On Friday, Sanjeev Chopra, the food secretary, announced that the government plans to introduce the sale of rice under the Bharat brand in the retail market. This initiative will be carried out through major e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, ONDC, and government-owned agencies. Additionally, to combat hoarding, retailers, wholesalers, and processors will be required to disclose their stock on the government’s website.
He further mentioned that the Bharat rice will be available in 5kg and 10kg packs, priced at INR 29 per kilo. The distribution will be facilitated through NAFED, NCCF, Kendriya Bhandar, in addition to the online platforms.
Chopra also affirmed that the government currently has no intentions to relax export restrictions on any rice varieties until prices are brought under control.
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Despite the government’s efforts to regulate the export of most food products, the cost of rice remains elevated, with a 14.5% increase in the retail market and a 15% surge in the wholesale market compared to the previous year.
To address the upcoming general elections and manage soaring prices, the government has implemented restrictions on various commodities, including wheat, rice, sugar, and onions.
In the first phase, the Food Ministry has allocated 5 lakh tonnes of rice from the Food Corporation of India’s stocks for Bharat rice.
The food ministry will also separate broken rice from the FCI stock allocated for Bharat rice, thereby reducing the percentage of broken rice in retail sales from 25% to less than 5%. Chopra mentioned that this separated broken rice will be utilized for ethanol production.
In July last year, the government stopped providing surplus broken rice from FCI to distilleries for ethanol production.