In charts: Why a good pulses output is an urgent need this year
Summary
- India has much to gain by becoming self-sufficient in pulses. But it’s struggling to do so, and remains vulnerable to the resultant pressure cycle.
Domestic output of pulses is expected to shrink for the third straight year in 2024-25, according to the government data. If production doesn’t pick up in 2025-26, it could have several cascading effects, ranging from the quantity of foreign trade done in pulses by India to the country’s ambitions to become self-sufficient in pulses, from the prices of dals for consumers to the nutritional intake of the average Indian.
Pulses account for about 5% of India’s crop output, and their output value was estimated at about ₹1.5 trillion in 2021-22. For vegetarians, it is a good source of protein. Yet, in 2024-25, production of this vital item on the Indian food plate is expected to fall 5% over 2023-24 levels and 16% over its 2021-22 peak. Of the five crops–chickpeas (chana), pigeon peas (arhar/tur), black gram (urad), green gram (moong), and lentils (masoor)–four are expected to end with a drop in output over 2021-22.
As a result, India, the world’s largest importer of pulses, imported a record amount of pulses in 2024-25, while removing import duties in May 2024. Last year, even as exports of pulses fell marginally, imports increased 46% over 2023-24 levels, jolting India’s ambitious target to attain self-sufficiency in pulses by December 2027.
As per a government answer to a question in Parliament, India imported about 47 lakh tonnes of pulses in 2023-24, or about 19% of the domestic production that year. Back in 2021-22, when production hit a record 273 lakh tonnes, India was moving towards the self-sufficiency target. The fall in domestic production since then is a setback.
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Impact on prices
The two stakeholders that bear the brunt of weak domestic output in pulses are consumers and farmers. In a sense, they compete against each other. Farmers seek higher prices for their produce, while consumers want lower prices. India is the world’s largest producer of pulses. It’s also the largest importer. So, even a whiff that the world’s fifth-largest economy is stepping up imports hardens global prices. This, in turn, raises domestic prices. As does lower domestic production.
For example, the consumer price index (CPI) based inflation for pulses, which measures the year-on-year change in prices, declined sharply from 13.5% in March 2021 to 2.6% in March 2022—the year in which India registered a record output of pulses. CPI inflation for pulses climbed again to 13.6% in August 2024. That is when India removed import duties on pulses and stepped up imports. That, along with a high base effect, has seen lower inflation for pulses since.
Impact on consumption
For prices to stay lower, India needs a good crop of pulses, both from the rabi season that is finishing (accounts for two-thirds of the pulses output) and the upcoming monsoon season. Pulses, typically, have a farming cycle of 120-150 days. The government expects a good rabi harvest. One sign is the re-imposition of a 10% import duty on chana earlier this month, the first in the pulses space since May 2024. High prices of pulses impact consumption. As it is, as per government consumption expenditure surveys, the share of pulses in monthly per capita spend has dropped between 2011-12 and 2023-24, from 2.8% to 1.8% in rural areas, and from 1.9% to 1.2% in urban areas. The National Institute of Nutrition says a healthy adult needs 60-120 grams of pulses and beans each day. In 2022, the per capita availability, let aside consumption, in India was only 54 grams.
Impact on nutrition
A combination of factors—favourable rainfall, lower time to harvest, remunerative prices and a stable import duty structure—needs to fall into place to achieve good production. Insufficient production raises prices, which need to be balanced by curbs on exports and duty-free imports. Although farmers can sell pulses to the government at the minimum support price (MSP), they don’t like these price swings.
Also Read: Why nutrition, not hunger alleviation, needs to be India’s primary focus
A surge in prices also affects people’s health. Lower intake of pulses can result in stunting—a child up to five years old who is short for his or her age. About 36% of India’s children experienced stunting, with Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand among the worst on this count. Even southern states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which have better health metrics, have child stunting of 23-25%. That’s another reason why the production shortfalls in pulses become a concern.
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