Pulses Price Hike: Inflation of pulses has troubled the Modi government. That too at a time when after the next three months Lok Sabha elections are about to be announced. In such a situation, the government does not want to take any risk. The Central Government has now extended the period of duty free import of urad and tur i.e. arhar dal by one year i.e. till 31 March 2025. So that cheap pulses can be made available to the common people. Last week, the government had extended zero import duty on lentils till March 31, 2025.
DGFT, which comes under the Ministry of Commerce, has issued a notification regarding this decision on Thursday 28 December 2023. Earlier the period of duty free import of urad and arhar was only till 31 March 2024. But the government has issued a notification and extended this period for one year.
The rise in prices of food items is responsible for the increase in retail inflation in November 2023, in which the biggest increase has been seen in the inflation of pulses. The inflation rate of pulses has reached 20.23 percent in November, which was 18.79 percent in October 2023.
If we look at the prices of arhar dal during the last one year period, the average price of arhar dal on December 28, 2022 was Rs 111.5 per kg, which has increased to Rs 152.38 per kg on December 28, 2023. That means the prices of tour dal have increased by about 37 percent. A year ago, urad dal was available at Rs 107.33 per kg, now it is available at Rs 122.46 per kg.
In view of the rising prices of pulses, the Central Government has taken several decisions recently, which include reducing the stock limit of Arhar and Urad pulses and extending its period. This decision has been taken with the aim of preventing hoarding and increasing the availability of arhar and urad dal in the market at reasonable prices. Despite this, the prices of pulses continue to rise.
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