State-run trading firm PEC has invited bids for import of 9,000 tonnes of pulses to be delivered by March.
Bids will close on January 7 and the decision on the tender will be taken by January 14, the company said on its website.
Bidders should source 4,000 tonnes of black mapte (urad), 3,000 tonnes of desi chick peas (chana) and 2,000 tonnes of lemon tur from Myanmar, Australia and Tanzania.
The shipment of chana should reach Mumbai port by February 15, while that of other pulses at Chennai port by March, it said.
The pulses imported should be grown in the 2010 and 2011 crop year, it added.
Public trading firms PEC, MMTC, STC and cooperative NAFED import pulses on behalf of the government as the country's production is short of 3-4 million tonnes.