Cabinet approves 11,440 crore mission to make India self-sufficient in pulses

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday (October 1, 2025) authorised a six-year central scheme aimed toward reaching self-sufficiency in pulses manufacturing, with a monetary outlay of ₹11,440 crore.

The “Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses”, authorised by the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will likely be for the interval from 2025-26 to 2030-31. The mission follows Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement within the 2025-26 Budget.

The mission will significantly concentrate on rising manufacturing of tur, urad and masur, with assured procurement by authorities companies National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Ltd (NCCF) from registered farmers.

“We are going to start a mission on pulses for six years. Several initiatives will be taken under this,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed reporters after the Cabinet assembly.

Under the mission, the Government has set a goal to extend pulses manufacturing to 350 lakh tonnes by 2030-32 from 242 lakh tonnes achieved in 2023-24, in keeping with an official assertion.

The space underneath pulses cultivation will likely be expanded to 310 lakh hectares from 242 lakh hectares, whereas yield is focused to enhance to 1,130 kg per hectare from 881 kg per hectare.

The initiative comes as India, the world’s largest producer and client of pulses, grapples with rising imports. Domestic manufacturing has not stored tempo with demand pushed by rising incomes and lifestyle, resulting in a 15-20% improve in pulse imports in recent times.

The mission will likely be carried out via a cluster-based strategy throughout 416 targeted districts.

About 1,000 new packaging and processing items will likely be arrange, with a most subsidy of Rs 25 lakh out there for establishing processing and packaging services.

To enhance productiveness, the emphasis will likely be on creating and disseminating the newest kinds of pulses which are excessive in productiveness, pest-resistant and climate-resilient. Multi-location trials will likely be carried out in main pulse-growing states to make sure regional suitability.

The Government will distribute 126 lakh quintals of licensed seeds to pulse-growing farmers, masking 370 lakh hectares by 2030-31.

States will put together five-year rolling seed manufacturing plans, with breeder seed manufacturing supervised by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

Foundation and licensed seed manufacturing will likely be undertaken by state and central stage companies and tracked via the Seed Authentication, Traceability & Holistic Inventory (SATHI) portal.

Additionally, 88 lakh seed kits will likely be distributed freed from value to farmers to help space growth by an extra 35 lakh hectares, focusing on rice fallow areas and selling intercropping and crop diversification.

A serious function of the mission is the assured procurement of tur, urad and masur underneath the Price Support Scheme (PSS) of the Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA). Nafed and NCCF will undertake 100 per cent procurement in collaborating states for the following 4 years from farmers who register with these companies and enter into agreements.

The mission may also set up a mechanism for monitoring world pulse costs to make sure worth stability and safeguard farmer confidence.

The authorities will concentrate on strengthening the worth chain, together with procurement, storage, processing and discount of post-harvest losses.

Capacity constructing of farmers and seed growers will likely be undertaken via structured coaching programmes to advertise sustainable methods and fashionable applied sciences.

The mission is predicted to cut back import dependency, preserve international change, increase farmers’ incomes, and generate vital employment. It may also deliver environmental advantages via climate-resilient practices, improved soil well being and productive utilisation of fallow areas.