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Fearing losses to trade, govt imposes import duty and agri cess on yellow peas
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Monday, 10 November, 2025, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi
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Recognising the potential losses to farmers and traders from duty-free imports of yellow peas, the Central Government has imposed a 10% import duty and a 20% agricultural infrastructure development cess on yellow pea imports, effective November 1, after traders' body CAIT and other trade and farmer organisations made representation before Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Shankar Thakkar, national secretary, CAIT, has said that this has provided relief to domestic pulses producers ahead of the Kharif season.
"The Central Government has taken a significant policy decision to support pulses producers. The Finance Ministry issued a notification late Wednesday evening announcing the imposition of a duty on yellow pea imports, effective November 1st. Under this notification, a total of 30% import duty will be imposed on imported yellow peas from November 1st. This 30 percent levy is an attempt to protect the domestic pulse market from cheap imports, which could prove beneficial for farmers before the start of the Kharif season. This move ends the duty-free import policy that had been in place since December 2023, which had been extended several times. The government has clarified that imports with bills of lading (shipment documents) dated until October 31 will be exempt from this new levy," said Thakkar.
Cheap, duty-free imports of yellow peas from Canada, Russia, and other countries have suppressed the market price of domestic chickpeas (an alternative to yellow peas), affecting farmers' incomes. Foreign imports were driving down the prices of local pulses, forcing farmers to sell at prices well below the minimum support price.
Duty-free imports were allowed in December 2023 due to a production shortage. This led to large-scale imports of pulses from abroad. According to data, last year, in 2024, India imported a total of 6.7 million tons of pulses, of which yellow peas accounted for 3 million tons. These imports were primarily from Canada and Russia. India is currently the world's largest importer of pulses.
Thakkar added that the government will need to ensure that imports with bills of lading (shipment documents) issued until October are exempt from this new levy. However, shipping documents issued for other countries may sometimes be diverted to India due to increased tariffs, so the government will need to closely monitor this. And like yellow peas, lentils and gram are being sold much below the minimum support price, hence there is a need to increase the import duty on both of them.
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