India’s inaugural rice silos via PPP set for November launch

India has possesses wheat silos, however, this is the first project involving rice silos to be put into service. Silos are regarded as sub-mandi yards, which lowers transportation expenses and enables farmers to bring in their produce for purchase.

The 3 MT silos would be the first in India to store rice on a private-public partnership (PPP) model with the Food Corporation of India (FCI). Although the building of two MT of silos has already been finished and is in operation, the construction of silos with an MT capacity is anticipated to be finished shortly.

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New Delhi, October 23: India’s first rice storage silos, established through a public-private partnership (PPP) with the Food Corporation of India (FCI), are scheduled to begin operations in November. Two rice silos, boasting a combined capacity of 25,000 tonnes, have been constructed in Buxar and Kaimur, Bihar, by the National Commodity Management Services Ltd (NCML) following the design-build-finance-operate-transfer model (DBFOT).

The initiative aims at implementing steel silos to mitigate cereal wastage during the storage process. Government officials have highlighted that the technology for rice storage in these silos is still under development, as these facilities require the grain to be stored at a temperature of 15 degrees Celsius.

As per media reports, the construction of 2 MT of silos is has been completed and is being used, while a MT capacity silos are expected to be completed and operational by November. Earlier in 2023, a 3.4 MT of silos construction was sanctioned and the construction is expected to commence soon.

The collaboration also includes a Rs 9,000-crore project to build wheat silos with 9.4 MT of capacity during the next 3-4 years under the PPP mode. These silos will be spread over 196 locations across Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Jammu, Uttarakhand and Kerala.