oppn parties Price Of Wheat And Atta Is Causing Concern And Adding To Food Inflation

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  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
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  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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Price Of Wheat And Atta Is Causing Concern And Adding To Food Inflation

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2023-01-30 07:02:22

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

Although inflation has subsided (at 5.72% in December, it is now just below the upper threshold (6%) of the RBI tolerance band for the second month running) and food inflation has also gone down due to the drop in prices of vegetables, fruits and some other staples, the price of wheat and atta continue to remain elevated, causing hardships to the people. Although more people eat rice in India than wheat, the fact remains that in 2021-22, India consumed 104520 thousand metric tonnes of wheat. With the wheat crop suffering reverses in 2022 due to untimely and excessive hot weather, India's output was much lower than usual, leading to less procurement by the government as also lower arrivals in the open mandis. This has led to the price of wheat ruling at Rs 30 per kg and unbranded atta at Rs 37 per kg (branded atta is much higher and is ruling between Rs 45 and Rs 58 per kg) this year, at least Rs 10 higher than last year.

To ease the prices, the government has decided to release up to 3 million tonnes (mt) of wheat from its stocks in the open market. But in this regard, the government's options are limited as it has stocks of just 17.17 mt of wheat now against its minimum requirement of 13.8 mt. This makes open market intervention to cool prices a risky proposition, more so because despite a record sowing of 34 million hectares of wheat crop this year, the output cannot be taken for granted due to the vagaries of weather. Last year too huge crop was planted but the rise in temperature in March destroyed a large quantity of the crop and wheat output fell to just 106.84 mt (with some market operators even saying it was not higher than 95 mt). If the expectation of a record crop this year on the back of higher acerage and high yielding varieties planted is fulfilled, prices might come down. But that totally depends on the weather. If it plays truant like last year, the crop will be substantially lower and that will put further pressure on prices.

The government had already banned export of wheat from India in May last year after a bad crop. It must now consider importing about 3-4 mt of wheat both to tide over the current situation and as an insurance against crop failure this year. It will not be harmful for farmers as the current crop will take some time to mature and will be harvested only in end-March. The imports will ease prices of wheat and atta for the next two months and if the crop is good this year, normalcy will be restored through market operations. 

pic courtesy: RTPC Ltd (caption ours)

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