Chana belongs to leguminasae family and there are two main types - Desi and Kabuli. Desi chickpeas is the main type grown in India

• India's chana production fluctuates between 4-7 million tons and is normally 40% of India's total pulse production of 12-15 million tons India's chana production in 2003-04, chana production is 5.33 million tons out of a total pulse production of 15.23 million tons. 
• The major producing states are Madhya Pradesh (1.5-2.5 million tons, Uttar Pradesh (0.7-0.85 million tons), Rajasthan (0.5-2.5 million tons) and Maharashtra (0.5-0.7 million tons). 
• Chana is a rabi crop and is sown from nov to december and harvested from Feb to March. The peak arrival period begins from March-April at the major trading centers of the country. 
• India accounts for 2/3rd of the world's chickpea production. India imports around 3-4 lakh tons of chickpeas annually. The major countries from where India imports chickpeas is Canada, Australia, Iran and Myanmar.
• Indian chana markets are highly fragmented, with very long value chain. The major players in the value chain are commission agents, brokers, stockists, wholesale traders, dal mills, wholesalers (dal) and retail outlets. The information flow between these participants is restricted and very slow.

Major Trading Centers

• Indore, Bhopal, Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh. 
• Jalgaon, Latur, Mumbai, Akola in Maharashtra. 
• Jaipur, Bikaner, Kota, Jodhpur, Sriganaganagar, Hanumangarh in Rajasthan.
• Other major centers are Delhi, Chennai, Kanpur, Hapur, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Gulbarga, Sirsa, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Sangrur.

Month - to - Month Variation in Gram Prices at Indore from 1998-99 to 2003-04

Market Influencing Factors

• Chana can withstand moisture stress to a certain extent. However, the production highly fluctuates between years, depending on the rains received and the moisture availability in the soil. 
• The sentiments of traders play a significant role currently, as a consequence of the lack of free-flow of information. 
• Stocks present with stockists and the stocks-to-consumption ratio.
• Imports and the crop situation in the countries from where imports originate, viz., Canada, Australia, Myanmar.
• There is high substitutability between pulses in India among the consumers. So the price of other major pulses like tur, yellow peas, green peas etc also influence the prices of chana.