India faces questions at WTO on 7mn tonne gap in rice stock

New Delhi: India’s notification to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on breaching the prescribed subsidy limit for its public stockholding programme for rice has raised questions as some countries have sought an explanation over a difference of seven million tonnes between the available and actual stocks in 2020-21.

- Sidhartha

The government has told the agency that the gap of around $2.6 billion (about Rs 20,000 crore) was on account of damages due to multiple factors, including pollution and moisture. It has also dismissed suggestions that rice procured by government agencies for public distribution has been diverted or routed for exports.

But the noise in Geneva, where WTO is located, has prompted the government to take a hard look at the numbers with an exercise already initiated by the commerce department in consultation with the food ministry and the Food Corporation of India (FCI), which is responsible for maintaining public stocks of grains for meeting the requirements under the vast public distribution scheme.