New Delhi: The prices of pulses in India has seen a steady rise already, up 10 per cent this year, and are likely to increase further. It’s believed that in the near future, there is no stopping of the price rise of pulses despite the government’s efforts to keep it in check.
Meanwhile, some experts have opined that the government sops and subsidies on pulses must continue.
India’s consumer price index-based inflation spiraled to a three-month high of 4.81 per cent in June as against 4.3 per cent in May, according to data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released on Wednesday. After tomatoes and other vegetables, pulses could be the next food item that may burn a hole in consumers’ pockets.
During monsoons, a rice in vegetable prices has almost become a norm now. But this year, the prices of pulses have gone up nearly 10 per cent. As per rating agency Crisil, the inflation rate of pulses has nearly doubled in the last five months.
While the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) in May showed pulses inflation at 5.8 per cent and CPI at 6.6 per cent. In June, CPI showed pulses inflation of 10.58 per cent.
Dal, roti and rice together comprise an average person’s regular diet in India. The uneven monsoons coupled with El Nino effect have elevated the price of rice by 10 per cent and that of wheat by 12 per cent already. An increase in the prices of pulses is only going to make it harder for a common person in India to bring food to the dining table.
Pulses, especially dal is considered as a reasonably priced protein by many Indians. It’s also a part of several mid-day meal and state-run food programmes. Dal or other pulses are integral to what is generally seen as a nutritious meal in the country.
Apart from that, while vegetable inflation could be more transitory in nature, the inflation on pulses is expected to stay for a while. In the food inflation basket, pulses have a six percent weightage and any increase in prices here impacts household budgets. Coming to specifics of dal, it’s the Arhar and Urad dals that are witnessing the most volatility.
“Government has been proactive in its policy on controlling prices of pulses; from increasing imports to the National Pulse Mission to raising MSP for pulses. The government has promised that they will buy all the pulses – but the interventions will have to continue,” said D K Joshi, Chief Economist, Crisil, reported Moneycontrol.
Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Western UP, Coastal and Eastern Karnataka, and some parts of Maharashtra are the major areas where pulses are cultivated in India.
However, India has long been importing large amounts of pulses from countries such as Myanmar and Canada. The government is adopting a slew of measures to reduce India’s import dependency on pulses. The production of pulses in India has gone up to 25-27 MMT (as of 2021-22) from a range of 16-19 MMT during 2010-2016, as per data from Ministry of Agriculture and Family Welfare.
The government has promoted the production of pulses as a major focus area under the National Food Security Mission which promoted improved technology , distributed high-yielding variety seeds and provided crop advisories to farmers at subsidised prices.
During 2019-20 and 2020-21, the government had to implement price stabilisation policies when the inflation in pulses escalated to 16 per cent and 12 per cent respectively. The government had, in FY 2016, set up a price stabilisation fund to enable purchase of pulses to release in the market during times of any abnormal increase in prices.
For breaking news and live news updates, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Read more on Latest Business News on India.com.
