The new face of FCI as envisioned by Shanta Kumar committee:

♤ The FCI will become an agency for innovations in Food Management System

♤ Its primary focus would be to create competition in every segment of foodgrain supply chain-from procurement to stocking to movement and finally distribution in TPDS.

♤ It will reduce the overall costs of the system substantially, plug leakages, and will serve larger number of farmers and consumers.

♤ It will make itself much leaner and nimble (with scaled down/abolished zonal offices)

♤ It will focus on eastern states for procurement

♤ It will upgrade the entire grain supply chain towards bulk handling and end to end computerization by bringing in investments, and technical and managerial expertise from the private sector.

♤ It will be more business oriented with a pro-active liquidation policy to liquidate stocks in OMSS/export markets, whenever actual buffer stocks exceed the norms.

This would be challenging, but HLC hopes that FCI can rise to this challenge and once again play its commendable role as it did during late 1960s and early 1970s.