The central government on Wednesday informed the Parliament that there is no proposal to offer export subsidies for pulse traders.
This was in reply to a starred question on whether the government intends to offer export subsidies to Indian pulses traders in view of low domestic prices.
On whether any steps will be taken to ensure that the cost of imported pulses remains at or above par with the Minimum Support Price, Union Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal in Lok Sabha said: "The decisions regarding opening or restriction of imports and the rates for import duties are done keeping the interests of both the domestic farmers and the consumers."
At present, imports of tur and urad are under the "free category" till March 31, 2023.
India is a large consumer of pulses, and it meets a sizable portion of its vegetable protein needs through imports.
It has been kept under the free category taking into consideration the production, availability, prices, and market conditions to protect the interest of domestic farmers while ensuring adequate availability at reasonable prices for all the consumers across India.
The Department of Consumer Affairs monitors the daily retail and wholesale prices of 22 essential food commodities, including tur and urad, submitted by the 184 price monitoring centres that have been set up with Central assistance by State Governments and UT Administrations across the country.
Taking into account price trends, the Government takes various measures from time to time to augment domestic availability and stabilize prices of essential food commodities and make them accessible to consumers, including marginalized communities, at affordable prices.
"These steps, inter alia, include releases from the buffer to cool down prices, imposition of stock limits, monitoring of stocks declared by entities to prevent hoarding as also requisite changes in trade policy instruments like rationalization of import duty, changes in import quota, restrictions on exports of the commodity etc," the government said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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