As much as 66 percent of the 4.08 lakh tonnes (lt) of wheat offered for sale under the open market sale scheme in the first round of e-auction has been reserved for 10 states, whose allocation under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) a year earlier dropped by 6 lt each month.

According to state-wise tenders floated by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) on Friday, as much as 2.68 lt has been allocated to Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. As much as 5.97 lt per month of wheat quota in these states was cut and re-allotted as rice in May 2022, which continues.

A maximum of 40,500 tonnes has been offered for sale in West Bengal, followed by 40,000 tonnes in Uttar Pradesh and 38,000 tonnes in Maharashtra.

Bihar has been allocated 32,500 tonnes in the first round, while Gujarat has received 30,000 tonnes, and both Madhya Pradesh and Punjab have 25,000 tonnes each. Other states with a high allocation include Odisha (21,000 tonnes), and Haryana, Rajasthan, and Kerala (20,000 tonnes each). Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, which have a sizeable number of flour mills, have been allocated 18,000 tonnes and 13,470 tonnes, respectively.

“The state-wise allocation of wheat quota under the open sale scheme says a lot about where the government’s priority lies. For instance, the monthly quota of 24,830.48 tonnes of wheat for a state was brought to zero last year by increasing the rice allotment by same quantity under the public distribution system. Now, the state has received 21,000 tonnes under OMSS,” said an industry expert.

At least partial restoration of the cut in wheat allocation could have improved access for the underprivileged, who have been buying from the open market, the expert said. Many experts have suggested that the price rise in wheat is partly due to a large chunk of the population turning to the open market to meet their requirement – at least 5 lt per month.

The FCI has stipulated that wheat purchased from FCI under OMSS will be utilised domestically and should not be exported by the successful bidders. Also, the wheat purchased will not be resold to the State Government or its agencies or cooperatives.

The wheat cannot be re-sold to bulk buyers either, FCI has said in the tender document. “If the bidder violates any of the terms and conditions of the empanelment or is found to be furnishing any wrong or incorrect information at any stage, their earnest money deposited (EMD) would be forfeited,” it said. However, FCI has not defined who the “bulk buyer” is.