India is both the worlds largest producer and the worlds largest importer of pulses.

Canada, Myanmar, Australia and the United States are significant exporters of pulses. These are the four most significant suppliers of Indias imports, in that order.

The vast majority of leguminous crops grown in the United States are soybeans, used as livestock feed and for extraction of vegetable oil, and peanuts, neither of which is considered a pulse.

Peas, beans and lentils are known as pulses. They are the seeds of plants belonging to the family Leguminosae, which gets its name from the characteristic pod or legume that protects the seeds while they are forming and ripening. With approximately 13,000 species, the family Leguminosae is the second largest in the plant kingdom and it is very important economically.

Different kinds of legumes provide us with food, medicines, oils, chemicals, timber, dyes and ornamental garden plants. Legume products include carob, senna, gum arabic, balsam, indigo and licorice. Pulses are valuable because they contain a higher percentage of protein than most other plant foods.

The term pulses, as used by the FAO, is reserved for crops harvested solely for the dry grain. This therefore excludes green beans and green peas, which are considered vegetable crops. Also excluded are crops which are mainly grown for oil extraction (oilseeds like soybeans and peanuts), and crops which are used exclusively for sowing (clovers, alfalfa).

Pulses are important food crops due to their high protein and essential amino acid content. Like many leguminous crops, pulses play a key role in crop rotation due to their ability to fix

Classification of pulses

FAO recognizes 11 primary pulses.

1. Dry beans
- * Kidney bean, haricot bean, pinto bean, navy bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)
- * Lima bean, butter bean (Vigna lunatus)
- * Azuki bean, adzuki bean (Vigna angularis)
- * Mung bean, golden gram, green gram (Vigna radiata)
- * Black gram, Urad (Vigna mungo)
- * Scarlet runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus)
- * Rice bean (Vigna umbellata)
- * Moth bean (Vigna acontifolia)
- * Tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius)

2. Dry broad beans (Vicia faba)
- * Horse bean (Vicia faba equina)
- * Broad bean (Vicia faba)
- * Field bean (Vicia faba)

3. Dry peas (Pisum spp.)
- * Garden pea (Pisum sativum var. sativum)
- * Protein pea (Pisum sativun var. arvense)

4. Chickpea, Garbanzo, Bengal gram (Cicer arietinum)

5. Dry cowpea, Black-eyed pea, blackeye bean (Vigna unguiculata )

6. Pigeon pea, Toor, cajan pea, congo bean (Cajanus cajan)

7. Lentil (Lens culinaris)

8. Bambara groundnut, earth pea (Vigna subterranea)

9. Vetch, common vetch (Vicia sativa)

10. Lupins (Lupinus spp.)

11. Minor pulses include:
- * Lablab, hyacinth bean (Lablab purpureus)
- * Jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis), sword bean (Canavalia gladiata)
- * Winged bean (Psophocarpus teragonolobus)
- * Velvet bean, cowitch (Mucuna pruriens var. utilis)
- * Yam bean (Pachyrrizus erosus)