Cut in PDS wheat, rice prices likely

new delhi: in the run-up to the union budget, the government is considering further cut in prices of foodgrains sold through the public distribution system to reduce excess stocks and burden on storage infrastructure. “as part of the annual budget-making exercise, reducing the carrying cost of foodgrain stocks is on our agenda. for this, further cut in the pds prices for both below and above the poverty line (bpl and apl) is under active consideration,� official sources said. they said no figure has been arrived as yet for the cut and the issue is being looked at jointly by the food and finance ministries. the cut will be decided while collating the total food subsidy bill on account of providing foodgrains below the economic cost under the pds and the carrying cost on account of procurement. liqudation of stocks was a subject of mutual concern during a pre-budget meeting of food minister shanta kumar with finance minister yashwant sinha. food subsidies at rs 20,000 crore are high but a substantial part of it is the carrying cost.