Decision to continue purchasing gram under PSS only

05-Jun-2025 11:52 AM

New Delhi. Senior official sources say that there is no need to intervene aggressively in the market for the purchase of gram and hence no attempt will be made to purchase it at the prevailing market price. The government agency is trying to buy gram from farmers at the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 5650 per quintal under the Price Support Scheme (PSS), and this process will continue further.

It is noteworthy that the government is not in favour of using the Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) scheme for the purchase of gram at the prevailing market price and wants to continue the purchase of this important pulse at the MSP only until the end of the current month. By June 2, about 2.97 lakh tonnes of gram had been purchased for the central buffer stock.

The government hopes that making the import of yellow peas duty free until March 31, 2026, will put pressure on gram prices, and once prices fall below the MSP, the government agency will have the opportunity to increase its purchase from farmers. The pace of government procurement of gram is expected to increase in the coming weeks as wholesale market prices are showing signs of stability or softening.

The central government already has good stocks of wheat, lentils, and pigeon peas, and gram procurement has now reached 3 lakh tonnes, which may increase further. Only 10 percent import duty has been imposed on gram, so importing it from abroad will not be very difficult. A perception of softening has started forming in the domestic market. In view of this, the government believes that the PSS scheme will be sufficient for gram procurement, and there is no need to implement the PSF scheme. Due to being duty free, a large import of yellow peas—which is considered a better alternative to gram—could resume.