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 The Food Corporation of India (FCI) offered 22 lakh metric tonnes of wheat out of its 25 lakh metric tonnes stock for sale through open market in the first e-auction which took place on Wednesday.

Official sources said that more than 1,100 bidders came forward for participation in the e-auction.

A quantity of 8.88 lakh metric tonnes of wheat was sold on the first day of the auction in 22 states.

In Rajasthan, bidding would be conducted today, while further sale of wheat through e-auction will continue throughout the country on every Wednesday till the second week of March.

The Centre has reserved 3 lakh metric tonnes wheat to cooperatives and federations like Kendriya Bhandar, NCCF and NAFED for sale without e-auction at the concessional rate of Rs 2,350 per quintal for converting wheat to atta.

This would then be offered to public at a MRP of Rs 29.50 per kg.

NCCF has been allowed to lift 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat stock under the above scheme across seven states.

Allotment of 1 lakh metric tonnes of wheat is made to NAFED andA a similar quantity is given to Kendriya Bhandar under this scheme to bring down the price of atta across the country.

In order to rein in rising prices of wheat, government had last month announced that it would offload 30 lakh metric tonnes of the essential commodity in the open market within two months through multiple channels, which would facilitate faster delivery to consumers.