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Prices and Inflation 175

Box 2: Steps taken by the Government to augment the supply of essential commodities

The government has undertaken several measures to mitigate rise in prices of essential commodities:

Pulses and onion

Creating a buffer
l To ensure effective intervention during price rise through utilisation of buffer stocks, the
Government has procured pulses in 2020-21 and 2021-22 from farmers/farmers’ producers
organisations (FPOs). The target for pulses buffer in 2021-22 is at 23 LMT. onion buffer of 2.08
LMT has been created in 2021-22 and released in a calibrated and targeted manner to contain
price rise.
Import policy
l To augment domestic availability of pulses, Tur and Urad are kept under ‘free’ import category
till 31st March, 2022.

l Basic import duty and Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess on Masur have been
brought down to zero and 10 per cent respectively.

l 5-year MoUs have been signed with Myanmar for annual import of 2.5 LMT of Urad and 1 LMT
of Tur, and with Malawi for annual import of 0.50 LMT of Tur. The MoU with Mozambique has
been extended for another 5 years for annual import of 2 LMT Tur.
Edible Oils

l To soften the prices of edible oils, the duty on edibles oil has been reduced with effect from 14th
October 2021.
l To soften the prices of edible oils, the basic duty on Refined palm oil/Palmolein, Refined
Soyabean oil and Refined Sunflower oil has been reduced to 17.5 per cent from 32.5 per cent
with effect from 14th October 2021.
Speculation and hoarding
l Futures trading in mustard oil on NCDEX has been suspended and stock limits have been
imposed.

l The Department of Food and Public Distribution has imposed stock limits on Edible Oils and
Oilseeds for a period up to 31st March, 2022. The Removal of Licensing Requirements, Stock
Limits and Movement Restrictions on Specified Foodstuffs (Amendment) Order, 2021 has been
issued w.e.f. 8th October, 2021. It has also been directed to ensure that Edible Oils and Edible
Oilseeds stock is regularly declared and updated on the portal of the Department of Food &
Public Distribution.

Production and alternates
l The government is taking steps to improve the production of secondary edible oils, especially
rice bran oil to reduce the import dependence.

Soyameal included as essential commodity
l In a bid to cool down the domestic prices of Soya Meal, Government has notified an Order under