The exemption on import duties for Urad and Tur Dal has been prolonged until March 2025.

In response to persistent inflation concerns, the Indian government has extended the exemption on import duties for tur and urad dal until March 31, 2025. This decision, communicated through an order from the Director General of Foreign Trade, aligns with the recent extension of the import duty exemption for masur dal, adjusting the previous deadline from March 31, 2024, to the new date.

The extension comes amid heightened food inflation in India, with November witnessing an increase to 8.7% from October's 6.61%, particularly notable in the pulse category, which recorded a 20% inflation rate during the same period, according to Statistics Ministry data.

As national elections approach, and in light of growing food inflation concerns, the government has implemented various measures. These include the extension of the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, which provides 5 kg of grains monthly to impoverished households, until 2028. Additionally, administrative steps have been taken to stabilize prices of essential commodities like sugar, rice, pulses, vegetables, and edible oils. Factors contributing to the surge in tur prices include a domestic production shortfall over the past year. Government interventions, however, have started to impact prices positively, evident in a recent decline from Rs 156.5 to Rs 154 per kg within a month.

Earlier this year, anticipating production shortages due to erratic weather, the government extended the duty-free import policy for tur and urad until March 31, 2024. Restrictions on minimum import prices and port constraints for yellow peas (tur) were also lifted until the end of the current financial year to facilitate trade. To address supply concerns, the government allowed limited stock holdings of tur and urad by traders, releasing tur from national buffer stocks to counter price escalation. In an effort to make pulses more affordable, 'Bharat Dal'—packaged as chana dal is being offered at subsidized rates of Rs 60 per kg nationwide. The government is directly procuring tur dal from farmers at market prices to build a buffer stock that can be introduced during price surges, utilizing funds from the Price Stabilization Fund.

While tur consumption in India has surpassed domestic production, with a forecasted decline to 3.42 million tonnes in the 2023-24 crop season, imports in 2023 totaled around 778,000 tonnes from countries like Mozambique, Myanmar, and Tanzania, as per government data.