Informist, Tuesday, Apr. 29, 2025

--Govt official: Bharat Dal sales suspended

--Govt official: Fall in market prices makes Bharat Dal scheme redundant

--Govt official: Milling of pulses for Bharat Dal stopped after Mar 31

--Govt official: Sales of Bharat Atta, Bharat Rice will continue

By Pallavi Singhal

NEW DELHI – The government has suspended sales of pulses under the "Bharat" brand as prices have fallen after staying high for two years. "We stopped milling of pulses under the Bharat Dal programme on March 31. No new stock is now being supplied to the market. Any pending stocks with our retail suppliers is only what is available," a government official said. However, sales of other products under the Bharat brand, such as Bharat Atta and Bharat Rice, will continue.

The government had started selling Bharat Dal in July 2023 by converting the extra stock of chana procured under the Price Stabilisation Fund into dal for retail sale at a subsidised price. About 1.20 million tonnes of Bharat Chana Dal was sold to retail consumers in the first phase. In the second phase, the remaining quantity of 300,000 tonnes of chana was allocated, milled, and sold. After chana stocks were depleted, the government in October last year started selling moong and masur dal under the 'Bharat' brand.

The decision to halt the sales comes at a time when India's headline consumer price inflation has fallen to an over-five-year low in March, largely because of declining food inflation, with pulses inflation falling to (-)2.73%, its lowest since February 2019. The government's decision to halt the Bharat Dal scheme is a response to this trend, as pulses inflation had been a major concern in the recent past, staying in double digits from June 2023 to August 2024. With market prices now falling, the need for subsidised pulses under the scheme has diminished, the official said.

"With falling inflation, it is time for the government to stop intervening in the market. We are focusing on re-stocking our supplies," the official said.

The government has sanctioned the purchase of a record 4.5 million tonne of pulses from farmers under the price support scheme for the 2024-25 marketing season. Tur, chana, urad, masur, and moong will be procured under the scheme across key growing states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu, in both the kharif and rabi seasons.

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare has so far procured 422,000 tonnes of tur in the kharif marketing season 2024-25 (Oct-Sept) at the minimum support price of INR 7,550 per 100 kg. However, the government is lagging in chana procurement, with only 40,000 tonnes procured at the minimum support price of INR 5,650 per 100 kg as of Monday. End

Edited by Ashish Shirke

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