Government will sell rice at the rate of Rs 25 per kg under Bharat brand, the aim is to control the prices.

The government will now sell rice at the rate of Rs 25 per kg under the Bharat brand. It will be sold through National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), National Cooperative Consumer Federation (NCCF) and Kendriya Bhandar outlets.

According to a senior government official, this step is being taken to control the rising prices of rice. The government already sells flour and pulses under the Bharat brand. Food prices increased by 10.27 percent in November, due to which food inflation increased to 8.70 percent in the month of November. In the previous month it was 6.61 percent. The share of food inflation in the total consumer price basket is almost half.

In the last few months, the government has been successful in controlling the rising prices of wheat by increasing sales in the open market through e-auction conducted by the Food Corporation of India (FCI). However, the offtake of rice has been minimal during this period. In such a situation, the increase in its prices can create a problem for the government in view of the general elections to be held in 2024.

FCI has also recently amended its OMSS rules for rice, slightly relaxing them. The minimum and maximum quantity of rice that can be bid by a bidder has been fixed at 1 metric tonne and 2000 metric tonne respectively. This step has been taken to increase the sale of rice under OMSS to increase the supply of grains in the market.