India, Sept. 5 -- One in every four bananas peeled off anywhere in the world is grown in India. And even though the lofty tariff barrier set up by President Donald Trump could dent banana exports to the US, the world's biggest market for bananas, Indian exporters can still stand to benefit by having innovation on their side to soften the tarrif blow.

Bananas fetched $377.5 Mn to India's export kitty last fiscal, growing 30% over the previous year. Yet, India shipped only 8.2 Mn Tonnes of the fruit out of a production of around 37 Mn Tonnes in FY25, the commerce ministry informed the Lok Sabha.

"Less than 5% of the total bananas produced here get exported. Yes, India too consumes a lot of it, but the major challenge has been in exporting...