Cracking down on private importers of pulses, the government today asked them to be transparent in their transactions and submit information about contracted quantities in advance for better assessment of supplies and formulation of measures to check prices.
Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan held a meeting with pulses importers to review the status of imports. Senior officials of Agriculture, Food, Consumer Affairs, Commerce, Finance and External Affairs Ministries, and investigating agencies like ED were present.
"We have decided to have better coordination between pulses traders and the government. The Minister told them to submit their import plans in advance, for which they have agreed to do," a senior Food Ministry official said.
Regular meetings will be held with importers to ascertain the status of imports and take necessary market interventions to boost domestic supply and check prices, the official said.
In the meeting, Paswan asked some tough questions to importers for their non-transparent way of importing lentils and then offloading the stock in the domestic market, the official added.
Paswan also asked the reasons for lower import of pulses so far this fiscal when there has not been any change in the demand-supply situation. He also sought to know reason for fall in wholesale prices of lentils even as the arrivals of kharif crop have not yet begun in full swing.
The importers were not able to give satisfactory replies, the official noted.
With demand-supply gap likely to remain even if the country's pulses output this year touches 20 million tonnes, the official said traders were asked to focus on imports from countries where the government has entered into agreement for long-term supply.
The government is targeting a record 20.75 million tonnes of pulses output in the 2016-17 crop year (July-June) on account of good rains after two consecutive years of drought.
Meanwhile, prices of some kharif pulses in the domestic market have fallen below the minimum support price, prompting the government to begin the procurement operations.
The pulses are being procured for creating a buffer stock of 2 million tonnes, which will be offloaded later in the open market when retail prices shoots up.
India imported 5.8 million tonnes of pulses last fiscal, bulk of which were through private trade.
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