India’s bumper harvests since 2007 and continuing government purchases aimed at meeting emergencies and providing subsidized food to poor through welfare programmes, have led to a massive increase of level of stocks of rice and wheat. As of November 1st, India is officially estimated to have 30.1 million tonnes of wheat in government warehouses, more than double the official target, while its milled rice inventory is estimated to stand at 13.7 million tonnes, against a target of 7.2 million. The stocks positions have helped offset the concerns over the 2014 Kharif (main) season rice production, following delayed start of the monsoon and below-average rains during the cropping season as well as curb food inflation that plummeted to a near three-year low of 3.52 percent in September.