The scheme is slated to be launched on a pilot basis in 13 wheat-producing states in the north and six paddy-producing states including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka by April 2004.
Suparas Bhandari, chairman and managing director of AIC, said every year the Union government spends about Rs 13,000 crore on procuring and maintaining buffer stocks of food grains. It spends another Rs 15,000 crore on purchasing grain stocks from farmers at market support prices (MSP).
