In view of the availability of a variety of oilseed crops for edible purpose, in India, corn oil is not very popular for domestic uses. In USA corn oil constitutes 4.3% of vegetable oil production and about 7.2% of domestic oil utilization. Corn oil does not constitute a part of conventional food recipe in our country. This is the principal reason for less popularity of corn oil as cooking oil. Besides, high price of corn oil is a limiting factor in popularization of corn oil in the country. Moreover public awareness is also lacking in the country regarding the health benefit associated with corn oil. Yearly in India nearly 2.6 thousand quintals of corn oil is produced in principal corn-based factories (Table 5). Average cumulative extraction capacity of these factories is 2.41 thousand tonnes per day. On an average these factories can extract 3.0-3.5% oil from corn, which otherwise contain at least 5-6% oil. Thus there is immense scope to increase the production of corn oil only by improving the efficiency of oil extraction from corn germs.

With increased health consciousness and expansion of cosmetic industries in India demand for corn oil is bound to increase in near future. In addition, high-oil corn may also find its due place in feed rations of the country.

To address this demand high-oil hybrids must be available and popularized among farmers. Realizing the importance, one project has been initiated on corn oil under National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP). Under this programme two high-oil populations, HOP-1 and HOP-2 have been developed with 7.0% oil content. These two populations are in the process of registration. It has been observed that when these populations are sown as male in a ratio of 6: 1 with promising hybrids and hybrids are detassled at flowering, it is possible to achieve higher oil percentage without compromising with yield parameters. This technology is at a stage of reaching to the farmers' fields. In this context concept of seed village with buyback guarantee is to be encouraged in order to provide quality produce at farmers' doorsteps. A proper market of high-oil corn is to be created so that the farmers receive good premium of their produce. It is observed that majority of the maize-based factories are located in states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana and Punjab (Table 5). Main maize producing states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh do not have any such factory. This is a serious lacuna, which has to be addressed by adopting appropriate policy decision by the government.