bengal. The main driver was land. The area under rice grew from 5.77 to 7.35 million hectares, while yield barely moved, from 2,772 to 2,824 kg per hectare. UP became the highest paddy producing state in India by planting more, not by growing more per field. Its location also helps. The state sits on the fertile Indo-Gangetic plains, where canals and tube wells water much of the farmland. This kept it the largest rice producing state in India in 2025-26 too.

Telangana: The Fastest-Rising Challenger

If any state can take the top spot from UP, it is Telangana. In 2014-15, it grew just 4.44 million tonnes of rice. By 2024-25, that figure reached 17.45 million tonnes, nearly four times higher. In 2025-26, it rose again to 18.52 million tonnes. That leaves a gap of only about 1.3 million tonnes between Telangana and India’s largest rice producing state. Telangana also grows more per hectare than UP and West Bengal, with a yield of 3,627 kg per hectare in 2024-25. As irrigation expanded, its area under rice more than tripled, from 1.42 to 4.81 million hectares.

Largest Producer vs Most Productive State

Total output and yield per hectare tell two different stories. Among the major rice producing states in India, the biggest producer is not always the most efficient one.
Punjab grows less rice than UP, Telangana or West Bengal, but it has the highest yield among the top 5 rice producing states in India. West Bengal grows three rice crops a year: Aus, Aman and Boro. This helps it stay in the top three with less land than UP. UP’s lead comes from scale. The largest rice producing state in India is not the most productive one.

Is Chhattisgarh Still the “Rice Bowl of India”?

Chhattisgarh is widely known as the “Rice Bowl of India.” Yet in 2025-26, it ranked eighth in rice production, with about 9.9 million tonnes. The name was never only about total rice production. Paddy is the state’s main crop, and farmers grow many traditional rice varieties. “Rice Bowl of India” is an informal nickname, not an official title. States such as Punjab and Andhra Pradesh are also sometimes described as rice bowls, but Chhattisgarh remains one of the states most strongly associated with the name.

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