Govt has no plan to hike margins for ration shop dealers: Pralhad Joshi

Food Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday said the Centre has no immediate proposal to increase the margins for fair price shops (FPS) dealers under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).

Responding to a written query to the Lok Sabha, Joshi said that while the government has set specific margin rates, state governments retain the flexibility to determine actual rates that can exceed the centrally prescribed norms.

As per the revised April 2022 norms under the Food Security (Assistance to State Governments) Rules, 2015, Rs 90 per quintal is the dealer margin, with an additional margin of Rs 21 per quintal for general category states. For the special category, the dealers' margin is kept at Rs 180 per quintal, with an additional margin of Rs 26 per quintal.

"At present, no proposal for further enhancement of margin is under consideration by the government," Joshi said.

The Targeted Public Distribution System (TPTDS) under the National Food Security Act is operated under the joint responsibility of the central and state governments.

Joshi underscored that the operational responsibilities, including licensing, supervision and monitoring of fair price shops, rest entirely with state and union territory governments.

"The Central Government has no role to play in determining the actual rate of fair price shop dealers' margin/commission/honorarium etc and making payment to fair price shops," he said.

The central government only provides assistance to states and union territories to meet the expenditure towards intra-state movement and handling of foodgrains and FPS dealers' margin under the NFSA.

The TPDS (Control) Order, 2015 provides states with two key provisions. One is the ability to fix and periodically review fair price shop owners' margins to ensure operational viability and the other is permission to allow sale of non-TPDS commodities to improve FPS economic sustainability.