New Delhi: To check the inflationary trend in the food economy, the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) has decided to further reduce the reserve price of wheat up to March 31, 2023.
Following the decision, the following steps have been taken:
- The reserve price under Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic) {OMSS (D)} has been fixed at Rs 2150/Quintal (Pan India) for wheat (Fair Average Quality) and Rs. 2125 Qtl (Pan India) for wheat (Under Relaxed Specifications) of all crops including Rabi Market Season 2023-24 for its sale to private parties.
- States may be allowed to purchase wheat from the Food Corporation of India for their own scheme at the above-proposed reserve prices without participating in e-auction.
Reduction in reserve price will help in reducing the market price of wheat and its products for consumers, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said today.
It informed that the FCI floated the 3rd e-auction for the sale of wheat at these revised reserve prices today which will be opened on February 22, 2023.
The Committee of Ministers decided to release 30 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) wheat from FCI stock through Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) as follows:
- 25 LMT be offered through the e-auction route to traders, flour mills, etc as per the usual process followed by FCI. Bidders can participate in e-auction for a maximum quantity of 3000 MT per region per auction.
- 2 LMT be offered to State Governments for their schemes @10,000 MT/State without e-auction.
- 3 LMT be offered to Government Public Sector Undertakings/cooperatives/Federations such as Kendriya Bhandar /NCCF/NAFED without e-auction.
Subsequently, the Department made an allocation of 3 LMT of wheat to Kendriya Bhandar/ NAFED /NCCF as per their requisitions. Kendriya Bhandar, NAFED and NCCF were allocated 1.32 LMT, 1 LMT and 0.68 LMT respectively.
Further, the rate of wheat on February 10, 2023, has been reduced to Rs. 21.50/Kg for sale to NCCF/NAFED/ Kendriya Bhandar/State Government Cooperatives/ Federations etc as well as community kitchen /charitable/NGO subject to the stipulation that they will convert wheat to atta and sell it to consumers at Maximum Retail Price of Rs. 27.50/Kg.
– global bihari bureau
