India is the largest producer, consumer, importer and processor of pulses in the world. Ironically, the country’s pulse production has been hovering around 14–15 Mt, coming from a near-stagnated area of 22–23 M ha, since 1990–91. For meeting the demand of the growing population, the country is importing pulses to the tune of 2.5–3.5 Mt every year. Strong upward trend in the import of pulses is a cause of concern, since an increase in demand from India has shown to have cascading effect on international prices, thus draining the precious foreign exchange.

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