iGrain India - Sochi . A lot of efforts are being made to strengthen bilateral relations between India and Russia. As a big step in this series, India Subcontinent Agri Foundation (BSAF) once again played a significant role in bridging the gap between the two countries.
As a result, excellent and useful talks took place between the Russian Federation and the Government of India in a conference held in the historical city of Sochi in Russia. Managing Director Vivek Agarwal was present in the conference where he provided valuable inputs.
Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare, Additional Managing Director S K Singh and representatives of India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA) along with senior concerned officials of Russia were also present in this conference.
Due to low production and high consumption of pulses in India, there is a need to import it from abroad. Russia is an important exporter of pulses.
Earlier, India used to import small quantities of Kabuli gram and sometimes lentils from there.
Now the government has made the import of yellow peas duty free till October 2024 and lentils duty free till March 2025.
In the marketing season 2023-24, Russia became the largest producer and exporter of peas in the world and pushed Canada to the second position.
India has started importing yellow peas in large quantities from Russia and the import of lentils has also increased. Russia can supply both these pulses to India in the coming months.
In the Sochi Conference, both sides had a good and useful discussion on this issue. India and Russia have very good trade relations. The speakers described it as important and emphasized the need to strengthen this relationship further.