MSP Paddy Purchases Cross Last Year's Level

Despite a sluggish commencement of procurement caused by storage crunch in Punjab, the government's paddy procurement for the 2024-25 season (October-September) has surpassed 48.3 million tonne (MT), slightly higher than last year.

- SANDIP DAS

Officials noted that procurement operations gained momentum over the past six weeks after the government began evacuating surplus rice stocks from Punjab, the largest contributor to the central pool grain stock.

The key contributions are Punjab (17.35 MT), Chhattisgarh (8.89 MT), Haryana (5.37 MT), Telangana (4.26 MT), Uttar Pradesh (3.86 MT), Madhya Pradesh (2.48 MT) and Odisha (1.28 MT).

The procurement drive has bolstered the rice stock in the central pool, which currently stands at 60.59 MT—higher than the buffer norm of 7.61 MT for January 1.