Maharashtra caps traders’ margins on pulses at 20%

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, July 27

The Maharashtra Government has decided to cap the profit margins of traders who deal in pulses, according to sources here.

The state food and civil supplies department has decided to impose a cap of 10 to 20% margin on pulses sold by retailers as part of efforts to keep prices low. State’s Food and Civil Supplies Minister Girish Bapat had said in the state legislature earlier this week that retailers were enjoying a whopping 35-40% margin on toor dal.

The department has now decided to benchmark retail prices of pulses to the wholesale prices. “The food and civil supplies department is holding talks with retailers on keeping prices of pulses low. We will decide on further course of action afterwards,” an official from the department said.

Shops under the public distribution scheme are selling toor dal at Rs 120 a kilogram with a cap of one kilogram per person every month. The price is much higher in retail stores with prices touching Rs 200 per kilogram for certain varieties. However, a few malls in Mumbai are selling imported toor dal at below Rs 100 per kilogram.

According to Bapat, the imported dal is of inferior quality.

Meanwhile, data available from the state government indicates that acreage under pulses in Maharashtra have increased substantially following the rise in prices. However, it will be several months for retail prices to come down since pulses take more than a year to grow and become ready to be harvested.

The state government has also sought an increased share in pulses imported by the Central government to help improve their availability in the country.