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The Indian Government, which has sold nearly 9 million tonnes (mt) of wheat to processors during past eight months in a bid to check price rise unlike in 2021-22, has decided to stop the weekly e-auction held by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) under the open market sales scheme (OMSS) after March 1 in northern States once procurement starts for the new crop.
However, sales of subsidised Bharat Atta at ₹27.50/kg in 10 kg bag will continue and it targets to sell 1.5 mt in the next 4-5 months. The government has already sold 0.35 mt of Bharat Atta since its launch in November 2023. The FCI supplies wheat to the co-operatives at ₹1,715/quintal for processing to atta and packing under ‘Bharat’ brand for retail sales.
Briefing media on the overall price situation of different food items, Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said the government has also decided to offload 1.5 mt of Bharat rice to retail consumers through Nafed and NCCF as about 20,000-30,000 tonnes have been sold already since its launch.
‘No point in continuing’
Chopra said Uttar Pradesh on Thursday consented to start procurement of wheat from March 1 and other States may also follow a similar model, depending on the crop arrival. The Centre has already asked wheat growing States to prepare procurement as early as possible, preferably from first fortnight of next month.
“There is no point to continuing OMSS as the reserve price of wheat in the weekly e-auction has been fixed at ₹2,125-2,150/quintal whereas the government will buy at the new MSP which is ₹2,275. In case of continuation of OMSS, there is a scope of recycling and the same grain coming into the government reserve again,” an official source said.
Due to the liberal sales of wheat from official reserves, despite the fact that it could be below the buffer norm as of April 1, the Centre started the OMSS sales from June 28 and promised to offload as much as possible so that prices do not flare up. Except the first three auctions, when there was minimal lifting due to several restrictions, the overall offtake in every auction was good throughout the period — over 95 per cent. The government, too, raised the offered quantity from 0.184 mt per week to 0.5 mt a week now.
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