Government to pay bonus of Rs50 per quintal of paddy

16 October 2008

Mumbai: The government has announced a bonus of Rs50 per quintal over and above the Rs850-880 a quintal minimum support price (MSP) for paddy, taking the procurement price of the foodgrain to Rs900-930 a quintal.

With the minimum support price for paddy currently standing at Rs850 per quintal for the common variety and Rs880 a quintal for Grade 'A' variety, the effective procurement price after the bonus would be Rs900 per quintal for common variety and Rs 930 per quintal for Grade A variety.

The cabinet committee on economic affairs today gave its approval for incentive bonus of Rs50 per quintal on paddy over and above Minimum Support Price for the entire Kharif marketing season 2008-09, a government press release said.

"The cabinet committee on economic Affairs today gave its approval for incentive bonus of Rs50 per quintal on paddy over and above the Minimum Support Price for the entire Kharif Marketing Season 2008-09," told reporters here after.

Announcing the decision after the CCEA meeting, minister for science and technology Kapil Sibal said the additional incentive has been provided to boost procurement as well as production.

The Food Corporation of India has so far procured over 5.6 million tonnes of paddy, out of arrivals of about 6.3 million tonnes against last year's procurement of 5.6 million tonnes out of 7.5 million tonne arrivals.