India's sugar production rose 23.43 per cent to 11.83 million tonnes in the first three months of the ongoing 2025-26 season on sharp rise in Maharashtra output, cooperative body NFCSF said on Wednesday. Sugar production stood at 9.56 million tonnes in the year-ago period, while the total output remained 26.18 million tonnes in the entire 2024-25 season (October-September). As on December 31, around 499 mills crushed 134 million tonnes of sugarcane, achieving a sugar output of 11.8 million tonnes at an average sugar recovery of 8.83 per cent, National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd (NFCSF) said in a statement. Sugar output in Uttar Pradesh, the country's largest sugar producing state, increased to 3.56 million tonnes during October-December period of 2025-26 season from 3.26 million tonnes in the year-ago. Sugar output in Maharashtra, the country's second largest producer, rose 63 per cent to 4.87 million tonnes from 2.99 million tonnes, while that of Karnataka,