Govt may resume retail sales of rice, atta, pulses under ‘Bharat’ brand from Oct
After launching retail sales of onion directly to consumers at ₹35/kg, the Centre may resume from October sales of select food items such as rice, atta (wheat flour) and some dal (processed pulses) under “Bharat” brand amid concerns over food price inflation.
A decision is reported to have been taken by a panel of ministers last week after which the Consumer Affairs Ministry, which administers the price stabilisation fund scheme, will decide the re-launch programme, sources said, adding Food Minister Pralhad Joshi may flag off the launch in October.
Recently when the government started selling onion at subsidised rates, Joshi flagged off mobile vans carrying the onions.
Revised prices
While there may be an increase in the maximum retail price (MRP) of Bharat dal (chana) to ₹70/kg from the earlier rate of ₹60/kg, the Bharat dal (moong) is likely to be sold at unchanged price of ₹107/kg and Bharat dal (masur) may be added this time with an MRP of ₹89/kg, sources said.
Besides, as decided earlier, the Bharat rice will have a higher MRP of ₹340/10kg bag and Bharat atta will be ₹300/10 kg bag, sources said. In February, the government started selling Bharat rice at ₹29/kg in 5 kg and 10 kg packs. Sales of Bharat atta started in November 2023 at ₹275 per 10 kg bag. But, both rice and atta sales discontinued from this June.
“The government, while allowing some concessions to exporters of onion and Basmati rice in order to keep farmers happy, also allowed continuance of validity of duty-free import of yellow peas until December 31 from October 31. Besides, wheat stock limits have been lowered. Both these measures are for the interests of consumers, to keep prices under check,” an official source said pointing out a host of decisions taken last week by the Amit Shah-led panel on food prices.
Crop damage
In December 2023, the government allowed duty-free imports of yellow peas (until March 2024) without the minimum import price (MIP) and designated port restrictions. However, the validity has been getting extended from time to time.
“Even though acreage of overall kharif pulses is higher, there have been reports of crop damage in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh due to heavy rains in recent days. Further heavy rains as forecast by IMD may spell more trouble to pulses like urad and moong in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan,” said agriculture scientist S K Singh.
Rise in vegetable and fruit prices pushed the retail inflation rate slightly higher at 3.7 per cent in August, government data released last Thursday showed. The rate was 3.6 per cent in July. The expectation is that the rate may go up further in September. Vegetable inflation recorded a jump to over 10 per cent in August as against 6.8 per cent in July. Similarly, fruit inflation rose to over 6 per cent as against around 3.5 per cent during the period under consideration. Prices of pulses and cereals were still high, impacting headline inflation.