Centre increases MSP for wheat, five other rabi crops

Representational file image.
| Photo Credit: SANDEEP SAXENA

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday increased the Minimum Support Price for rabi crops for the next marketing season of 2025-26 with the MSP for wheat going up by ₹150 per quintal.

The new MSP for a quintal of wheat is ₹2,425 in comparison to ₹2,275 per quintal, which was in place for the 2024-25 rabi season.

The Centre said the MSP for six rabi crops are higher by 50% to 105% than the production cost. Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the steady increase in the MSP of wheat, barley, gram, lentil, rapeseed, mustard and safflower shows the commitment of the Narendra Modi government towards farmers’ welfare. “Ensuring remunerative prices for farmers is our priority,” Mr. Chouhan said.

The highest increase in MSP is for rapeseed and mustard at ₹300 per quintal with the new MSP at ₹5,950. For lentil (masur), the MSP is ₹6,700, an increase of ₹275 per quintal. The MSP of gram stands at ₹5,650, safflower ₹5,940 and barley ₹1,980, with an increase of ₹210, ₹140 and ₹130 per quintal respectively, the Centre said in a release after the CCEA meeting.

This comes in line with the Union Budget 2018-19 announcement of fixing the MSP at a level of at least 1.5 times of the all-India weighted average cost of production. “The expected margin over all-India weighted average cost of production is 105% for wheat, followed by 98% for rapeseed and mustard; 89% for lentil; 60% for gram; 60% for barley; and 50% for safflower. This increased MSP of rabi crops will ensure remunerative prices to the farmers and incentivise crop diversification,“ the government release added.