The finance ministry has agreed to allocate an additional Rs 7,000 crore to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for meeting its grain management expenses in the current fiscal year. This will take the total budgeted expenditure on food subsidy in the year to Rs 2.1 lakh crore, according to official sources.

The additional outlay is against FCI’s demand for Rs 20,000 crore to meet its assorted expenses.

The sources added that an understanding has also been reached between the finance ministry and the department of food and public distribution to keep food subsidy outlay for next financial year (2026-27) around Rs 2.17 lakh crore. The year-on-year increase in allocation is expected to help the FCI to service the loans it might have to take now, to bridge the shortfall in the current

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