The Government has extended the free import duty regime on yellow peas till May end and imposed duty of around 11 per cent on lentils (masoor).
Through an extraordinary gazette notification on Friday, the Government announced the imposition of 5 per cent basic customs duty, 5 per cent Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess and 1 per cent Social Welfare Surcharge on imports of masoor. Trade sources said the total duty on the masoor imports comes to around 11 per cent.
The trade is not happy with the Government’s move to extend duty free imports of yellow peas till May 31, 2025, while welcoming the levy of duty on masoor. “We welcome the 11 per cent duty on masoor imports though we were expecting a duty of 25-30 per cent as lentils are selling below MSP. The trade is not happy with this import policy on yellow peas, which will not help us achieve Atmanirbharata (self reliance) in pulses,” said Bimal Kothari, Chairman, India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA), the apex trade body.
Kothari said the duty free extension on yellow peas imports will not only impact the prices of chana but also all other pulses. Further, Kothari said the chana crop looks good this year. Farmers have planted chana in a higher area of 98.55 lakh hectares this rabi season, up from 95.87 lakh ha in the previous year. Overall rabi pulses acreages were up 140.98 lakh ha this year from 137.80 lakh ha in the previous year. Masoor area was flat at 17.43 lakh ha.
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The new chana crop has been arriving in various markets and ruling in the range of ₹5300-6000 per quintal depending on the quality and variety. The MSP for chana has been fixed at ₹5650 for the 2025-26 marketing season.
Kothari said the lentils crop will also hit the markets soon. Local mandi prices of lentils are about ₹5900-6000 per quintal, while the MSP is ₹6700, he said.
India had opened up imports of yellow peas in December 2023 to boost the supplies and keep the prices under check. The free import regime for yellow peas was expected to end on February 28 this year.
Total imports of yellow peas between December 2023 and January 2025 are estimated at over 32.16 lakh tonnes, said Rahul Chauhan of IGrain India. Canada was the largest supplier of yellow peas to India during this period with shipments exceeding 16.27 lakh tonnes, followed by Russia at over 9.84 lakh tonnes and Turkey at over 2.29 lakh tonnes as per IGrain India estimates. The lentils imports between April-Jan period of the current financial year stood at over 10.25 lakh tonnes, lower than previous ficsal’s 16.76 lakh tonnes.