CHENNAI: A ration card of a family comprising three to four members receives an average monthly subsidy of Rs 300 from the Tamil Nadu government through the Public Distribution System (PDS). This amount includes a subsidy of Rs 120-Rs 200 for cooking oil and Rs 80 for tur dal, according to the bills being issued at fair price shops from June 2025 after the integration of Point of Sale (PoS) machines. This is a significant jump from the initial subsidy of Rs 20 each given for oil and dal when the scheme was introduced in 2007.
The initiative to provide detailed bills is a notable step towards transparency, with the government publicly revealing both the actual cost and subsidy provided for each commodity distributed through PDS for the first time. The average cost per kg is Rs 8.30 for rice, Rs 37.81 for sugar, and Rs 27.74 for wheat. While rice and wheat are supplied for free, sugar is supplied at Rs 25 per kg.
According to official records, TN has 2.15 crore ration cards. Of these, 95-96% of cardholders purchase oil and dal each month, while 90% buy sugar and 80-85% purchase rice regularly. A four-member family with a Non Priority Household (NPHH) card at Ambattur that purchased 10kg of rice, 3kg of wheat, 2kg of sugar, 1 litre of oil, and 1kg of tur dal received a total monthly subsidy of Rs 390, revealed their bill. Similarly, a three-member household holding an NPHH card at Villivakkam received a subsidy of Rs 300 per month for purchasing oil, dal, sugar and rice.
Each AAY cardholder gets Rs 500 subsidy per month
TNIE has cross-verified these bills with both the PDS staff and the state food department.
“These bills not only show the subsidy granted by the government to help manage inflation but also the actual cost of each PDS commodity. The actual cost includes both procurement and transportation costs of the product. This brings greater transparency into the system,” said an official from the food department.
Through the PDS, about 20,000 metric tonnes of tur dal and 20,000 kilolitres of cooking oil enter the commodity market monthly at subsidised prices, helping to keep inflation in check, added the official.
Fair price shops sell tur dal at Rs 30 per kg and cooking oil at Rs 25 per litre, whereas in the open market, tur dal costs between Rs 130 and Rs 150 per kg, and palmolein oil is priced at Rs 150 to Rs 155 per litre.
“Even when the price of tur dal soared to Rs 180 to Rs 200 per kg in the open market last year, the government did not raise the selling price at ration shops,” the official explained.
The state government has earmarked Rs 4,800 crore annually for supplying tur dal and palmolein oil alone, out of the total budget of Rs 13,000 crore for the Food department for 2025-26.
According to a press release issued by the Cooperation department last week, 28,736 out of 35,001 fair ration shops have completed the integration of weighing scales and PoS machines, helping to prevent any malpractice during the distribution of commodities. The PoS machines generate a bill for every transaction once it is completed.
The allocation of rice and wheat for 1.01 crore priority household (PHH) ration cards under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) is funded by the union government.
However, the supply of other commodities, including tur dal, sugar, cooking oil, and rice/wheat for NPHH cards, is funded by the state government.
The subsidy for each of TN’s 18 lakh Antyodaya Anna Yojana cardholders receiving 35 kg of rice under the NFSA is estimated to reach around Rs 500 per month, which includes Rs 280 provided by the centre. Following the centre’s insistence, bills for items under the NFSA were issued in just a few locations about a year ago.