Middle class pockets take hit as rice prices surge in Telangana

"The middle and upper middle class households will be the most affected and the prices might not go down soon because the government has asked farmers to cut down on paddy cultivation," said T Sagar, chief secretary of Telangana Rythu Sangam.

Hyderabad: Rice prices have been on the rise for a past few months and are not expected to go down soon, causing a strain on the pockets of daily consumers, especially the middle class.

According to a Times of India report, wholesale prices of Sona rice variety saw a 65.4 per cent increase from last year, going from Rs 2,068 per quintal in October 2025 to Rs 3,419 in October 2026.

At the same time, rice inflation in the state climbed from 4 per cent in April to 13 per cent in September.

The retail price had increased to Rs 85 to 90 per kilogram at the start of Navratri, and still sits around the same range, according to prices reflected on Blinkit and Instamart.

The same rice would be around Rs 50-60 without the surge.

“The middle- and upper middle-class households will be the most affected and the prices might not go down soon because the government has asked farmers to cut down on paddy cultivation in view of El Nino and drought,” T Sagar, chief secretary of Telangana Rythu Sangam, told Siasat.com.

Govt pushing farmers towards less water intensive crops

Recently, while in a meeting discussing El Nino, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy likened the situation to the COVID-19 pandemic and asked famers to switch to less water intensive crops.

According to a report in The Hindu, the Horticulture Department is pushing Telangana farmers to alternative crops as the state recorded rainfall deficit of 23 per cent this monsoon.

The extent of land used for cultivation of vegetables, fruits, spices flowers and other horticulture crops increased by 1.28 lakh acre from last year. The land for horticulture crops stood at 2.25 lakh acre in Kharif 2025-26 and increased to 3.54 lakh acre this season.

Agriculture Department Secretary K Surendra Mohan said that El Nino contingency plans were prepared in April and awareness about alternative crops was spread during the Praja Palana Pragitiki Pranalika programme.

Seeds to cultivate pulses, vegetables and others were also provided at subsidised prices.

However, farmers seem reluctant to the transition as the supply chain to sell these crops is not as well defined as the paddy supply chain.

Telangana prepares emergency stock for welfare scheme

Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy on October 19 directed officials to create a food security buffer to protect the 3.42 crore Public Distribution System (PDS) users against the effects of drought, crop losses and rising prices.

He asked officials to plan procurement and stock management in advance to ensure uninterrupted supplies even if deficient rainfall affects the agricultural seasons.

The government is preparing to create a foodgrain security buffer covering upto 14 months.

Including the Civil Supplies’ stock on October 16 and the stock expected through pending custom milled rice (CMR) deliveries, the state currently has the stock to meet welfare requirements upto 11.7 months, or September 2027.

The state has 9.64 lakh metric tonne of rice in the buffer godown and expects another 18.39 lakh metric tonne from CMR deliveries.

The state government is also examining the possibility of distributing selected essential commodities like wheat flour through PDS to cushion households.