New Delhi: The Union government has removed the import duty on desi chana (Bengal gram) till the end of FY25. The government also extended duty-free imports of yellow peas, for the second time, till October 31.
In early April, the government had extended the duty-free import of yellow peas by two months to June 30, 2024. The government had allowed imports of duty-free chana imports till March 31, 2024 and subsequently extended it till April 30.
An import duty of 50% on yellow peas was first introduced in November 2017. However, the government in early December 2023 allowed duty-free imports until March 2024 and later extended it till April.
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India had imported about 780,000 tonnes of yellow peas by 31 March and may import another 500,000-650,000 tonnes by June-end. India largely imports yellow peas, used in place of chana, from Canada and Russia. Yellow peas, in various forms such as besan (chickpea flour) and whole peas or splits, is used as an everyday commodity.
India, which relies on imports to meet its domestic demand of about 28 mt for these three pulses, primarily purchases them from Australia, Canada, Russia, Myanmar, Mozambique, Tanzania, Sudan and Malawi.
The agriculture ministry indicated that the crop yields have not come down even though the total output is currently pegged lower at 12.1 million tonne (MT) for the 2023-24 crop year (July-June) compared with 12.2 MT in the previous year. Retail pulses inflation has been high for the last several months and was reported at 17.71% in March, while chana reported a price rise of 14.31%.
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