India’s rice procurement nears 50 million tonnes, up 6% year on year
India has pushed rice procurement for official reserves close to 50 million tonnes, increasing the pressure to manage stock disposal and storage.
India’s rice procurement for official reserves rose to nearly 50 million tonnes during October 2025 to April 2026. The Hindu BusinessLine reported that the total includes 1.21 million tonnes from the winter crop, with more than 1.4 million tonnes bought in April alone. The result puts procurement 6 percent above the same period a year earlier and raises the question of how the government will continue to handle such large stocks.
Official data show rice procurement reached 49.86 million tonnes by April 30, compared with 47.02 million tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous season. For the full 2025-2026 season running from October to September, the government has set a procurement target of 56.66 million tonnes, including 48.7 million tonnes from the kharif crop and 7.96 million tonnes from the rabi crop. Total procurement in 2024-2025 from both crop cycles stood at 54.52 million tonnes.
Heavy procurement has already been matched by aggressive stock disposal. India sold a record 10.8 million tonnes of rice from official reserves in 2025-2026, including 5.2 million tonnes to distilleries for ethanol production. In 2024-2025, the total sold from stocks was 4.53 million tonnes. That gap shows how important the balance between buying, storing, and releasing grain has become for the market.
The kharif procurement campaign has ended in most states. Assam remains open until June 30 and Tripura until May 31, while Odisha closed on April 7 and West Bengal on April 30. At the same time, the government expects substantial inflows from the rabi season. The April-September target includes as much as 3.5 million tonnes from Telangana, 1.4 million tonnes from Tamil Nadu, 1.1 million tonnes from Odisha, and 1 million tonnes from Andhra Pradesh.
Early rabi data already show growth. Procurement from the rabi crop rose to 1.21 million tonnes from 1.07 million tonnes a year earlier. Andhra Pradesh led with 5.77 lakh tonnes, followed by Tamil Nadu with 5.15 lakh tonnes. Telangana contributed more than 92,000 tonnes and Kerala nearly 26,000 tonnes.
India’s rice procurement system remains tightly tied to regional harvest calendars. The rice marketing season starts in October, but buying windows vary by state depending on local cropping patterns. Because paddy arrived earlier this year, the central government allowed procurement in Punjab and Haryana to start from mid-September and in Tamil Nadu from September 1. That means the 2025-2026 season has not only delivered large state buying volumes, but also brought earlier administrative movement into the procurement cycle.