When government runs a business

BL reports

The Centre has informally told the top corporates in the country's wheat business to refrain from purchasing the grain in major growing regions during the upcoming procurement season, according to sources in the wheat trade.

Large-scale purchases by the private sector last season at prices higher than the minimum support price were widely believed to have lifted the wheat market and reduced the Government's procurement through Food Corporation of India (FCI) to less than 10 million tonnes against the usual 14-16 mt.

New Delhi does not want the fiasco repeated this time, as the political price could be too onerous.