Across India’s deserts, mountains, and grasslands, herders move with their animals through shifting seasons, sustaining a way of life that silently anchors one of the country’s largest rural economies. From the Rabaris of Gujarat and the Dhangars of the Deccan to the Gaddis of Himachal and the Changpas of Ladakh, pastoralists form a living link between India’s landscapes and its livestock wealth.Pastoralist herds of sheep, goats, camels, yaks, cattle, and buffalo graze across nearly a tenth of the country’s landmass. They manage almost all of India’s 75 million sheep, about half of its 150 million goats, and roughly a tenth of its cattle. Nearly 40% of India’s 230 recognised livestock breeds were developed and are still maintained by pastoralists. These animals feed into sprawling value chains of milk, meat, wool, hides, and dung, but this “grazing economy” rarely appears in official statistics.India’s pastoralists, estimated at 10-12 million people, are not marginal producers. They sit at the centre of a system that keeps food, fibre, and fertiliser moving through rural India. If their total economic contribution were counted, it would be in excess of Rs 1.3 lakh crore annually. Yet most of this activity remains informal and unrecognised.Accounting for PastoralismOfficial figures show that livestock contributes about 5.5% to India’s GDP, but these numbers mostly capture formal dairying dominated by cooperatives. Beneath that is a parallel economy run by mobile herders, rarely recorded, yet responsible for nearly a tenth of total livestock value.India is the world’s second-largest wool producer, generating about 33.6 million kilograms a year, almost all from pastoral flocks. Himalayan states contribute significantly to this output, while Rajasthan dominates coarse wool production for carpets and handlooms. Ladakh’s Changpa herders produce the finest pashmina across the world, supporting one of India’s most celebrated artisanal industries.India is also among the top exporters of sheep, goat, and buffalo meat, trades that depend heavily on rural livestock mandis and local slaughterhouses linked to pastoral networks. Export data record the final value, but the herders who breed, rear, and move these animals remain invisible in the accounts. Each year, 20-30% of small ruminant herds are sold, generating substantial local cash flow and supporting a wide set of occupations in transport, butchery, and trade.Camel and goat hides once fed directly into India’s leather and footwear sectors, supporting small tanneries in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. Pastoralists continue to play a critical role in these chains, even as the formal sector has changed.Also read: There Is No Simple Answer as to Why Pastoralists Are Abandoning Their TradeThe many forms of valueDung is perhaps pastoralism’s most underrated product. Millions of rural households rely on it as cooking fuel, fertiliser, or plaster. From an economic perspective, dung used as fertiliser constitutes a billion-dollar industry on its own. Even at a modest rate of ₹4 per animal per night for penning livestock in the Deccan region of India, herders earn steady income while enriching farmland with nutrients and clearing crop stubble.Livestock dung reduces dependence on chemical inputs and sustains soil health. In the Deccan, shepherds often spend over 120 nights a year penning their animals. A flock of 150 sheep and goats can generate Rs 72,000 over four months, in addition to income from animal sales.For pastoralist families, livestock serve as both capital and daily income. In Himachal Pradesh, Gaddi herders have long relied on their flocks for steady cash flow. In the 1990s, a Gaddi family with 100 animals earned about Rs 25,000 annually. By the 2020s, that same herd earned roughly Rs 2 lakhs, a reflection of rising meat prices and the ability of pastoralism to keep pace with inflation.Pastoralists survive not only on market demand but on their ability to find new opportunities and adapt quickly.Pastoralism and dairyThe 1970s saw the White Revolution, which pushed industrial dairying through cooperatives. To maximise milk output, only select cattle and buffalo breeds were encouraged, those suited to intensive production. Pastoralists, who kept fewer but more diverse bovine breeds, were only partially drawn into the system.Today, however, the conversation around dairy has shifted. Terms like “free-range,” “organic,” and “A2” are used to market milk from breeds long maintained by pastoralists. Urban dairies now stock Gir and Rathi cattle, livestock that have for generations been bred, selected, and kept in pastoralist systems.Over the last three decades, dairy has given many pastoral families new stability. In the 1990s, buffalo herders in Kutch suffered when dairy collection centres closed during severe drought. Mechanisation of agriculture compounded the decline. A decade of interventions by NGOs and the National Dairy Development Board has since built a buffalo milk economy that today produces crores in daily value.A similar revival is underway for camels in Kutch and Rajasthan. Mechanisation had sharply reduced camel numbers, leaving most families with few animals. But after FSSAI certified camel milk in 2014, a small but fast-growing dairy economy emerged. Supported by the National Livestock Mission, new enterprises began sourcing camel milk. Many pastoral youth who had taken up urban jobs, driving trucks or taxis, returned to rebuild their herds when they saw the potential earnings.Towards recognition and reformDespite dairy and meat contributing Rs 97,000 crores annually, pastoralism remains largely absent from policy, finance, and official statistics. Because herders are mobile and live on the edges of villages or within forests, they tend to fall outside the state’s administrative reach. This invisibility affects everything from disaster relief to welfare schemes to rural development programmes.Recognising pastoralism as a legitimate economic sector would allow for accurate surveys, livestock insurance, and legal protection for grazing commons. Pastoralism is not a relic or a social curiosity; it is a major economic system rooted in ecology.It is also a deeply climate-adapted economy. Mobility allows herders to track variable rainfall and shifting pastures – an adaptive strategy that predates modern climate discourse. By sustaining and breeding nearly 40% of India’s domesticated animal genetic diversity, pastoralists strengthen livestock resilience to drought, heat, and disease. Their grazing practices support the health of grasslands, which function as carbon sinks and barriers against land degradation.Taken together, these practices make pastoralism a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy, one that offers practical lessons for a warming world.Aniruddh Sheth is the research coordinator at the Centre for Pastoralism, leading research on the political ecology of pastoralism.This is the seventh article in a series exploring the challenges faced by Indian pastoralists. Read the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth.