Sugar production in India, the world's second-largest producer of the sweetener, has surged nearly three-folds to 14.10 lakh tonnes in the 2020-21 season so far due to better crop output and timely commencement of the crushing operation, industry body ISMA said on Tuesday. Sugar production stood at 4.84 lakh tonne in the same period of the 2019-20 season (October-September), it said. Since India is going to have another surplus sugar year, the industry body said it is awaiting policy decisions from the government on exports and buffer stock creation with subsidy support. According to Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), unlike last year, owing to very good rainfall and sufficient water availability in reservoirs in Maharashtra and Karnataka, as also better cane availability due to higher cane acreage and improved yield per hectare, crushing season commenced well in time during the last week of October 2020. Also Read - DBS to inject Rs 2,500 cr into India arm for Lakshmi Vilas Bank merger As many as 271 sugar mills were in operation till November 15 of the current season against 127 in the year-ago period. Of the total sugar output, mills in Uttar Pradesh -- the country's leading sugar producing state -- manufactured 3.85 lakh tonnes of sugar till November 15, higher than 2.93 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period. Mills in the country's second-largest sugar producing state, Maharashtra, manufactured 5.65 lakh tonnes of sugar so far this season, it said in a statement. In the same period last season, the crushing operation had commenced very late in the fourth week of November due to drought and lesser sugarcane. Similarly sugar production in Karnataka rose to 3.40 lakh tonnes from 1.43 lakh tonnes in the said period last year.