Concerned over the increase in foodgrains prices, the Centre on Wednesday decided to additionally sell 50 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of wheat and 25 LMT of rice through the Open Market Sales Scheme (OMSS) from the Food Corporation of India stocks. The Centre hopes that the measure will ensure adequate domestic availability and check the prices of rice, wheat and atta.
Talking to reporters, Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said the Centre had also decided to bring down the reserve price of rice by ₹200 per quintal and the effective price now will be ₹2,900 per quintal. The cost for this reduction would be borne from the Price Stabilisation Fund under the Department of Consumer Affairs. The price of wheat has gone up by 6.77% in retail market and 7.37% in wholesale market in the last one year and in the case of rice, the increase is 10.63% and 11.12% respectively. The Centre claimed that the step will help 140 crore people of the country.
