Wheat sales under open market sales scheme (OMSS) may begin from August and the government may offer 6-7 million tonne to be sold by March 31, 2026, through e-auction, trade sources said. A high powered inter-ministerial panel under expenditure secretary is believed to have recommended ₹2,550/quintal, excluding transport, as the reserve price.
The panel has suggested the quantum of stocks to be offloaded and timing has to be decided by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) in consultation with Department of Food and Public Distribution. While deciding the quantity, FCI needs to first set aside the wheat required for the Public Distribution System (PDS), buffer norms and additional 20 lakh tonne (lt) for any exigency.
While the government needs about 200 lt for PDS, the buffer norm as on April 1 is about 75 lt, which means FCI is allowed to sell under OMSS any quantity over and above 295 lt, depending on the stock position.
According to the wheat procurement data in the current season, that ended June 30, the government has purchased 300.35 lt as against 265.95 lt year-ago. Based on this bumper procurement, the wheat stock with the Central Pool as on July 1 has crossed 365 lt.
“Last year the government had sold nearly 30 lt of wheat under OMSS. As the procurement is 34 lt higher from last year, the government can easily offer 60 lt under OMSS this year,” said a leading flour miller. Given that there was bumper production in 2024-25 crop and ample stock with the government, prices are already stable, he said adding there may not be as much demand for OMSS wheat as last year. He said many of the flour millers and large companies already have stock for next 4-6 months.
The committee of secretaries has also disallowed selling wheat to private millers from government stock for further retail sales of atta (wheat flour raw) “Bharat” brand at fixed rate. But, it has allowed sale of wheat at ₹2,550/quintal to Central cooperative organisations like NAFED, NCCF and Kendriya Bhandar for selling atta. Even those NGOs and others running community kitchens will be offered wheat at same rate.
In 2024-25 fiscal, FCI sold the wheat at average ₹2,800/quintal against the reserve price of ₹2,464/quintal. In the first round of auction the average selling price was ₹2,885/quintal whereas it dropped to ₹2,712/quintal in the last round.
The weekly offer quantity began with 1 lt, and gradually raised to 5 lt. Only processors, small and big, were allowed to participate in the auction as traders were kept away. The individual cap for a processor also was raised from initial 100 tonne to 400 tonne later during the auction. After the Centre procured record 433.4 lt of wheat in 2021-22, the procurement has continuously missed the target.
