India is known as the 'land of spices'. It has a long and glorious history of growing and exporting a wide variety of spices of the finest quality. This has been possible because of the wide variety of climatic conditions viz., tropical,subtropical and temperate prevailing in one or another state/zone. Spices comprise fragrant products of plant origin used for flavoring foods and beverages, as components of medicine in pharmaceutical industries, as dyes in textiles industries, etc. India is the largest producer, exporter and consumer of spices in the world. Out of the total spices (107), nearly 63 spices varieties are grown in India hence it can be rightly called as the home or land of spices or spice bowl of the world.Exports form the most important source of foreign exchange for developing countries. Spices constitute an important group of agricultural products exported from India accounting for about five per cent of the total agricultural export earnings. India is the largest producer as well as the exporter of spices in the world. During the financial year 2006-07, a total of 3,73,750 tonnes of spices and spice products valued Rs. 3575.75 crores has been exported from India.