Lok Sabha Question No. 2692 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-08-07
Subject: Black Marketing of Foodgrains
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Smt. Geniben Nagaji Thakor

## Government of India

## Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2692 (OIH)

TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.08.2024

## BLACK MARKETING OF FOODGRAINS

2692.  SMT. GENIBEN NAGAJI THAKOR: (OIH)

Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION miHkksDrk  ekeys]  [kk|  vkSj  lkoZtfud  forj.k  ea=h be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether any measures are being taken by the Government to prevent hoarding and black marketing of foodgrains;
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the measures being taken for monitoring of prices of the essential items and their availability?

## ANSWER

## miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k jkT; ea=h ¼Jh Ckh-,y-oekZ½

## THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI B.L. VERMA)

(a) & (b)  : The Essential Commodities Act, (EC Act), 1955 and the Prevention of Blackmarketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act, (PBMMSEC Act), 1980 provide the legislative and administrative  foundations  to  the  Government  to  regulate  prices,  production,  supply,  distribution  etc.  of essential  commodities  for  maintaining  or  increasing  their  supplies  and  for  securing  their  equitable distribution and availability at fair prices.

In  order  to  prevent  hoarding  and  unscrupulous  speculation  stock  limits were  imposed  on  Tur  and Chana, vide orders dated 21.06.2024 and 11.07.2024, under the EC Act. Directives were issued to the States and UTs to enforce compliance to the stock limits by stockholding entities and follow up meetings were held  with  the  States/UTs  to  review  the  status  of  implementation.  To  monitor  the  stock  of  pulses  with stockholding entities, namely, traders, millers, stockists, millers, importers and big chain retailers, a stock declaration  portal  was  created  for  the  entities  to  register  and  disclose  stock  of  pulses  held  by  them  on  a weekly  basis.  The  status  of  registration  and  stock  disclosure  are  monitored  and  reviewed  with  the stockholding  entities.  Further,  the  State  Governments  were  asked  to  hold  regular  meetings  with  various stakeholders at State and District levels and to keep strict vigil on prices, hoarding, speculative trading and profiteering, unfair and illegal trade practices like cartelling etc. Similarly, stock limits under the EC Act were imposed on wheat vide order dated 24.06.2024 in order to manage the overall food security and to prevent hoarding and unscrupulous speculation.

In order to check  cartelization, hoarding, and  black-marketing  of  essential  commodities,  a Committee was constituted in 2016 under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs with the representatives of Intelligence Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Directorate of  Revenue Intelligence, Income Tax and Delhi Police. So far 21 meetings of this group have been held.

The  Prevention  of  Blackmarketing  and  Maintenance  of  Supplies  of  Essential  Commodities (PBMMSEC)  Act,  1980  is  complementary  to  the  EC  Act,  1955.  It  is  implemented  through  the  State Governments/UT  Administrations  for  preventing  the  illegal  and  unethical  trade  practices,  profiteering, hoarding  and  black-marketing  of  essential  commodities  etc.  by  ordering  preventive  detentions  for  six months of persons involved in such activities.

(c)      :      Department of Consumer Affairs monitors the daily prices of essential food commodities to keep close watch on the prices as well as the structural and other constraints  affecting their availability and to provide inputs for timely policy interventions. The number of commodities covered under price monitoring has been expanded from initial 14 items in 1998 to 38 in 2024-25 and the number of price reporting centres has increased from 18 to 550 across the country during the same period.

Government took, from time to time, various measures to contain food prices. To protect consumers from  excessive  price  volatility  in  agri-horticultural  commodities,  the  Government  introduced  the  Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) scheme in 2014-15. Under PSF, buffer stock of major pulses and onion have been maintained for market interventions and also to discourage hoarding and unscrupulous speculation. Stocks from the buffer are released in calibrated manner to augment availability in the market and stabilise prices.

To make the dals available to consumers at affordable prices, Bharat Dal was launched in July, 2023 by converting the Chana stock with the Government into Chana Dal for retail disposal. The Bharat Dal is made available to the consumers at subsidized rates of Rs.60 per kg for 1 kg pack and Rs.55 per kg for 30 kg pack. Similarly, Moong Dal and Moong Sabut are being sold at subsidized prices of Rs.107 per kg and Rs.93 per kg respectively, to the consumers, under the Bharat Dal Brand. The Bharat Dals are distributed through NCCF, NAFED, Kendriya Bhandar and state government controlled cooperatives.

In order to make tomatoes available at affordable prices, NCCF started retail sale of tomatoes the consumers at Rs.60 per kg from 29 th July, 2024

To augment domestic availability of pulses, import of Tur and Urad under 'Free' category has been allowed till 31st March 2025 and the import duty on Masur has been reduced to zero till 31st March, 2025. Import of Yellow Peas under 'Free' category with zero import duty has been allowed from 8 th  December, 2023 till 31st October 2024. Further, the import of desi Chana at zero duty has been allowed from 4 th May, 2024 till 31 st March, 2025. All the above steps have been taken to augment supply of pulses.

Government maintains onion buffer under the PSF for calibrated release during the lean availability months and check the volatility in prices. The onion buffer size has been increased year after year from 1.00 LMT in 2020-21 to 2.50 LMT in 2022-23 and further to 5.00 LMT in 2024-25. The onions from the buffer are  released  through  retail  sales,  e-Nam  auction  and  bulk  sales  in  wholesale  markets  to  augment  the availability.  Further,  to  ensure  availability  of  onions  at  affordable  prices  to  domestic  consumers,  the Government imposed restrictions on onion exports from August, 2023 through measures such as imposition of export duty, minimum export price (MEP) and export prohibition. From 4 th May, 2024, onion export had been allowed with 40% duty and MEP of USD 550 per MT to maintain domestic availability of onion at affordable prices to consumers.

Price control measures taken by Government together with robust progress in sown area under kharif pulses this year (2024-25) have stabilised the market and the prices of Chana, Tur and Urad in major mandis have declined in past one month. The declining trend in mandi prices are now reflected in retail prices in recent  weeks  as  the  all-India  average  retail  prices  of  pulses  have  either  declined  or  stabilized  in  recent weeks.

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