The Indian government's rice purchase for official reserves during the October 2025-March 2026 period reached 463.06 lakh tonnes, representing a 6% increase from 454.36 lakh tonnes in the previous year. According to reports from The Hindu BusinessLine, the purchase rebounded significantly in March, rising by nearly 10 times after declining by 17% during February. The all-India rice purchase target has been revised upward to 487 lakh tonnes for 2025-26 from the previous estimate of over 477 lakh tonnes from the kharif-grown crop.
Telangana led procurement with a 22.7% increase to 39.49 lakh tonnes from 32.19 lakh tonnes year-ago, while Andhra Pradesh reported a 79.3% rise to 27.87 lakh tonnes from 15.54 lakh tonnes. As reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, Uttar Pradesh, the largest producing state, ended procurement at 41.75 lakh tonnes, which is 8% up from 38.66 lakh tonnes year-ago. Madhya Pradesh also reported an 18.9% increase in purchase at 34.67 lakh tonnes from 29.16 lakh tonnes, while Uttarakhand saw a 11.3% rise in purchase at 5.02 lakh tonnes from 4.51 lakh tonnes.
According to The Hindu BusinessLine, except Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, and Tripura, rice purchases from the kharif season are complete in all states. The procurement ended on March 31 in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Maharashtra. In Tamil Nadu, while procurement was 23% higher until end of February, it dropped by 17% as of March 31, with current year procurement remaining at 16 lakh tonnes compared to 19.22 lakh tonnes year-ago. West Bengal procured 27.87 lakh tonnes this year against 15.54 lakh tonnes year-ago, which officials attributed to ongoing Assembly polls.
The Agriculture Ministry has estimated rice production in 2025-26 kharif season at 123.93 million tonnes, up by 1% from 122.77 million tonnes year-ago. As reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, the rabi-grown rice output is pegged at 16.72 million tonnes from 16.13 million tonnes in 2024-25. The Centre has fixed a target to buy 79.57 lakh tonnes of rice from Rabi season between April and September, with maximum 35 lakh tonnes aimed to be purchased from Telangana, followed by 14 lakh tonnes from Tamil Nadu.
