Minimum Support Price for Rabi Crops Increased

The government has fixed the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat at Rs 1,100 per quintal, an increase of Rs 20, or 1.86 per cent, over last year’s figure. The increase is moderate relative to the Rs 60 to Rs 150 a quintal hikes resorted to in the last few years. The Rs 1,100 price is also lower than the ruling market price of Rs 1,400 a quintal in Delhi.

It had earlier increased the MSP of two paddy varieties by 11-12 per cent, as the output of domestic kharif rice was estimated 18 per cent lower at 69.45 million tonnes (mt). The MSP for Grade-A and common varieties of paddy were increased by Rs 100 a quintal to Rs 980 and Rs 950, respectively. Last week, the government had also announced a bonus of Rs 50 per quintal on both these varieties.

The higher paddy MSP is expected to boost the government’s procurement of rice. However, the situation in wheat is different, since wheat crop is expected to be normal and the government pool has a stock of 28.45 million tonnes as on October 1.

The government also announced MSP for other rabi crops. The MSP for chana has been raised by Rs 30 to Rs 1,760 per quintal while that of of barley has been increased by Rs 70 to Rs 750 per quintal. MSP of mustard and masur have been kept unchanged at Rs 1,830 per quintal and Rs 1,870 per quintal, respectively.