New Delhi, Nov 14 (PTI) The government has operationalised a portal for online declaration of paddy or rice stock by all entities including traders, retailers, wholesalers, processors and millers, a move aimed at preventing hoarding and to check prices.
As per the November 6 order, all traders and wholesalers, retailers, large retail chains and processors and millers in all states and Union Territories must declare stocks under six categories -- Basmati rice, non-Basmati premium rice, non-Basmati rice, parboiled rice, broken rice and paddy.
In a social media post on Saturday, the nodal food ministry said it has operationalised the food stock declaration portal for this purpose.
As per the order, every unit holding stocks will have to update details on the Food Stock Portal (foodstock.dfpd.gov.in) every Friday.
Units that are not registered on the portal or that violate stock limits will face action under Sections 6 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
To improve availability, the Centre is allocating additional rice stocks to NAFED, NCCF and Kendriya Bhandar for sale as Bharat Rice, and has asked them to explore all possible distribution channels, especially in the southern states.
The Centre has also doubled the target for rice sales through e-auction under the Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic) for 2026-27 from 25 lakh tonne to 50 lakh tonne. Around 25 lakh tonne had been sold to private parties by October 31, compared to 11 lakh tonne in the same period of the last year.
Trade and industry experts said deficient and uneven rainfall has contributed to rice inflation, particularly in premium non-Basmati varieties, and pushed up paddy prices in several markets.
Retail rice inflation rose to 8.25 per cent year-on-year in September from 5.89 per cent in August, with the average retail price at around Rs 48.23 per kg, about 12 per cent higher than a year earlier.
Experts, however, said the situation is not a nationwide crisis. With government rice stocks at comfortable levels, they said, pressure is the sharpest in regions and grades where supplies are tight.
Kharif paddy acreage for 2026-27 declined by about 4 per cent to 42.68 million hectares, which has been attributed to deficient rainfall.
Trade estimates put rice output in 2026-27 at around 147 million tonne compared to a record 154 million tonne in 2025-26.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)