India runs perhaps the largest Public Distribution System (PDS) in the world, which provides free grains (rice and/or wheat) to almost 813.5 million people. But the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) of 2022-23 shows that almost 28 percent of the grains supplied by Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state governments never reaches the intended beneficiaries. This amount to a financial loss of about Rs. 69,108 crores (equivalent to roughly 20 million metric tons (MMT) of rice and wheat). Such a leaky PDS needs urgent reforms for better outcomes. The resources thus saved can be ploughed back to agriculture and rural areas to achieve not just food security but also nutritional security.
