NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The government has raised the price at which it will buy the new season common rice from local farmers by 3.8 percent to 1,360 rupees ($22.78) per 100 kilograms, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told a news conference after a cabinet meeting.
The government has also raised the price of the superior variety of rice to 1,400 rupees per 100 kg, up from 1,345 rupees from the previous year, Prasad said.
India buys rice from local farmers to protect growers from any distress sale and to build stocks for its welfare programmes.
($1 = 59.70 rupees)
(Reporting by Ratnajyoti Dutta; editing by Mayank Bhardwaj)
