India’s pulses import bill has crossed a whopping $5 billion for the current financial year on record purchases of tur (pigeon peas/arhar) and chickpeas (chana or gram) by the largest consuming country in the world.

Per the Commerce Ministry’s quick estimates, pulses imports crossed $5.03 billion during the April-February period of fiscal 2024-25 – up 58.75 per cent over $3.17 billion a year ago. Overall, imports during 2023-24 were $3.74 billion and the previous high was $4.24 billion during 2016-17.

In rupee terms, imports during April-Feb 2024-25 were at a record ₹42,629 crore – up 62 per cent over ₹26,318 crore a year ago. Overall imports stood at over ₹31,071 crore last year.

Duty-free imports

Official figures in volume terms are yet to be disclosed. However, Igrain India estimates the expected pulses imports during April-Feb at 62.52 lakh tonnes (lt). This comprised record imports of desi chickpeas at 11.46 lt and tur at 11.64 lt in the current fiscal till Feb. Yellow pea imports during the April-Feb period are estimated at 20.59 lt and lentils at 11.46 lt and urad at 7.39 lt among others.

Rahul Chauhan of Igrain India attributes the record import bill to the record purchase of tur, which is costlier variety among the range of pulses imported and also due to higher volumes of chikpeas and yellow peas. In volume terms also, imports will be a record this year, Chauhan said.

To boost the domestic availability of pulses amidst a shortfall in production last year, the government removed the duty on imports of chickpeas, tur, urad and yellow peas. The duty-free import window for chickpeas is set to end on March 31, 2025. The duty-free import window for yellow peas was extended by three months recently to May 31, 2025, while duty-free imports of tur and urad are open till March 31, 2026.

Drag prices

Bimal Kothari, Chairman, India Pulses and Grains Association, attributes the record pulses import bill to the government policy of allowing duty-free imports, which has brought down the prices of all pulses below the minimum support price levels. A large quantity of imports of yellow peas was not required and the government could have managed prices by importing lesser quantity, he said. Kothari said large quantity of yellow peas has been dumped into the Indian market after October 2024, which was absolutely not required.

“The duty-free cheaper imports is hurting farmers very badly and it is also hurting the trade. Only overseas farmers and exporters are benefitting,” Kothari said. Further, the government needs to relook at the import policy seriously as we are not only losing valuable foreign exchange but allowing free imports is also a setback for the atmanirbharata (achieveing self-reliance) campaign in pulses, he said.

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