According to Bimal Kothari, Vice Chairman, IPGA, the notification will certainly control the prices to a certain extent
IPGA has welcomed the government’s move of extending open general license (OGL) on Tur and Urad till March 31, 2023. It’s a well-planned decision which will benefit the trade and industry as well as consumers. IPGA has been in constant dialogue with the various ministries to recommend a consistent and stable import policy and is glad that this notification for 12 months is a step in that direction.
Bimal Kothari, Vice Chairman, India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA) says, “We have imported over 22.6 lakh tonne of pulses in 2020 – 2021. We still need about 10-12 per cent pulses imports for increased consumption. There were concerns over the scarcity of tur and urad which would have impacted the prices. The current prices of tur and urad are above MSP. This notification will certainly control the prices to a certain extent. Production of tur is around 40,00,000 tonne and NAFED does not have the stock. Tur is selling above MSP price around Rs 67 – 68. We were expecting the prices to increase but since the imports are opened up, we will be able to import around 2 – 2.5 lakh tonne of tur from Myanmar. Additionally, the tur crops from Africa will harvest in August 2022 and the production is likely to be very good. This will supplement our demand in September to November which is the festival period in India as our crop will harvest only around December and would have created shortage.”
Kothari added, “There is no crop of urad before September in India and also there’s been an increase in prices of urad by Rs 7-8 in the last one month. Burma is the only supplier of urad to India and they have harvested a very good crop and the production is expected around 7-8 lakh tons. India imports urad from Myanmar regularly to meet the gap between demand and supply. Hence the extension of OGL is a strategic move by the government and will help stabilising the supply and prices.”
