The country imported 2.78 million tonnes (mt) of foodgrains worth $1.214 billion in 2018-19 against 7.52 mt with a value of $3.342 billion in the previous year, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said in Parliament on Friday. The drastic drop was on account of lower imports of wheat and pulses, he said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

While India imported 5.61 mt of pulses and 1.65 mt of wheat in 2017-18, imports of pulses and wheat came down to 2.53 mt and and 2,746 tonnes respectively in the previous financial year, he said.