India's food security programme to cost $21 billion a year: Paswan

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's recently rolled out national food security welfare programme will cost the government 1.4 trillion rupees ($21.00 billion) a year, food minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Thursday.

The ultra-cheap food welfare programme, introduced by the previous Congress-led government, will cover 50 percent of urban and 75 percent of rural areas in India.

Under the new law, which was rolled out across the country on Nov. 1, beneficiaries will get wheat at 2 rupees a kilogram and rice at 3 rupees per kilogram.

($1 = 66.6750 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Malini Menon)