Centre has surplus rice and wheat stockpile, well-above the buffer norms: MoS for Consumer Affairs

In order to manage food security and to prevent hoarding and speculation, Centre has also imposed stock limits on wheat for traders, big and small retailers, and processors in all states and Union Territories.

Centre has surplus rice and wheat stocks in its granaries, well above the buffer norms, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya told Rajya Sabha in a written reply on July 22.

The stocks for wheat and rice in the Central Pool as of July 1, 2025 were 736.61 lakh MT, higher than the required buffer of 411.20 lakh MT.

Consumer Affairs Minister Bambhaniya also said in order to moderate market prices and enhance availability of foodgrains, Cetre sells surplus food grains (Wheat and Rice) outside the Public Distribution System (PDS) and other welfare schemes through open market sale. This helps increase availability of foodgrains, control inflation, and makes foodgrain more affordable.

The Centre has also launched Bharat Atta and Bharat Rice in recent years, in order to provide atta and rice to consumers at subsidized rates, the minister informed.

In order to manage food security and to prevent hoarding and speculation, Centre has also imposed stock limits on wheat for traders, big and small retailers, and processors in all states and Union Territories.

Easing food price inflation and a high base has likely helped CPI inflation slow to a more than six-year low. "A good rabi (spring harvest), wheat and rice stocks overall are adding up to support lower food inflation," Reuters quoted Kanika Pasricha, chief economic adviser at Union Bank of India. The government offers wheat and rice for public distribution under various welfare schemes, including 5 kilograms of free foodgrain per person every month to about 80 crore people.

India is also the world's biggest exporter of rice, and is considering to widen the sale of broken rice from its stockpiles into the open market, Bloomberg News had reported citing people familiar with the matter. The decision is expected to boost supply of rice for exports as well as ethanol production. The proposal is expected to help state-run Food Corporation of India lower its robust reserves as well as free up space ahead of the next harvest season.

IMD's forecast of another above-average monsoon season has prompted expectations of another bumper crop.

Earlier this month, the Asian benchmark price for rice fell to the lowest level in almost eight years on improved global supplies.