Rising prices of pulses: Govt likely to make stock declaration mandatory

The Department of Consumer Affairs plans mandatory stock declarations for pulse traders to control rising prices amid adequate supplies and imports, tackling cartelisation and price spikes in key pulse variants.

To curb the spike in prices of key variants - chana, tur, urad and lentil - the department has called a meeting of states on Thursday to assess the situation.

"We are keeping a close watch on price movement as, despite sufficient stocks and robust supplies, there is apparently some cartelisation happening which is driving up prices," Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare told FE.

This comes after DoCA gave its nod to Tamil Nadu's proposal to impose stocking holding limits on key pulse variants - tur and urad - in view of the substantial increase in retail prices in the state compared to the all-India average.

According to the department, average retail prices on Tuesday of two key pulse variants - tur and gram - rose to Rs 135.22/kg and Rs 95.23/kg, compared to the previous year, an increase of 20% and 10% respectively.

DoCA is currently assessing the stockholding patterns of importers, wholesalers, millers and other market participants, which are being examined alongside import arrivals and domestic market requirements.

"Department is regularly assessing domestic production on prospects, international supply trends, international trade flows, market arrivals and stock positions to ensure that available supplies translate into adequate market availability and that price movements remain aligned with underlying market fundamentals," according to an official note.

The department is currently reviewing market developments to ensure that the availability of imported pulses translates into effective domestic supplies. "Holding of imported stocks for extended periods at ports, bonded warehouses or SEZs, and delays in their movement into the domestic market, can affect the timely transmission of available supplies and influence market sentiments," it stated

It stated that despite comfortable supply fundamentals, chana prices have witnessed an upward movement in recent weeks. "The all-India average retail price stood at Rs 94.54/kg on 6 November 2026, registering an increase of 5.53% over Rs 89.59/kg on 6 October 2026. Domestic chana production increased to 12.51 million tonne (MT) in 2025-26 crop year (July-June), against 11.1 MT in 2024-25, an increase of 12.6%.

Current buffer of pulses of all variants - gram (1.61 MT), tur (0.97 MT), moong (0.64 MT), masur (0.53 MT) and urad (44,000 tonne) - has risen to a record 3.8 million tonne (MT) against norm of 3.5 MT.

Imports of pulses surged 67% to 2.06 MT in the April-August period of FY27, amid concerns over a dip in domestic output due to the El Nino threat, trade sources said.

Retail inflation in the 'pulses' category was 4.68% year-on-year in September 2026.

In view of the possibility of El Nino impacting the rabi crops, the consumer affairs department has communicated to its counterparts in the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare to promote cultivation of Chana (gram), a major pulse variant which is largely not sensitive to weather fluctuations.

Khare has communicated to Atish Chandra to expand area under chana, which has around 50% share in country's pulses production, especially in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkahd and Chhattigarh so that adverse impact of El Nino events could be minimised.

India imports about 18%-20% of its annual consumption of pulses -tur, urad, masoor (lentils), yellow peas and Bengal gram -from Canada, Russia, Brazil, Myanmar and Africa.