The government has doubled the wheat quantity offered in the Food Corporation of India's (FCI) weekly tender for November 4, as prices rise amid dwindling stocks. According to reports from The Hindu BusinessLine, FCI will auction 1.99 lakh tonnes on November 4, against 1.01 lakh tonnes offered on October 28. Despite traders being barred from participating, FCI sold 99,316 tonnes, or 98.3 per cent of the quantity offered, in the previous round, with several States reporting 100 per cent offtake. The latest auction saw large number of buyers bid for wheat at a higher price, with processors and millers scrambled to buy the grain at over ₹3,100/quintal in many States when the all-India average wholesale price was ₹2,910/quintal. Except Haryana, the average selling price of wheat was higher in most States compared with the previous week.
The allocation for Punjab has been raised to 44,000 tonnes from 25,000 tonnes in the October 28 auction, while Haryana's allocation increased to 23,000 tonnes from 12,000 tonnes. Uttar Pradesh's allocation rose to 14,000 tonnes from 8,000 tonnes, and Madhya Pradesh's to 10,000 tonnes from 6,000 tonnes. As reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, allocations for Assam, Delhi and Karnataka have been raised to 12,000 tonnes each from 5,000 tonnes, while Gujarat and Rajasthan will get 8,000 tonnes each, against 4,500 tonnes and 4,000 tonnes respectively earlier. In Punjab, which got the maximum allocation of 25,000 tonnes, the entire quantity was intended to be lifted in the auction where processors/millers offered to buy wheat between ₹3,200/quintal and ₹2,830/quintal. Only six bidders quoted below ₹2,900/quintal out of 203, with the average selling price at ₹2,992/quintal against ₹2,982/quintal in the previous week.
A day before the government increased the weekly auction quantity, Ashish Garg, President of the Delhi-based MSME Welfare Association, wrote to Food Minister Pralhad Joshi seeking a review of reserve prices, lot sizes, quantity restrictions and other sale conditions. According to The Hindu BusinessLine, Garg sought the Minister's intervention to strengthen bidder verification and penalise fraudulent bidders. He pointed out that FCI had sold wheat under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) at prices 20-30 per cent above market rates because of differences in sale conditions, urging effective utilisation of public wheat stocks to prevent avoidable price increases. An industry expert highlighted that when an average flour mill requires at least 3,000 tonnes a month to run its facility, by keeping a cap of 300 tonnes, the government is not providing even half of their monthly requirement. The government should release more as the current stock with FCI is over 463 lakh tonnes as on October 1.
Despite the increased allocation, experts doubt the move will cool prices as the maximum quantity a single bidder can purchase each week remains unchanged. As reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, the unchanged bidder cap casts doubt on the effectiveness of the price cooling measures. The government's decision to double the auction quantity comes as wheat prices continue to rise amid concerns over dwindling stocks, with the increased allocation aimed at addressing supply constraints in the market. Experts said that a lower quantity made available in the auction is one factor for prices to rise, while the second factor is the capping of maximum quantity for each bidder. The government had about 320 lakh tonnes of wheat as of October 1, 2025, against the buffer norm prescribing minimum of 205.2 lakh tonnes of wheat should be in the official reserve on October 1 any year.
