A process for drying polymeric granular material (2) comprises the steps of: —introducing into said drying hopper (10) a process gas having a predefined flow rate so as to heat and dry the polymeric granular material, —discharging a portion of the heated polymeric granular material into a transformation unit (100) for the polymeric material; —loading an amount of fresh polymeric granular material (2a) into the drying hopper. The process gas flow rate is regulated by measuring the inlet temperature of the fresh polymeric granular material (2a) and comparing it with a predefined inlet temperature of the fresh polymeric granular material, on the basis of which the predefined process gas flow rate has been calculated. If the measured inlet temperature is different from the predefined inlet temperature, the flow rate of the process gas is regulated on the basis of the measured inlet temperature.