Lok Sabha Question No. 4295 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-26
Subject: Survival of Fair Price Shops
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Prof. Sougata Ray

## MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.4295

TO BE ANSWERED ON 26TH MARCH, 2025

## SURVIVAL OF FAIR PRICE SHOPS

4295. PROF. SOUGATA RAY:

Will  the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND  PUBLIC  DISTRIBUTION be pleased to  state:

- (a) whether the Government is concerned about the non-viable conditions of the Fair Price Shops (FPSs) across the country;
- (b) if  so, the steps taken to  ensure their  viability with  a minimum  margin  of Rs. 50,000 per month per shop;
- (c) the steps taken/proposed to be taken to minimize  the harassment of the rationees due to non-availability  of network, server down, mis-match of fingerprints etc.; and
- (d) the reasons for not allowing sale of various essential commodities through FPSs for enhancing their viability  which  helps to check the spiralling  prices of such commodities?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF STATE FOR MINISTRY  OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

(SHRIMATI NIMUBEN JAYANTIBHAI BAMBHANIYA)

(a): The Public  Distribution System (PDS) is  operated under joint responsibilities  of  the Central and State/UT Governments.  The operational responsibilities such as licensing and monitoring of Fair Price Shops (FPSs) rest with the respective State/UT Government.

As per sub-clause (9) of  Clause 9 of the Targeted Public  Distribution  System (TPDS) Control Order, 2015, the State Government shall allow  sale of  commodities other than the foodgrains distributed under the TPDS at the fair  price shops to improve  the viability of  the fair price shop operations.

.....2/-

It has been the endeavor of the Government to improve the financial viability of Fair Price Shops (FPSs) by  providing  additional  business avenues to  FPS dealers and enhancing beneficiary  experience through  the  provision  of  value-added services at FPS. To  improve  the financial viability of FPSs, Government of India has requested all  State/UT Governments to take up initiatives  through FPSs such as providing  Common  Service Centre (CSC)  services, Banking services through tie-up with  banks/ corporate Banking  Correspondents, Banking and citizen-centric services of India Post Payment Bank (IPPB), Retail selling of small (5kg) LPG cylinders, Sale of other commodities/ general store items etc.

Further, a Jan Poshan Kendra (JPK) pilot  study is being conducted to improve viability of  60  FPSs across 4  cities,  i.e.  Hyderabad, Ghaziabad, Jaipur  and  Ahmedabad. The Government of India has undertaken this pilot  study to enhance the financial viability  of FPS dealers while  focusing on improving nutritional  outcomes of the beneficiaries.

Further, to  address the  skill  development challenges, the department has imparted capacity  building training through  the  Ministry of  Skill Development  &  Entrepreneurship (MSDE) to boost the confidence of FPS  owners and equip them with the essential entrepreneurship skills required for venturing into new business avenues.

(b): As per sub-clause (7) of clause 9 of  the  TPDS (Control) Order, 2015, the State Government shall fix  an amount as the fair  price shop owner's margin, which  shal] be periodically  reviewed for ensuring sustained viability  of the fair price shop operations.

Central Government has no role to play in determining the actual rate of fair price shop dealers' margin/  commission/ honorarium etc. The  Central Government only  provides the assistance to States/UTs for meeting the expenditure towards intra-State movement & handling of foodgrains and fair price shop dealers' margin under the NFSA in accordance with  the provisions of  Food Security (Assistance to  State Governments) Rules, 2015 which  inter-alia provides for norms of expenditure and pattern of central sharing. In order to ensure viability  of Fair Price  Shops, the aorms of FPS Dealers margin has also been enhanced in April  2022.

.....3/-

+

Further, the State Governments are free to Bx the actual rates, which  can be higher than the norms specified in the rules. Central assistance will  be limited  to the rates specified in the Rules or  the actual average rates for  the  State as a whole, at which  the  expenditure was actually incurred by the State Government, whichever is lower.

At present, no proposal for farther enhancement of margin is under consideration by the Department of Food & Public Distribution, Government of India.

(c): To  ensure the  availability of  internet/connectivity for  ePoS devices  at FPSs in  remote locations /  shadow/no network areas in  some States, the Department of Telecommunications has been requested to resolve the internet/connectivity  related issues. Further, the beneficiaries are empowered to lift  their  entitled foodgrains under One Nation  One Ration Card (ONORC) from any FPS having operational ePoS device without  facing any internet/connectivity related challenges. The ePoS devices have a functionality to work in offline mode with limited/ no internet connectivity.  The ePoS devices have to come periodically  to network area to sync the offline  ePoS data with  PDS online  system.

(d): As per sub-clause (9) of  Clause 9 of the Targeted Public  Distribution  System (TPDS) Control Order3 2015, the State Government shall allow  sale of  commodities other than the foodgrains distributed under the TPDS  at the fair  price  shops to  improve  the viability of  the fair price shop operations.

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