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As part of the Centre’s efforts to tame food inflation, the Union government may allocate 500,000 tonnes of rice to the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF) and Kendriya Bhandar under open market sales scheme (OMSS) at ₹24 per kg for the retail sale of Bharat Chawal to consumers, two officials said.
As part of the plan, the cooperatives have suggested the MRP be fixed at ₹29 a kg compared to the market prevailing rate.
“As per the IMC (inter-ministerial committee) proposal, a quantity of 500,000 tonnes may be offered at ₹2,400 per quintal in the first instance under the OMSS for retail sale to consumers under the brand Bharat Chawal,” the official informed. “Although the IMC agreed that the agencies may be allowed a margin of ₹10.80 above ₹24 per kg and that Bharat Chawal for retail sale can be offered to general consumers at ₹34.80 per kg, the three agencies suggested that the MRP (maximum retail price) should be fixed at ₹29 per kg to achieve sales at scale.”
“They emphasised that an effective market intervention for price control will require an optimal price difference from prevailing market prices,” the official added.
On Thursday, the all-India average rice price in the retail market was ₹43.4 a kg, a rise of 14% year-on-year, according to latest consumer affairs ministry data.
“After a thorough review of prevailing retail prices in the open market and a joint proposal by the three agencies, IMC recommended that after the expenditure department’s approval to allocate rice at ₹2,400 per quintal for Bharat Chawal, another proposal of providing resources to NAFED, NCCF and Kendriya Bhandar for the differential amount ( ₹3,480 – ₹2,900) may be sent to the CoM (committee of ministers) for approval. This will enable the three agencies to peg the MRP at ₹29 a kg,” the official quoted above said.
“Proposals related to the launch of the scheme and MRP of Bharat Chawal have been given to the concerned higher authorities and a decision is likely within a fortnight,” the other official said.
Mint earlier reported about the Centre planning to sell Bharat rice at a discounted rate to contain rising cereal prices ahead of next year’s general elections.
Cereal prices rose 10.3% in November, pushing up food inflation to 8.7% in November from 6.61% in October. Food inflation accounts for nearly half of the overall Consumer Price Index (CPI).
In the past few months, the government has taken several steps to stabilize prices of essential food grains, while also ensuring fair prices for farmers.
The government banned exports of non-basmati rice in July and imposed an export floor price of $1,200 per tonne for basmati exports in August, which was lowered to $950 a tonne later. Under the OMSS, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is offering 400,000 tonnes of rice for sale at ₹29-29.73 per kg in its weekly e-auctions to increase the availability of rice in the domestic market.
Queries sent to the food and public distribution department remained unanswered at press time.
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Published: 04 Jan 2024, 03:25 PM IST
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