No customs duty on Masur from US
customs duty on US-origin masur a day before the arrival of US President Joe Biden for the G20 summit.
The government has also made it mandatory for local stocks of masur to be reported weekly to quell attempts at cartelisation and manipulation aimed at restricting supplies.
India had announced it would remove retaliatory duties on certain US products, including masur, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US in June. Customs duty of 22% on masur of US origin was made zero effective September 6.
This will ease the import of masur directly from the US, instead of being routed via Canada.
India is trying to increase supplies through imports and by keeping close watch on domestic stockpiles amid shortages of different pulses due to lower production in the previous year. There are worries about the next crop as well, due to suboptimal monsoon rainfall.
The Department of Consumer Affairs issued an advisory on Wednesday for mandatory stock disclosures of masur.
The government wants to increase the masur buffer stock by procuring it around the minimum support price levels. However, “Nafed and NCCF (National Cooperative Consumers Federation of India) had to suspend their tenders to purchase imported lentils due to exorbitantly high bids received from few suppliers amid hints of cartelisation,” a government release said.
The government said market manipulation would be punished.
“At a time when lentil import flow from Canada and tur imports from African countries increase, a few players are trying to manipulate the market against the interest of the consumers and the nation,” said consumer affairs secretary Rohit Kumar Singh. “The government is watching developments very closely and will initiate stringent measures
