Sesamum is one of the oldest oilseed crops generally grown in Africa and Asia for its high-quality nutritional value. The instability in sesamum production was examined by employing instability index. At all India level, the instability in sesamum area and production has increased from Period I to Period II and it declined in Period III. Interestingly the instability in productivity of sesamum has marginally declined from Period I to Period II and from Period II to Period III. In the case of Karnataka state, in area and production instability of sesamum has increased from Period I to Period II and to Period III. Further, the study conducted a decomposition analysis to determine the contribution of different components to the sesamum production. The results of the decomposition of change in average sesamum production in India as well as in Karnataka shows, change in mean area and interaction between mean area and mean yield influencing change in average production of sesamum in overall period. Among the ten constituents of change in variance of production of sesamum, change in area variance is the dominant reason for instability in sesamum production. In Karnataka, change in area variance contributed maximum to change in variance of production in all the four periods, followed by interaction between changes in mean yield and area variance. The study findings suggest the need for research efforts to concentrate on production techniques, improve productivity, and developing varieties with higher productivity potential, wider adaptability, application of improved crop protection techniques, and capacity building for expertise in agronomic practices will have a vital role in providing modern system of sesame production in India.