India to sell 580,000 tonnes of wheat from government's stockpiles 

India's federal government has approved selling 580,000 tonnes of wheat from federal stockpiles to bulk consumers to boost supplies and tame prices.

The government will authorise state-run Food Corp. of India to sell grain to small processors but the amount was not specified.

Late last year, the federal government approved the sale of three million tonnes of wheat to state governments and bulk consumers under its Open Market Sales Scheme through March 31.

The government also decided to allow the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed), and National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India to sell 70,084 tonnes of wheat to retail consumers.

The Wholesale Price Index was down 0.1% from a week earlier at 285.6, while the on-year inflation rate was 16.81%, easing from 17.28% in the week to Jan 2