The Government has restricted import of pulses like tur, moong and urad since August, 2017 with annual Quota Restriction of 5 lakh MT (2 lak MT for tur, 1.5 lakh MT each for urad and moong) in order to stabilise the prices and protect the interest of the farmers.

All varieties of pulses, including organic pulses, have been made 'Free' for export without any quantitative ceiling. The export has been allowed through Customs EDI ports. However, export through the non-EDI Land Custom Stations (LCS) on Indo-Bangladesh and Indo-Nepal border has also been allowed subject to registration of quantity with DGFT. Under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) of the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-2020, Bengal Gram with HS Code 07132020 was provided rewards at the rate of 7% for exports made between 20.03.2018 to 20.09.2018

The values of India’s imports of agricultural commodities including pulses, vegetable oils, wheat and apple for last four years and current year alongwith the percentage change for the current year are given below:

(Value in USD million)

S. No.	Commodities	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2017-18 (Apr-Oct)	2018-19 (Apr-Oct)*	% Change
1	Vegetable Oils	10621.48	10492.08	10892.75	11637.48	7234.08	6080.12	-15.95
2	Cashew	1087.16	1339.34	1346.58	1418.63	1030.18	1338.50	29.93
3	Fresh Fruits	1565.20	1694.84	1682.88	1942.92	1075.44	1150.99	7.02
4	Spices	717.78	823.79	858.95	990.70	554.77	622.02	12.12
5	Pulses	2786.11	3902.22	4244.13	2908.33	2085.64	558.12	-73.24
6	Sugar	601.17	612.24	1021.81	936.52	631.16	344.85	-45.36
7	Apple	230.80	216.11	300.96	252.26	183.88	243.98	32.69
8	Coffee	152.20	122.59	138.20	154.73	93.95	91.64	-2.46
9	Fruits / Vegetable Seeds	100.48	107.57	97.42	119.19	82.33	84.48	2.62
10	Other Oil Seeds	26.59	32.99	58.55	56.47	29.79	72.31	142.73
11	Tea	63.57	58.04	50.45	55.39	34.72	26.42	-23.89
12	Other Cereals	10.03	51.84	73.30	67.27	50.65	25.85	-48.97
13	Sesame Seeds	62.67	27.59	65.88	27.40	15.99	25.15	57.22
14	Niger Seeds	0.60	6.76	12.38	4.49	2.87	2.38	-17.09
15	Rice(Other Than Basmoti)	1.77	0.91	1.08	1.89	0.98	1.63	66.15
16	Fresh Vegetables	1.82	59.78	1.66	3.98	3.00	1.53	-48.87
17	Wheat	9.95	135.45	1268.64	364.50	255.04	0.72	-99.72
18	Groundnut	0.08	0.05	0.21	2.02	1.61	0.59	-63.35
19	Castor Oil	0.30	0.17	0.22	0.40	0.17	0.48	183.22
20	Mollases	4.93	1.16	1.35	10.76	9.58	0.15	-98.42
Total Import of above		18044.69	19685.52	22117.38	20955.34	13375.81	10671.90	-20.21

Source: DGCIS (*: Provisional)

This information was given by the Minister of State of Commerce and Industry, C. R. Chaudhary, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

Import restriction on pulses maintained with quota regime while exports permitted freely through EDI and registered LCS. The Government continues an import quota restriction on pulses to stabilise prices while allowing export liberalisation of all pulse varieties through Customs EDI ports and, subject to quantity registration with DGFT, via specified non-EDI Land Customs Stations; the release also records a MEIS reward for Bengal Gram and presents recent import-value statistics showing a substantial decline in pulse import values.