The most-active chana contract for January delivery on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange was up 0.65 percent at 3,877 rupees per 100 kg as of 0755 GMT. It fell more than 6 percent in December.

"Some extended recovery is seen in chana futures but any major upside is unlikely because acreage is expected higher and imports would also rise," said Chowda Reddy, a senior analyst at JRG Wealth Management.

In the New Delhi spot market, chana rose 38 rupees to 3,921 rupees per 100 kg.

Reddy expects the January contract to test resistance at around 3,920 rupees in the short term.

India's efforts to encourage farmers to plant pulses, used in staple dishes like dal, will still leave output short of demand in the year to March 2013, a poll of importers and traders showed, pushing imports up 7 percent and adding to inflation.

The first advance estimates from the farm ministry shows the output of kharif, or summer-sown pulses, could fall to 5.26 million tonnes from 6.16 million tonnes a year earlier.