NEW DELHI/ CHANDIGARH/SHIMLA: The Centre on Wednesday raised the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for 14 kharif crops for the 2026-27 marketing season, giving a major boost to farmers ahead of the sowing season.
The decision was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The sharpest hike came for sunflower seed, whose MSP was increased by ₹622 per quintal, followed by cotton with a ₹557 hike, nigerseed ₹515 and sesamum ₹500 per quintal.
Under the revised MSP rates, common paddy will now fetch ₹2,441 per quintal, up by ₹72 from last year, while Grade-A paddy has been fixed at ₹2,461 per quintal. Bajra MSP has been raised to ₹2,900 per quintal, maize to ₹2,410 and ragi to ₹5,205 per quintal.
Among pulses, tur/arhar will now get ₹8,450 per quintal, moong ₹8,780 and urad ₹8,200 per quintal. In the oilseed category, soybean MSP has been fixed at ₹5,708, groundnut at ₹7,517 and sunflower seed at ₹8,343 per quintal.
Cotton farmers also received a substantial increase. MSP for medium staple cotton has been fixed at ₹8,267 per quintal, while long staple cotton will now fetch ₹8,667 per quintal.
The government said the hike follows its policy of fixing MSP at least 1.5 times the all-India weighted average cost of production, announced in the Union Budget 2018-19.
The estimated profit margin over production cost is highest in moong at 61 per cent, followed by bajra and maize at 56 per cent each and tur/arhar at 54 per cent.
The Centre said it continues to encourage cultivation of pulses, oilseeds and nutri-cereals or “Shree Anna” by offering comparatively higher MSPs for these crops.
Highlighting procurement figures, the government said paddy procurement touched 8,418 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) between 2014-15 and 2025-26, compared to 4,590 LMT during 2004-05 to 2013-14.
It also claimed that MSP payments to paddy growers during the last 11 years stood at ₹16.08 lakh crore, while MSP payments for all 14 kharif crops reached ₹18.99 lakh crore during the same period, sharply higher than the previous decade.
