Rice Mountain, Rising Bill: Storage Costs Cross ₹10,000 Crore
What Happened
The government's cost of carrying rice buffer stocks has tripled in five years, reaching ₹10,171.71 crore in 2024-25, up from ₹3,143.89 crore in 2020-21. The surge is linked to massive stockpiles, with rice reserves at 403.11 lakh tonnes, nearly three times the official buffer norm of 135.40 lakh tonnes.
Key Takeaways
India's overflowing rice stocks are becoming expensive to maintain. Open-ended MSP procurement continues to boost grain purchases, but slower offtake is creating surplus inventories and pushing up storage and carrying costs.