The Food Corporation of India (FCI) on Wednesday (1 February) sold 8.88 lakh metric tonne (LMT) wheat on the first day of e-auction in 22 states.

Over 1,100 bidders participated in the first e-auction of the wheat held by the FCI, the Food Ministry said in a release on Thursday (2 February).

The FCI offered 22 LMT out of 25 LMT wheat stock earmarked for e-auction from the central pool stock through various routes under the open market sale scheme in the first e-auction

In Rajasthan, bidding would be conducted today, while further sale of wheat through e-auction will continue throughout the country on every Wednesday till the second week of March.

The Centre has reserved 3 LMT wheat to govt PSUs, cooperatives and federations like Kendriya Bhandar, NCCF and NAFED for sale without e-auction at the concessional rate of Rs 2,350/quintal for converting wheat to Atta and offer it to public at an maximum retail price of Rs 29.50 per Kg.

NCCF has been allowed to lift 50,000 MT of wheat stock under the above scheme across seven states.

Allotment of 1 LMT wheat each is made to NAFED and Kendriya Bhandar under this scheme to bring down the price of atta across the country.

In order to control the rising price of wheat and atta in the country, Home Minister Amit Shah led Group of Ministers had last month recommended offloading of 30 lakh metric tonnes of wheat in the open market within two months through multiple channels.