{"id":39676,"date":"2024-02-18T02:13:19","date_gmt":"2024-02-17T20:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=39676"},"modified":"2025-04-24T18:20:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T12:50:31","slug":"the-fci","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/the-fci\/","title":{"rendered":"The Food Corporation of India (FCI): Govt Doubles Authorised Capital of FCI to Rs 21000 Crore"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in Today\u2019s Article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>What is the Food Corporation of India (FCI)?<\/li>\n<li>Steps Taken by the FCI to Enhance its Efficiency<\/li>\n<li>Significance of Increase in Authorised Capital of FCI<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in News?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has increased the authorised capital of state-run FCI from \u20b910,000 crore to \u20b921,000 crore to enhance the operational capabilities and fulfil its mandate effectively.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Food Corporation of India (FCI)?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a statutory body set up in 1965 (under the Food Corporation Act, 1964) under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India.<\/li>\n<li>It was set up against the backdrop of a major shortage of grains, especially wheat, in the country.<\/li>\n<li>Currently, FCI is mandated with three basic objectives:\n<ul>\n<li>To provide effective price support to farmers;<\/li>\n<li>To procure [at a minimum support price (MSP)] and supply grains to PDS for distributing subsidised staples to economically vulnerable sections of society; and<\/li>\n<li>Keep a strategic reserve to stabilise markets for basic foodgrains.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Steps Taken by the FCI to Enhance its Efficiency<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The FCI is undertaking a comprehensive initiative to create an integrated IT system, leveraging existing internal and external systems.<\/li>\n<li>Through the e-office implementation, FCI is making efforts towards a paperless office culture.<\/li>\n<li>These initiatives of integrated IT solutions serving as the core operational software for FCI, should provide a single source of information and streamline functions with a common digital backbone.<\/li>\n<li>The FCI has also constructed cement roads, and invested in roof maintenance, illumination, and weighbridge upgradation.<\/li>\n<li>Besides, it has also purchased lab equipment and developed a software platform for quality checking.<\/li>\n<li>These measures are essential not only for reducing post-harvest losses but also for ensuring efficient distribution of food grains to consumers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Significance of Increase in Authorised Capital of FCI<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Centre provides equity to the FCI for working capital requirements and the creation of capital assets.<\/li>\n<li>The increase in authorised capital is a significant step towards enhancing the operational capabilities of FCI in fulfilling its mandate effectively.<\/li>\n<li>FCI resorts to cash credit, short-term loan, ways and means etc. to match the gap in the fund requirement.\n<ul>\n<li>The increase in the authorised capital will reduce the interest burden, decrease the economic cost and ultimately affect the government subsidy positively.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>With this infusion of capital, the FCI should also embark upon modernising its storage facilities, improving transportation networks, and adopting advanced technologies.<\/li>\n<li>The government&#8217;s dual commitment to MSP-based procurement and investment in FCI&#8217;s operational capabilities signifies a collaborative effort towards &#8211;\n<ul>\n<li>Empowering farmers,<\/li>\n<li>Fortifying the agricultural sector, and<\/li>\n<li>Ensuring food security for the nation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/business\/Economy\/govt-raises-authorised-capital-of-fci-from-rs-10000-cr-to-rs-21000-cr\/article67858452.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Govt raises authorised capital of FCI from Rs 10,000 cr to Rs 21,000 cr<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Government of India has increased the authorised capital of state-run FCI from \u20b910,000 crore to \u20b921,000 crore to enhance the operational capabilities<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":39677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-39676","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}