KRBL LIMITED
Redefining basmati excellence, one innovation at a time
Basmati is unforgiving. The very qualities that make it the world’s most prized rice – its length and its delicate structure and aroma – also make it difficult to process without compromise. For KRBL Limited, the world’s leading basmati rice exporter, accepting compromise is not an option. When a new longer variety was introduced, KRBL worked with long-term partner Bühler to re-engineer the entire process, preserving the grain length that makes it so exceptional.
Chris Ward, September 2026
The global basmati market is booming, valued at over USD 14.4 billion in 2025 and forecast to double by 2035. Yet behind that growth lies a set of challenges that are becoming harder, not easier, to manage. Rising consumer expectations, intensifying food safety regulation, climate volatility, and the relentless pressure of global competition are collectively raising the bar for every producer in the market. For those who fail to meet it, the consequences are immediate and severe.
Food safety regulation is perhaps the most acute pressure point. Over 50 percent of export markets now require strict certification, and standards are tightening year on year. For Indian exporters, the margin for error is very thin: a single batch rejected for exceeding contaminant limits can damage relationships built over decades and trigger reputation loss across an entire supply chain.
Quality is an equally unforgiving challenge. Basmati’s premium value depends entirely on the integrity of the grain: its length, its aroma profile, and its appearance in the pack. Yet rice losses, especially in long delicate basmati varieties, are a real risk, driven by brokens during milling, discoloration from improper parboiling/steaming and drying, and defects that slip through due to inadequate sorting. For premium basmati, this loss rate is not profitable or sustainable.
KRBL is the world’s leading exporter of basmati rice and has built a premium reputation through an unwavering commitment to quality. KRBL’s India Gate brand reaches over 90 countries and more than 11 million households annually.
Maintaining the quality consistency that justifies a global brand premium, not just across one facility, but across multiple high-throughput mills processing millions of kilograms of rice each year, requires a level of technological precision and operational integration that cannot be improvised; it must be engineered. “Each grain matters to us,” says Anil Kumar Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director at KRBL Limited. “To deliver consistent quality worldwide, we rely on precision, consistency, and innovation, and on a technology partner who shares these values. We found that partner in Bühler.”
Bühler works with us, not just for us.
Anil Kumar Mittal,
Chairman and Managing Director, KRBL Limited
A partnership forged by challenge and opportunity
The collaboration between KRBL and Bühler began more than 30 years ago with cleaning solutions and grew into one of the most influential partnerships in the global rice industry. KRBL’s ambition was clear: to build world-class processing capability in India, for the world.
The real test of the partnership, however, came with a grain. The introduction of the PUSA 1121 basmati variety transformed the market. Its exceptional extra-long grain length created fierce consumer demand but posed unprecedented processing challenges. Conventional equipment simply could not handle it without brokens. Together, KRBL and Bühler re-engineered machine designs, process flows, and automation logic from first principles, preserving grain length, quality, and authenticity. That joint innovation became a template for the wider industry.
Addressing the industry challenges of brokens and raw material cost requires intervening at every stage of the milling process, not just at the end. At KRBL, Bühler's technology forms a continuous chain of precision from paddy intake to final packaging – a line designed to identify and eliminate losses wherever they occur and ensure KRBL takes the maximum amount of good product to market.
The partnership is not just about machines. “It is about co-creating solutions together, from grain handling to final sorters,” says Prashant Gokhale, Managing Director of Bühler India. “We provide end-to-end systems that meet KRBL standards. Their trust fuels our R&D. That’s how, together, we set industry benchmarks.”
This is a perspective shared by KRBL. “Bühler works with us – not just for us. It is one of the many factors that have helped India Gate Basmati establish a strong leadership position globally ,” says Anil Kumar Mittal.
It is about co-creating solutions together, from grain handling to final sorters. We provide end-to-end systems that meet KRBL standards. Their trust fuels our R&D. That’s how together we set industry benchmarks.
