The government’s food subsidy budget in FY26 is set to rise by 10-15% over the budget estimates (BE) of Rs 2.03 lakh crore with rising grain stocks inflating economic costs of grains distributed free of cost to 810 million people under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.

The new procurement season (2025-26) for paddy purchase began earlier this month.

Sources told FE the Food Corporation of India (FCI) , through which over 70% subsidies are routed, has revised upward the projected expenditure from Rs 1.4 lakh crore (budget estimate) to Rs 1.7 lakh crore for 2025-26.

For FY26, the corporation has so far received Rs 75,921 crore, or 53% of its annual food subsidy allocation as per the BE from the finance ministry. In addition, the ministry has provided Rs 50,000 crore as wage a

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