Opinion
Mint Quick Edit | India’s lentils tariff: Half a surprise
Summary
- Import duty upped from zero to 10% may look odd in today’s trade context, but seems in line with a lentils self-sufficiency plan. Free markets, of course, seem to be on nobody’s mind nowadays.
Amid global tariff flux and confusion over aims, India has made a relatively straightforward move. It has levied a 10% import duty on lentils, allowed in duty-free earlier, while extending a zero-rate on yellow peas till 31 May.
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The new lentils levy is split between basic customs duty and Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess, which suggests the Centre has an eye on its revenue potential. But the primary motive is import substitution.
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Self-sufficiency in this farm crop has been under the pressure of a demand upswell, as millions emerged from abject poverty to increase their protein intake, even as we saw a weak supply response to hardening lentil prices from India’s policy-distorted farm sector. Of an estimated 3 million tonnes consumed annually, over half is fed by imports, with Canada a big source (and the US another).
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As an effort to boost India’s homegrown harvest behind a tariff shield, the tariff is aligned with a budget push for output enlargement across all pulses. Yellow peas may have been judged not to need protection. What’s proving more elusive by the day is space for free markets to show how much better they could feed the world.
