NEW DELHI: Food Corporation of India (FCI) needs Rs 85,359 crore to pay for procurement of foodgrains and clear dues, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.
Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister K V Thomas said during Question Hour that against the allocation of Rs 47,239.80 crore for 2011-12, actual subsidy requirement for FCI this fiscal would be about Rs 67,742 crore.
"Due to shortfall in allocation for the current year, arrears of past years and additional requirement due to declaration of bonus on procurement of wheat, increase in MSP of paddy and additional allocations of foodgrains, the total requirement of subsidy for FCI is now estimated at Rs 85,359 crore," he said.
"The mater has been taken up with Ministry of Finance for allotment of additional subsidy for FCI," he said. "It is a fact that there is a financial crunch but we are managing the situation," he said.
Thomas said after the passage Food Security Bill, food subsidy will rise to Rs 100,000 crore.
In July-September quarter, FCI needed about Rs 11,635 crore for payments to be made for procurement of foodgrains. Against this, "initially we had only Rs 4,000 crore (and) later Finance Ministry released Rs 7,635 crore and all the dues have been paid," he said.
As procurement is higher this year because of high food production, FCI requires Rs 85,359 crore. To meet this, cash-credit limit with banks is being enhanced to Rs 50,000 crore from current Rs 35,000 crore. Besides, the Finance Ministry is being requested to earmark more funds in the coming Budget.
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