India Tightens Wheat Stock Limits to Curb Hoarding, Price Rise

New Delhi, Sep 13 (PTI) The Centre on Friday tightened wheat stock holding limits for traders, wholesalers, big chain retailers, and processors in order to check price rise and hoarding.

The revised stock limits on wheat come barely two months after they were imposed on June 24. The restrictions will remain in force until March 31, 2025 across all states and Union Territories.

Under the revised rules, traders and wholesalers are allowed to stock up to 2,000 tonnes now, as against 3,000 tonne earlier, an official statement said.

Big chain retailers can store wheat up to "10 MT (metric tonnes) in each outlet and (10x total number of outlets) at all their depot."

Earlier, they were no restriction on stocking wheat based on the number of outlets.

For processors, the limit has been reduced to 60 per cent from earlier limit of 70 per cent of their monthly installed capacity (MIC) multiplied by the remaining months of the 2024-25 fiscal.

The stock limits have been kept unchanged for individual retailers who continue to stock up to 10 tonnes of wheat.

The government has mandated all entities to declare their stock position and regularly update it on the Department of Food and Public Distribution's portal (https://evegoils.nic.in/wsp/login).

Those holding stocks exceeding the prescribed limits have been given a 15-day window to comply with the new norms.

Both Centre and state officials will closely monitor the enforcement of these stock limits to ensure that "no artificial scarcity of wheat" is created in the country, the statement said.

Official data reveals that wheat and wheat flour prices have declined much even after imposition of the stock limits in June.

As of September 13, the average retail price of wheat stood at Rs 31.06 per kg, up from Rs 30.99 per kg on June 20, this year. Wheat flour prices remained firm at Rs 35.97 per kg.

The government maintains that it has sufficient wheat stocks to meet the requirements of the Public Distribution System (PDS) and other welfare schemes.

The stock limit intervention is seen as a preemptive measure to check unscrupulous speculation and ensure that wheat prices remain stable in the coming months.