In order to reduce the price of wheat and atta, the Department of Food & PD, in consultation with Ministry of Finance, has decided that the reserve price for sale of wheat under OMSS will be Rs 2350/Qtl (Pan India) for FAQ and Rs. 2300/Qtl (Pan India) for URS wheat of all crops including RMS 2023-24 without adding any transportation cost component. This will help supply of wheat to general public in different part of the country at a reasonable price.

In addition, the States may be allowed to purchase wheat from FCI for their own scheme at above reserve prices without participating in e-auction.

Further, the rate of wheat has been reduced to Rs. 21.50/Kg for sale to NCCF/NAFED/ Kendriya Bhandar/State Govt. Cooperatives/ Federations etc. as well as community kitchen /charitable/NGO etc engaged in relief operations/ running relief camps for migrant labourers/vulnerable groups.

This concessional rate for NCCF/NAFED/ Kendriya Bhandar/State Govt. Cooperatives/ Federations etc. will be applicable with the stipulation that they will convert wheat to atta and offer it to public at an MRP not exceeding ₹ 27.50/Kg.

The meeting of Committee of Minister under chairmanship of Hon’ble Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah, was held on 25.01.2023 to review the prices of essential commodities. Committee decided to release 30 LMT wheat from FCI stock through Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) as follows:

1. 25 LMT be offered through the e-auction route to traders, flour mills, etc as per the usual process followed by FCI. Bidders can participate in e-auction for a maximum quantity of 3000 MT per region per auction.
2. 2 LMT be offered to State Governments for their schemes @10,000 MT/State without e-auction.
3. 3 LMT be offered to Govt PSUs/cooperatives/Federations such as Kendriya Bhandar/NCCF/NAFED etc without e-auction. This will be subject to the stipulation that they convert wheat to atta and offer it to public at an MRP not exceeding Rs 29.50/kg.

Subsequently, this Department made allocation of 3 LMT of wheat to Kendriya Bhandar/ NAFED /NCCF as per their requisitions. Kendriya Bhandar, NAFED and NCCF were allocated 1.32 LMT, 1 LMT and 0.68 LMT respectively.

FCI has sold 9.26 LMT of wheat out of 25 LMT to traders, flour mills, etc in course of the first e-auction held on 1^st and 2^nd February, 2023

After announcement of OMSS Policy, GoI has observed that the market prices of wheat are still very high. It has also been observed that due to inclusion of freight charges in base prices for auction under OMSS, the auction rates in States, which are away from Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, are very high especially in North-East region, Eastern Region and Southern region.

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AD/NS