Pakistani chana in Indian kitchen

While Indian farmers are gearing up to export vegetables, including potatoes, tomatoes and garlic to Pakistan, Pakistani chickpeas or chana has already arrived in India, as traders under the new era of Indo-Pak bilateral trade received the first lot of imports.

"We have already started the import of Pakistani chana by train, and 12 wagons of the product have already arrived. An additional 10 are expected now," PK Bajaj, president, Indo-foreign Chamber of Commerce, said.

The quality of Pakistani chickpeas was high and its rate low, compared with Indian chickpeas, Bajaj said, adding, the freight factor was very significant.

"If we bring chana from Maharashtra, the freight rate is about Rs 3 per kg, but if it is imported from Pakistan through the Wagha border, it's just Re 1 per kg," he said.

Bajaj said the landed cost of Pakistani chana was about Rs 15,000 per tonne, which was quite cheap compared with the domestic production.

Moreover, during this season, production of chana in India was not up to its expected quantity, which made the Pakistani chana more popular in the country, he added.

Pakistan was expected to produce a bumper chana crop of 9 lakh tonnes, against the previous season's 5.5 lakh tones, which provided an opportunity for its smooth entry in the Indian market, he claimed.

Since import through train has a lot of bottlenecks, Bajaj demanded that Wagha border should be opened for free trade to benefit both the countries.

Terming the import of chana and export of vegetables to Pakistan as a new beginning in Indo-Pak trade he said, "Although India had offered Pakistan the status of most-favoured nation (MFN) four years ago, Pakistan declined the offer. Now Pakistan will have to review its stand for its own benefit."

Bajaj revealed that Indo-Pak trade was already opened, but only via Dubai, after changing the import or export documents. If the Wagha border was opened, we could export commodities like wheat, pulses, and vegetables to Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Russian federation-separated countries through land routes, he said.

Currently, big pulse millers were the main exporters of chana through sea routes (Mumbai), but if Wagha border was opened for trade, Punjab traders would be the most benefited, due to short distance, he said.

Meanwhile, hailing the Pakistani government's decision to allow duty-free import of vegetables from India, Jalandhar Potato Growers Association has geared up to export potato seeds and potato to the neighbouring country.