Urad is a highly prized pulse, used in several south Indian dishes like idli, vada and dosa etc. It is also used for making papads and used for consumption along with rice and rotis.

• India annually produces around 1.3-1.5 million tons of urad, which is normally 10% of India's total pulse production of 12-15 million tons .  
• The major producing states are Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. 
• Urad is mainly grown as a secondary mixed crop along with cotton, maize, jowar and other coarse cereals. 
• Urad is mainly a Kharif crop, but it is also grown to some extent in the rabi season also. It is sown either in February, June-July, October depending on the area where it is cultivated.
• India imports urad from Myanmar to supplement the domestic production. This imports are around 1-2 lakh tons.
• Indian urad 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 Centres

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

Urad (Burma) at Mumbai from 2001-02 to 2003-04

Market Influencing Factors

• Weather plays a profound influence in determining the traders sentiments and the production. This has an influence on prices. 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., Myanmar.
• The price of other major pulses like chana, tur, yellow peas, green peas etc also influence the prices of urad.