‘Opposition’s Fake Narratives Busted’: MSP for Crops Has Doubled in Past Decade, Says Modi Government

Busting the Opposition’s “propaganda”, the Central government on Wednesday said that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for rabi crops has almost doubled over the last 10 years.

The government declared an increased MSP of Rs 2,425 per quintal for wheat, which stood at Rs 1,400 per quintal in 2014-15, and translates to an increase of over 73 per cent over the past decade.

For lentil crop, the MSP is Rs 6,700, 2.3 times the number in 2014-15.

The rise has been big also for grapeseed and mustard, whose MSP has been hiked to Rs 5,950, and safflower whose MSP now stands at Rs 5,950 – almost double of where it stood at in 2014-15. Other rabi crops such as gram and barley have seen an almost 1.8 times rise in the MSP over the past decade.

The Union Budget of 2018-19 had made the big announcement of fixing the MSP at a level of at least 1.5 times of the All-India weighted average Cost of Production. There has been a steady increase in MSP of both rabi and kharif crops in the Narendra Modi regime.

“People try to run a fake narrative on MSP…these figures should be presented before such people. This is a very big contribution to farmers’ income and the real welfare of farmers,” Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah posted on X: “The Union Cabinet, led by Modi Ji, dedicated to farmer welfare, today approved the increase in MSP of Rabi crops for the 2025-26 season. The MSP of rapeseed and mustard has been increased by the biggest ₹ 300 per quintal, while the MSP of lentil has also been increased historically by ₹ 275 per quintal. These increased MSPs will increase the income of farmers and our farmers will become even more prosperous. I thank Modi Ji for taking care of every concern of the farmers.”

The government also said that the value of the crop purchased on MSP between 2004 and 2014 under UPA rule was Rs 7.41 lakh crore, while under the decade of Modi rule, the procurement value has risen to Rs 20.64 lakh crore.

Vaishnaw said farmers in Haryana had told the media that the MSP they had got on crops was satisfying and had backed Modi’s party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The government had also increased the MSP for kharif crops in June this year, taking the MSP of paddy to Rs 2,300 per quintal and Rs 3,371 for jowar. The MSP for these crops was Rs 1,360 and Rs 1,530, respectively, in 2014-15, again a rise of almost double.

Other popular kharif crops such as bajra and maize have seen their MSP rise to Rs 2,625 per quintal and Rs 2,225, respectively, nearly twice the amount a decade ago. The ragi crop has seen its MSP treble – from Rs 1,500 in 2014-15 to Rs 4,290 now.

The government also says that it is more than adequately covering the cost of production for various crops, with the margin over the cost of production for a farmer standing at 105% for wheat and over 50% for paddy – the two main staple crops in the country.