India is one of the world's largest consumers and producers of grain legumes. Chickpeas, lentils, peas, and beans play a key role in the diet of the people of the country as they are the most accessible sources of vegetable protein. Moreover, these crops are widely used in the national cuisine, for example, to prepare dishes such as dal and curry. India's dried grain legumes production in 2020-2024 increased at an average annual rate of 4.5% to reach the highest value of 27.8 million tons in the last five years by the end of the period, up 19.1% from 2020.
With the significant increase in India's dried grain legumes production in 2021, their consumption for that year also increased by 14.9% to a record 30.1 million tons. Then, in 2022, sales of this product in the country decreased by 5.6% on the back of reduced imports and slower production growth. In 2024, India's consumption of dried grain legumes was 30.0 million tons, up 3.0% from the 2023 level and nearly matching the 2021 peak.
India's per capita consumption of dried legumes in 2024 was 20.8 kg/year, up 2.0% from the previous year and 10.7% from 2020. The value of this indicator peaked in 2021 (21.4 kg/year) due to significant domestic production and accompanying lower prices, while per capita consumption of dried legumes in India declined by 6.3% to 20.1 kg/person/year in 2022 on the back of poor harvests and higher prices.
Peas in India are mainly grown during the rabi season (October to April) by small farms selling their products on the domestic market. Among the regions, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are the leaders in terms of gross yields of this crop in the country. The planted area of peas in India expanded at an average annual rate of 9.4% during 2020-2024 to reach around 855.1 thousand hectares at the end of the period.
Dried peas, called “matar” or “matar dal” in India, are widely used by locals in the cooking of various traditional and street food, and are generally considered one of the most important foodstuffs in the country, despite the fact that their production and consumption is lower than that of other legumes. Indian production of dried peas in 2024 reached almost 1.2 million tons, increasing by 2.6% compared to the level of the previous year and by 35.3% compared to the value of 2020 (the average annual growth rate in 2020-2024 was 7.8%). At the same time, India steadily exports a part of peas produced: in 2024, the country supplied abroad 52.2 thousand tons of this product worth USD 39.8 million.
India has been importing significant volumes of dried peas for a long time: the country used to purchase about 600-800 thousand tons of this product annually in 2001-2005, 1-3 million tons in 2006-2018, and 800-900 thousand tons in 2018-2019. However, in mid-December 2019, the national government imposed severe restrictions on pea imports, setting a minimum import price of Rs. 200 per kg on a CIF basis (at the December 2019 exchange rate of about USD 2,800 per ton), and allowing this product to enter the country only through the port of Kolkata. Consequently, Indian purchases of dried peas declined to a minimum level in 2020-2023 and resumed only with the removal of duties in December 2023, reaching 2.9 million tons valued at USD 1.4 billion. As India's duty-free import "window" for pea imports has been extended till the end of March 2026, the country's imports of the crop are also projected to be substantial in 2025.
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