India has a strong evidence base on food loss but weak data on food waste. Examine the implications for policy and for meeting SDG 12.3.

SDG 12.3 has two targets for 2030: halve per capita food waste in shops and homes, and reduce food losses along supply chains [3]. India measures loss well but barely measures waste, and this tilts its policy towards the supply side.

India's evidence asymmetry

• Loss is well mapped: MoFPI has commissioned successive national studies. ICAR-CIPHET covered 45 commodities in 120 districts [2]. NABCONS (2020–22) covered 54 commodities, 15 agro-climatic zones and 292 districts [1].
• Waste is unmapped: the NABCONS study stops at wholesalers, retailers and processing units [1]. No national survey covers homes, hotels or restaurants. Yet globally, households caused 60% of the 1.05 billion tonnes of food wasted in 2022 [4].

Implications for policy

• Better-targeted supply-side spending: stage-wise data trace losses to poor handling, storage and transport [1]. This steers MoFPI schemes such as PM Kisan SAMPADA and Operation Greens towards cold chains and processing [5].
• Infrastructure gaps show up: India has about 90% of the cold storage it needs, but the transport links to distant markets remain weak [6].
• Consumption blind spot: without a waste baseline, cities and campaigns cannot set targets, fund segregation or check what works. By default, policy stays focused on supply.
• Unmeasured climate risk: people in hotter countries waste more food per head at home [4]. India's household waste may therefore be large, but it goes unmeasured.
• Ageing data: in August 2025, the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing asked for an updated post-harvest loss study [7].

Implications for SDG 12.3

• India can report the Food Loss Index (indicator 12.3.1(a)), for which FAO is the custodian agency [3].
• The Food Waste Index (12.3.1(b)), run by UNEP [8], needs measured tonnes of waste in retail, food service and households. Without a baseline, progress on "halving" cannot be tracked, and India would have to rely on modelled estimates.

India's loss surveys give it a strong base, but they cover only half of SDG 12.3. The next loss survey should report transport and market-stage losses separately for each district. MoSPI could add a household and food-service waste module based on UNEP's method [8]. Measuring both halves would let India show verified progress on responsible consumption and production by 2030.