India has extended duty-free imports of yellow peas until the end of May

Govt has extended duty-free import of yellow peas by three months, until the end of May, while imposing a 10% duty on imports of lentils (masur), according to a revenue department notification issued on late Friday evening. India mostly imports yellow peas and lentils from Canada, Russia and Australia. Sources said govt’s moves aim at ensuring availability of pulses at affordable prices and send a positive signal to farmers as well. Govt had allowed the import of yellow peas at 0% duty in Dec 2023 to boost availability. This is used as a substitute for chana, and the prices are also much lower. The Centre had extended the free import multiple times amid prospects of lower chana output. In 2017, govt had imposed a 50% duty on import of yellow peas to encourage domestic production of chana. As per official data, the import of yellow peas was around 30 lakh tonnes out of the total import of 67 lakh tonnes of pulses in 2024. Despite being the biggest producer of pulses, India, to ...