India may rely less on imports for its pulse proteins in FY25, says industry body

New Delhi: With a good monsoon and improved sowing of pulses, India’s imports of these daily staples may decline by 5-15% in 2024-25, an industry body estimated, after domestic production drove up imports, and prices, in the first two months of this financial year.

India’s imports of pulses are expected to drop to 4-4.5 million tonnes this fiscal year from 4.74 million tonnes in 2023-24, the India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA) said on Friday.

The area under pulses cultivation in the 2024-25 kharif (monsoon crops) season has increased by 3% year-on-year, reaching 90.46 million hectares from 87.9 million hectares in the corresponding season last year, according to agriculture ministry data released on 2 August.

Pulses have seen a significant increase in acreage, rising by 11% to 11.06 million hectares, representing 81.3% of the normal sown area, compared to 9.97 million hectares last year, according to the latest available data.

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IPGA chairman Bimal Kothari urged the government to impose import duties on yellow peas and develop a long-term policy for India’s ₹2.5-trillion pulses market, as frequent changes in policies hurt the interests of stakeholders.

In April and May, India’s imports of pulses jumped about 20% to 371,334 tonnes from 308,619 tonnes in the same two months last year as lower domestic production caused a surge in demand for tur (pigeon pea), and urad (black matpe), Mint reported.

Presenting the Union Budget for 2024-25 last month, India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman reiterated the government’s intention of making India self-sufficient in pulses, and ending their imports by December 2027.

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The newly installed government at the Centre is planning a special focus on reducing imports of pulses and stabilizing food prices as part of its 100-day agenda, Mint reported.

Pulse prices likely to drop

Bimal Kothari, speaking at an event on Friday that was attended by Union minister of state for consumer affairs B.L. Verma, said a significant increase in pulse production was expected for the 2024-25 crop year.

Better-than-expected monsoon showers will increase production of all pulses, including masur, urad and tur, he said.

In a recent interview with Mint, Union consumer affairs secretary Nidhi Khare had said that prices of pulses were expected to decrease by 28% by January due to better sowing and improved yield of pulses.

The price of tur is expected to decrease to ₹120 per kg early next year from the current price of ₹167 per kg. Similarly, the prices of masur and urad are also expected to drop as the arrival of fresh produce begins in December, Khare said.

As per consumer affairs ministry data, imports of pulses increased from 2.47 million tonnes in 2020-21 to about 2.7 million tonnes in 2021-22, representing a rise of 9.5%. However, imports then decreased to about 2.5 million tonnes in 2022-23, marking a reduction of about 7.5%.

According to the statistics directorate’s Third Advance Estimates for 2023-24, India’s production of pulses increased from 16.3 million tonnes in 2015-16 to about 24.5 million tonnes in 2023-24.