Mumbai: The government is planning to import one million tonnes of edible oil and 15 lakh tonnes of pulses in a move to bring down prices of essential commodities, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said in the Lok Sabha today.

"There is scarcity of edible oil in our country and we are dependent on import of edible oil. We will import one million tonnes of edible oil,'' he said, adding ''We have asked public sector companies to import edible oil."

The government, Pawar said, plans to sell imported oil at a subsidised rate of Rs15 per litre and will be made available all over the country.

The country is facing a shortage in pulses and there is no option other than imports, Pawar said.

"We will be importing 15 lakh tonnes of pulses and we have placed an order for 11.86 lakh tonnes before March 31," he said.

The government has already abolished import duty on edible oils and pulses.

Edible oil imports into the country in March rose by nearly a third from the same month a year ago.

India, one of the world's leading buyers of edible oils, imported 421,686 tonnes of oils in March, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India said.

Imports in the first five months of the oil year that began in November were 1.93 million tonnes, up from 1.40 million tonnes in the same period a year earlier, the trade body said in a statement.

BV Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors' Association of India, said high global prices of oils would slow demand but annual imports were still set to rise.

"We believe India will import 5.8-6.0 million tonnes of vegetable oils in the November-October oil year against 5.6 million tonnes of imports last year," Mehta said. "Had prices not gone up sharply, our import projections would have been higher."

He said imports in March and the first five months of the oil year rose because suppliers from Indonesia shipped more oils to India as they expected their government to further raise an export tax on the commodity.