Tamil Nadu ration rice will be supplied under tighter broken-grain limits from 2027, with mills expected to begin producing an improved variety from February and distribution of only the new specification scheduled to expand by the end of that year, according to a report by Dinamalar citing a Central Food Department official.
The improved rice, referred to as “improved rice” in the report, is intended to contain substantially less broken grain than the rice currently permitted for distribution through ration shops. The permitted level of broken rice is expected to fall from 16% to 5% for parboiled rice and from 25% to 10% for raw rice.
Tamil Nadu’s ration-card holders receive rice free of cost through the state’s public distribution system. Beneficiaries can currently choose the required proportion of raw and parboiled rice from their monthly allocation. The rice is procured through the Food Corporation of India’s central pool and supplied to the state.
The procurement and processing chain involves multiple public and private institutions. Paddy is procured from farmers in Tamil Nadu on behalf of the Food Corporation of India by the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation. It is then converted into raw or parboiled rice at mills operated by the corporation and at private mills before being counted against the quantity to be supplied to Tamil Nadu from the central pool.
The state requires about 3.30 lakh tonnes of rice every month for distribution through ration shops. The current specifications allow broken rice levels of up to 16% in parboiled rice and 25% in raw rice. The revised limits will require mills to produce rice with a lower proportion of broken grains, changing the processing and quality-control requirements across the supply chain.
According to the report, the improved rice is already being distributed on a trial basis in Andhra Pradesh and some other states. In Tamil Nadu, milling under the revised specification is expected to start in February 2027. The Centre is reported to have earmarked 7.40 lakh tonnes for supply to Tamil Nadu under the new arrangement.
The shift places the state’s ration system at the intersection of food procurement, milling capacity and public distribution. Tamil Nadu’s Civil Supplies Corporation and the mills working in its network will have to process the paddy according to the revised limits before the rice can be supplied through the state’s ration shops.
The Central Food Department official cited by Dinamalar said the Centre had directed all states to distribute only rice meeting the improved quality specification. The official said improved rice would be milled in Tamil Nadu from February 2027 and that only the new variety would be supplied by the end of the following year.
