Comments
In an effort to contain inflation, the Government has decided to provide 10.5 million tonnes (mt) of food grains to wholesale and retail traders and to the States through Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS).
The Government said food grains are being provided to suppliers at a rate which is less than the market price.
Briefing the decisions of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs here on Friday, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said that the Government has comfortable stock positions of wheat.
Food and Consumer Affairs Minister K.V. Thomas hoped that the decision would help in controlling inflation.
“We are providing 10 mt wheat and 0.5 mt rice from FCI godowns. This will definitely help in controlling the prices,” Thomas said. The Government will provide a subsidy of Rs 5,491 crore for 10.5 mt of food grains.
“The prices of both wheat and rice are less than the current market prices,”
Thomas claimed. Thomas also said the CCEA has approved allocation of about 5,00,000 tonne of rice to States for retail consumers at Rs 1,875 a quintal plus freight.
The CCEA, however, deferred the decision to export additional wheat.
Government sources said the proposal to allow the export of two million tonnes of wheat through PSUs is before the Cabinet.
“The proposal to allow export of additional wheat through private vendors has been deferred for the time being,” a Government functionary said.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.