No decision yet on extending free foodgrain scheme, says Finance Secretary

There has been no decision made yet to extend PMGKAY under which 5 kilograms of foodgrains are provided free of cost to the poor, Finance Secretary T V Somanathan said on Wednesday.

The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) was launched in March 2020 to ease the hardships faced by poor people in the face of the pandemic. The scheme is slated to end on September 30.

Since its launch, the scheme has been extended a number of times. The last extension was for a period of six months.


In the last two years, around Rs 2.6 lakh crore has been spent under the scheme. It will cost another Rs 80,000 crore if extended for six more months.

The free foodgrains are provided over and above the normal quota given under the NFSA at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 2-3 per kg.

Initially, in 2020-21, PMGKAY scheme was announced only for a period of three months of April, May and June 2020 (Phase-I). Later, the government extended the scheme from July to November 2020 (Phase-II).

The Centre in April 2021 re-introduced the scheme for a period of two months of May and June 2021 (Phase-III) and extended it for another five months from July to November 2021 (Phase-IV).

The scheme was again extended from December 2021 to March 2022 (Phase-V).


Based on PTI report