Govt Left Holding Grains Bag Worth Rs 58,800 Crore

With wheat procurement having crossed 18.5 million tonnes today, the total foodgrains stock in government coffers is estimated to have touched an embarrassing high of 60 million tonnes.

Even at a conservative estimate, the value of the grains locked up in warehouses works out at around Rs 58,800 crore.

The scenario for next year appears all the more awesome thanks to an anticipated good monsoon that may help foodgrains output to bound back, or even exceed, the 1999-2000 level of 209 million tonnes from the drought-driven low of 196 million tonnes in 2000-01.

The foodgrains subsidy in the current fiscal seems all set to substantially overshoot the budgetary provision of Rs 13,670 crore, even if the government manages to meet its target of exporting five million tonne of wheat and two million tonne of rice this year.

Though the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has not yet pronounced its final monsoon forecast, the preliminary assessment given by it to the government a couple of months ago indicated a more or less normal monsoon.

The progress of the south-west monsoon winds so far bears out the earlier optimism, though the IMD intends to stick to its normal schedule for releasing the monsoon forecast on May 24 or 25.

The forward front of the monsoon crossed the Andamans and Nicobar Islands yesterday, almost on schedule, raising hopes of its timely arrival on the mainland