Rabi MSP for 2027-28: Safflower Gets the Biggest Rise

A Press Information Bureau backgrounder has set out how the Minimum Support Price (MSP) works and what the rates for the Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2027-28 look like. The higher MSPs for every mandated rabi crop were cleared by the government on 30 September 2026. An estimated Rs 90,962 crore is expected to reach farmers for 324 lakh metric tonnes of produce in that season.

The new rabi rates

The steepest rise in rupee terms has gone to safflower, up by Rs 675 a quintal, followed by rapeseed and mustard at Rs 413, lentil at Rs 390 and barley at Rs 136. Wheat and gram were raised as well, by smaller amounts. On returns over the cost of growing the crop, wheat leads with an estimated margin of 106 per cent, ahead of rapeseed and mustard at 96 per cent, lentil at 92 per cent and gram at 59 per cent. The higher rates are meant to assure growers a remunerative price and at the same time nudge them towards a wider basket of crops.

How an MSP is fixed

Support prices are declared every year for 22 mandated crops on the advice of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), which also weighs what state governments and central ministries say. The commission looks at the cost of growing a crop, demand and supply at home and abroad, domestic and world prices, price parity between crops, the terms of trade between farming and the rest of the economy, the effect of the price on the wider economy and a floor of a 50 per cent margin over the cost of production. That cost takes in hired labour, bullock and machine work, leased-in land, seed, fertiliser, manure, irrigation, fuel and power for pump sets, wear and tear on implements and buildings, interest on working capital and the imputed worth of family labour. MSPs for toria and de-husked coconut follow from the rates set for rapeseed and mustard, and for copra.

Who buys and how

Cereals are bought by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies. Pulses, oilseeds and copra are bought under the Price Support Scheme of PM-AASHA, the Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan launched in September 2018, with NAFED and NCCF as the main agencies. Tur, urad and masur are procured from pre-registered growers under the Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses till 2030-31. Registration and payment now run through NAFED's e-Samriddhi and NCCF's e-Samyukti portals, and biometric checks through Aadhaar-enabled point of sale machines or face authentication became compulsory under the scheme from the 2025-26 season.

The scale of procurement

Buying of the six rabi crops rose to 3,921 lakh metric tonnes in the years from 2014-15 to 2025-26, against 2,302 LMT in the decade from 2004-05 to 2013-14, while payments climbed to Rs 8.36 lakh crore from Rs 2.65 lakh crore. In RMS 2026-27 wheat procurement stood at 357.57 LMT valued at Rs 92,432.51 crore, reaching more than 34 lakh farmers.