Government's special plan to increase gram production and reduce imports

India's gram imports fell to $3.63 billion in the financial year 2026, down from a record $5.54 billion in the previous financial year 2025. To sustain this decline and strengthen the domestic supply of pulses, the central government has geared up. According to a report in the Mint newspaper, the Department of Consumer Affairs is identifying rain-fed areas where gram cultivation can be expanded. The main objective of this scheme is to keep market prices of pulses under control while reducing dependence on imports.

Under this scheme, a total of 80 districts in states such as Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Jharkhand, and Bihar have been identified, where rain-fed land can be utilized for gram crops. According to officials familiar with the matter, the government has an interim estimate of approximately 23.8 lakh hectares of rain-fed land in watershed areas across the identified states. The Department of Consumer Affairs will coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Land Resources to verify the exact area of this suitable land and its additional production capacity.

Under this entire scheme, the government is also planning to provide quality seeds and technical support to farmers, along with procurement assurance. Gram is a low-water-consuming crop that can be grown based on the moisture remaining in the soil after the harvest of kharif crops. Subject to domestic demand and surplus availability, the government expects that this proposed expansion will strengthen domestic supply and create opportunities for gram dal exports in the future. Responses to queries sent to spokespersons of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture were not received by press time.

Looking at the situation of gram prices in the market, as of November 9, the average retail price of gram dal rose by 10.8 percent year-on-year to 90.27 rupees per kilogram. According to industry estimates, the annual consumption of gram in the country is estimated to be 8 to 8.5 million tonnes. The Reserve Bank of India's October 2026 monetary policy report stated that the inflation rate for pulses during the financial year 2026 stood at 3.6 percent in August. This initiative is part of the central government's 'Mission for Atmanirbharta in Pulses', which aims to make India self-reliant in pulse production and reduce dependence on imports. A financial fund of 11,440 crore rupees has been allocated for this six-year mission, which will run from the year 2025-26 to 2030-31.

According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, the area under gram cultivation decreased from 10.74 million hectares in 2021-22 to 9.12 million hectares in 2024-25, after which it increased to 9.66 million hectares in 2025-26. According to the Ministry of Agriculture's weekly sowing data as of November 6, gram sowing in the current rabi season was recorded at 2.14 million hectares, a decrease of 21.61 percent. Furthermore, as of November 6, the total area under pulses in the current rabi sowing season decreased by 14.39 percent year-on-year to 3.19 million hectares. Looking at the production figures, it decreased from 13.54 million tonnes in 2021-22 to 11.03 million tonnes in 2023-24 and later improved to reach 12.51 million tonnes in 2025-26.

Regarding this scheme, B.B. Singh, former ADG of Oilseeds and Pulses at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), stated that merely identifying rain-fed land is not enough to increase gram production, but matching the crop variety and its duration with soil type, available moisture, and local weather conditions is the most important key.