India has increased the volume of weekly wheat auctions against the background of rising prices

According to tenders for 22 states published on October 30–31, FCI will auction 1.99 lakh tonnes of wheat on November 4. At the previous auction on October 28, the volume was 1.01 lakh tonnes. Despite the ban on trader participation in the previous round, 99,316 tonnes, or 98.3 percent of the offered volume, were sold, and a number of states recorded one hundred percent demand. At the same time, experts doubt that the measure will lead to lower prices, since the maximum purchase volume for a single participant remained unchanged.

In particular, the allocated limits increased for Punjab (up to 44,000 tonnes), Haryana (up to 23,000 tonnes), Uttar Pradesh (up to 14,000 tonnes), and Madhya Pradesh (up to 10,000 tonnes). For Assam, Delhi, and Karnataka, quotas were increased to 12,000 tonnes each. Gujarat and Rajasthan will receive 8,000 tonnes each, and Tamil Nadu and Puducherry — 10,200 tonnes.

Ahead of this decision, Ashish Garg, President of the Delhi Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Welfare Association, appealed to Food Minister Pralhad Joshi with a request to revise the sales terms. According to him, due to differences in sales conditions, wheat through the open market sale scheme was sold at 20–30 percent above market quotations. Garg urged reviewing reserve prices, lot sizes, quantity restrictions, and strengthening participant verification to protect consumers from price increases.