Govt extends export support to chana dal; to produce 24 mn tonnes of pulses

With export of pulses not rising much despite the government lifting its decade-old ban last year, the latter has extended support to Bengal gram (chana dal) through the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS).

Export support at a rate of seven per cent has been extended for a limited period of three months. Under MEIS, exporters get access to a scrip they can invoke as and when they import a similar quantity. 

The American government has complained to the World Trade Organization against India providing export support through schemes such as MEIS.

Last year, the government lifted the ban on export of all varieties of pulses, to push up domestic prices. These had dropped to below the state-mandated Minimum Support Price, after a bumper harvest.

However, there was no jump in export, as Indian pulses remained highly uncompetitive in the global market. The unit price of exported pulses—mostly chickpeas (chole) has consistently risen, from $0.84 a kg in 2013-14 to $1.43 a kg in 2017-18, the highest in five years.

The quantity exported has dwindled from 346,000 tonnes in 2013-14 to 109,000 tonnes in 2017-18 (till January). Export of tur dal (split pigeon pea), moong dal (split green gram) and urad dal (split black gram) were opened in September 2017, earlier than the complete relaxation in December. Even exports of these have not materialised.   

India is expected to produce around 24 million tonnes of pulses in 2017-18, by the first advance estimate, almost a million tonnes more than the 2016-17 estimate.