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Informist, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026

 

By Pallavi Singhal

 

NEW DELHI – Procurement of urad under the minimum support price mechanism has crossed 50,000 tonnes so far in crop year 2025-26 (Jul-Jun), with the government looking to buy another 50,000 tonnes before the procurement is closed, a senior official said.

 

However, the government is wary of falling production, which may hamper procurement. "While we aim to buy another 50,000 tonnes at least, we also realise our limitations... Procurement volumes may not rise much further as output is seen down," the official said. Government rules mandate that the consumer affairs ministry have a buffer of about 400,000 tonnes of urad.

 

Domestic urad output has been on a steady decline over the past few years, increasing India's dependence on imports. The output has declined from 2.8 million tonnes in crop year 2021-22 (Jul-Jun) to 2.6 million tonnes in 2022-23. It fell further to 2.3 million tonnes in 2023-24, and is estimated at 2.2 million tonnes in 2024-25.

 

The outlook for production in the ongoing crop year also remains subdued, with rabi urad acreage down 6% on year at 458,000 hectares as of Friday. According to the official, the government estimates total urad production across rabi and kharif seasons around 2.2 million tonnes, at par with last year.

 

To ensure adequate supplies, an inter-ministerial committee has extended the Open General Licence-based memorandum of understanding with Myanmar for another five years, the official told Informist. The MoU allows annual duty-free imports of 250,000 tonnes of urad and 100,000 tonnes of tur. However, the MoU has had only limited relevance in the past few years on account of falling output which has forced the government to keep several pulses including urad under free-import policy.

 

India imported over 700,000 tonnes of urad from Myanmar in 2024-25 (Apr–Mar), far exceeding the quantity specified under the MoU. Imports from Myanmar accounted for 87% of India's total urad imports of 820,000 tonnes during the year.

 

Procurement is undertaken by central agencies such as National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India and National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India, after the Centre announces the minimum support price for procurement of pulses.

 

The government sees adequate overall availability of urad, supported by domestic production and imports. Kharif output has been estimated around 1.2 million tonnes, lower than earlier years but sufficient when combined with imports. Myanmar remains a key source, alongside shipments from Brazil.  End

 

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

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