Customs duty standardisation on edible oils, pulses: Much to learn from developed nations | Updated on G CHANDRASHEKHAR The Union Budget, tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, has standardised at a lower level different rates of customs duty on various vegetable oils and pulses. The basic customs duty is now 15 per cent ad valorem for all varieties of cooking oil (palm, soya, sun, etc), while pulses the duty is 10 per cent ad valorem (desi chickpea, kabuli chickpea, lentil, etc). For pulses, the WTO bound rate of duty is 100 per cent for all types of pulses except peas for which it is 50 per cent. However, the applied rate on chickpea (