It is learnt that India’s finance ministry will soon make a strong pitch for imposing a ceiling on annual food subsidy expenses, the relentless rise of which has become an unsustainable fiscal obligation over the last few years. According to official sources, a Cabinet note being prepared by the ministry with this intent will suggest […]
With the finance ministry recently releasing more than Rs 25,000 crore towards food subsidy expenses, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has paid back the short-term loan (STL) of around Rs 19,000 crore availed from the banks. The FCI avails STLs of 90 days’ duration, from scheduled banks, to address cash flow mismatches arising from […]
The food ministry has approved a policy to extend the leases for storage depots, built under the private entrepreneurs guarantee (PEG) scheme for grain storage by the Food Corporation of India (FCI). A 10-year lease period has recently lapsed in the case of almost half of the PEG capacity used by the FCI The aim […]
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has availed short term loan of Rs 22,000 crore in the current fiscal to finance its operations due to inadequate provisioning of the food security expenses by the finance ministry, reports Financial Express. Against expenses of more than Rs 75,000 crore in the current fiscal, the finance ministry has allocated around […]
The government has no plans to import wheat as it has sufficient stocks to meet the country’s requirements, the Department of Food and Public Distribution said on Sunday. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has enough stock for public distribution, it said. “There is no such plan to import wheat into India. Country has sufficient […]
Wheat stocks in the central pool held by the Food Corporation of India and state government agencies dipped to 26.6 million tonnes (MT) at the beginning of this month, the lowest level since August 1, 2008. According to estimates, the wheat stock is expected to be around 22. 9 MT by October 1, against the […]
Wheat prices at key mandis across the country are ruling around 14%-19% above the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 2,015 a quintal for the current rabi season (2022-23), as traders are holding on to stocks in anticipation of a further rise in prices before the festive season. The hoarding has negated the reason for the […]
The government said wheat stocks in FCI godowns is expected to be 134 lakh tonnes at the start of next fiscal, 80 per cent more than the buffer norm. In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal said the central pool stock of wheat as on July 1, 2022 is well above the […]
Retail prices of tomato, which rose to Rs 100/kg six weeks ago as heat waves adversely impacted output, has since moderated thanks to robust arrivals and prospects of good crop in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. According to data by the department of consumer affairs, although average retail prices of tomato are still higher […]
To control rising expenses, the Union government has asked grain-surplus states to initiate measures including restricting statutory charges such as mandi fees, rural development cess and other procurement expenses to 2% or less on the minimum support price (MSP) provided to farmers. It also asked states to follow an open tendering process to cut costs […]
