Govt to start selling rice under 'Bharat Rice' brand to tackle food inflation

In the first phase, five lakh metric tonne of rice has been allocated for retail sale under ‘Bharat Rice’ brand (Representative image)

The Central government has decided start retail sale of ‘Bharat Rice’ to general consumers, aimed at tackling overall food inflation, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution said on February 2.

In the first phase, five lakh metric tonne of rice has been allocated for retail sale under ‘Bharat Rice’ brand via three agencies -- NAFED, NCCF, and Kendriya Bhandar. The retail price for Bharat Rice has been fixed at Rs 29 per kilo and they will be sold in 5 kg and 10 kg packs.

'Bharat Rice' will be available for purchase from mobile vans and physical outlets of the three central co-operative agencies to begin with, and it will also be available through other retail chains including e-commerce platforms soon, the ministry said.

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To prevent unscrupulous speculation, the Government has also decided that stock position of rice/paddy must be declared by traders/wholesalers, retailers, big chain retailers and processors/millers in all states and union territories, until further orders. The respective legal entities will have to declare stock position of paddy and rice in categories such as (i) broken rice, (ii) non-basmati white rice, (iii) parboiled rice, (iv) basmati rice, (v) paddy. They will be required to update the information on the portal (https://evegoils.nic.in/rice/login.html) of the Department of Food and Public Distribution within seven days of issuance of the order and thereafter every Friday.

Rice rices are increasing despite a good crop this Kharif, ample stock with the FCI and in the pipeline and various regulations in place on rice exports too, the ministry said. The retail prices of the key food item have increased by 14.51 percent over the past year and to curb the price rise, various steps have already taken by the Government.

For instance, the stock of good quality rice available with the FCI is being offered to traders/wholesalers under OMSS at a reserve price of Rs 29/Kg. In order to increase the sale of rice in the open market, the Government has also reduced the reserve price of rice from Rs 3,100/ quintal to Rs 2,900/Qtl and the minimum and maximum quantity of rice was revised to 1 MT and 2,000 MT, respectively.

In addition to this, regular publicity has been done by the FCI regional offices for wider outreach. As a result, the sale of rice has gradually increased. Till January 31, 2024, 1.66 LMT rice has been sold in the open market which is the highest sale in any year under OMSS (D) for rice, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs said.

It added, the export policy of broken rice has been amended from “free” to “prohibited” w.e.f. September 9, 2022. As for non-basmati rice, which constitutes about 25 percent of total rice exports, an export duty of 20 percent was imposed with effect from September 8, 2022, to lower the prices of rice. Subsequently, the export policy of non-basmati white rice was amended to ‘prohibited’ with effect from July 20, 2023. In basmati rice, the contracts for exports with the value of $950 per MT only and above are being registered for issue of Registration–cum– Allocation Certificate (RCAC). Also, a 20 percent export duty on parboiled rice has been imposed which will be applicable till March 31, 2024. “All these measures have curbed the pace of increasing trend of rice prices in domestic market,” the ministry said in a release.

"The Department of Food and Public Distribution is also maintaining a close watch over the stock position of wheat to control prices and ensure easy availability in the country," the Consumer Affairs Ministry added.  The All-India average domestic wholesale and retail price of wheat has seen a decreasing trend over a month and year, it said and added, atta (Wheat) prices too, are showing decreasing trend over a week, month and year.