Prashant Gokhale,
Managing Director at Bühler India
Precision and care at every stage
Most milling brokens do not begin at the mill; they begin at the dryer. Basmati paddy harvested at the wrong moisture level, or subjected to aggressive drying temperatures, develops micro-fractures that are invisible to the naked eye but devastating to yield. Here, Bühler’s automatic continuous paddy dryers, deployed at KRBL's facilities, apply gentle drying curves calibrated specifically for the structural fragility of extra-long grain basmati, bringing paddy to the optimal consistent moisture window without inducing the stress fractures that cause brokens downstream.
In the milling section, the Rubber-Roller Huller TopHusk confronts the challenge of broken rice head-on. A pre-acceleration chute guides each grain precisely between two rubber rollers, minimizing the mechanical shock that causes fracture. Automatic pressure control adapts in real time to changing grain profiles and roller temperature, maintaining consistent hulling performance across long production runs regardless of incoming material variation.
The TopHusk Husk Separator follows, using closed-circuit airflow to distribute product evenly across the separating zone, ensuring that clean, accurate husk removal is achieved without a third fraction that would require reprocessing.
Whitening, the removal of the bran layer, is where heat-induced fragility poses the next risk. Bühler’s whitener TopWhite addresses this through a vertical abrasive top-to-bottom working principle that produces the highest whole-grain yield in class, cooling the grain and extracting bran dust, while preventing the thermal stress that causes a higher amount of broken rice.
Bühler’s Polisher UltraPoly then delivers the surface quality that premium basmati demands. The polishing section brings the grain to the smooth, bran-streak-free finish that international markets expect and gives KRBL their signature premium quality.
If the upstream process controls the risk of broken rice, the downstream optical sorting process controls the risk of defect contamination. For export-market basmati, facing tough food safety scrutiny, this stage is not optional; it is absolutely essential. The SORTEX R500, Bühler’s latest rice-specialist sorter deployed at KRBL, is built from the ground up for exactly this challenge. Engineered for easy operation, its high-definition cameras and intelligent algorithms, configured specifically for basmati’s defect profiles, identify and remove discolored grains, chalky kernels, and foreign materials that earlier-generation equipment would have missed. Reject concentration is improved substantially compared to previous sorter generations, giving KRBL the peace of mind to pass regulation standards, every time.
Proven at scale
Today, KRBL operates leading rice mills at two flagship sites: Dhuri, Punjab (120 tonnes per hour) and Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh (57 tonnes per hour), along with additional major facilities across India, all powered by Bühler technology. KRBL’s trust in Bühler extends to the innovation process itself: many of Bühler’s new solutions in drying, milling, and sorting are preferably validated at KRBL’s facilities before wider global rollout, making KRBL an active co-developer of next-generation processing technology, not merely a customer.
The same precision that protects quality also protects the environment. At the scale KRBL operates, the difference between an optimized process and a poorly managed one translates into millions of kilograms of wasted grain, thousands of megawatt hours of unnecessary energy, and a significant volume of water.
In an industry where regulation and consumer demands of food safety are intensifying, the ability to demonstrate measurable environmental performance is no longer a differentiator. It is a requirement for market access.
Shaping the future of basmati
The pressures facing the basmati industry will not ease. Regulations will tighten further. Consumer expectations will continue to rise. And the premium that India Gate commands in over 90 countries worldwide will remain – thanks to the KRBL’s ability to deliver, consistently, a grain that justifies it. That is not a challenge that can be solved once and forgotten; it must be engineered, monitored, and continuously improved.
By blending tradition with innovation, KRBL and Bühler continue to redefine what is possible in rice processing, one grain, one innovation, and one partnership at a time. For the farmers who grow it, the teams who process it, and the millions of consumers worldwide who open a pack of India Gate Basmati expecting something exceptional, that partnership is not an abstraction – it is the reason every grain counts.
KRBL Limited is India’s first integrated rice company, focused on manufacturing and marketing premium rice products. India Gate Basmati is enjoyed in over 90 countries and by 11 million households annually. The partnership with Bühler has grown over 30 years from basic cleaning solutions into one of the most influential collaborations in the global rice industry.
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