The Indian Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA) said on Wednesday that India’s supply-demand situation for chickpeas (chana) and lentils (masoor dal) is tight, and the government should revisit import duties on these two pulses to encourage overseas purchases in the coming months.
The world’s largest importer of chickpeas and lentils currently charges a 50% tariff on imported lentils and a 66% tariff on imported chickpeas. To protect the interests of domestic farmers, tariffs have been kept higher. Lentils and chickpeas are imported into India from Australia and other countries.
In a webinar, Saurabh Bhartia, IPGA Executive Committee Member said “In 2021, all pulses in India are trading above Minimum Support Price (MSP) and government stocks have hit a low. Both show we definitely have issues in our production of pulses in the last Kharif and Rabi seasons.”
