Bharat Brand to expand with new launches: Chana Whole and Bharat Masur Dal

Phase 2 of the Bharat Brand initiative will expand its offerings by including Chana Whole and Bharat Masur Dal. The launch, led by Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, will initially target four states – Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra – with the National Cooperative Consumer Federation of India (NCCF) planning its distribution to national level within a period of ten days.

The quantities designated for Whole Chana are 1 lakh metric tonnes (MT) each for NCCF, NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) and Kendriya Bhandar. For Moong Dal, the allocation is 75,000 MT each for NCCF and NAFED, while Masur pulses will receive 55,262 MT for NCCF and 12,500 MT for NAFED. Discussions are underway with e-commerce platforms and retail outlets to further improve accessibility to Bharat brand products.

Bharat Brand is a government initiative aimed at providing essential goods, including foodgrains, to the middle class at subsidized prices. Currently, it includes Bharat Atta, Bharat Rice and Bharat Dal, all sold at discounted prices through government-backed cooperatives to keep retail prices in check. In Phase 1, NCCF successfully distributed 2.85 lakh MT of Chana Dal, 818 MT of Moong Dal, 4.33 lakh MT of rice and 3.92 lakh MT of wheat.

NCCF distributes these products through its network of 28 branches across India, along with mobile vans, retail outlets and farmer producer organizations (FPOs). Below is a summary of the products sold under the Bharat brand, including their respective prices:

Raw material price ($) per unit

Bharat Atta: Rs 300 for 10 kg

Bharat Rice: 340 per 10 kg

Chana Dal: 70 per kg

Whole Chana: 58 per kg

Moong Dal: 107 per kg

Whole Bharat Moong: 93 per kg

Bharat Masur Dal: 80 per kg