Transformation of India’s food system by unlocking the Public Distribution System’s potential

• Dec 22, 2023
• 1 min

MSC has been working with DFPD to implement, scale up, and stabilize the national-level portability of fair price shops, strengthen the system and supply chain, and create evidence to scale up initiatives. DFPD has digitized the Targeted Public Distribution System and collaborated with MSC on several research projects.

The Government of India enacted the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013 to ensure people could access adequate quantities of quality food at affordable prices. Since 2014, MSC has collaborated with the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) on research projects to examine the Public Distribution System’s (PDS) nutritional effectiveness, the effect of cash transfers in union areas, the PDS supply chain, and the expansion of the Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IMPDS)—One Nation One Ration Card.

MSC formulated a technical support unit (TSU) at DFPD in 2020 to continue providing technical support to the department’s initiatives. MSC has been working with the DFPD to implement, scale up, and stabilize the national-level portability of fair price shops. MSC also created a robust system to analyze data and a near real-time monitoring system to help strengthen the system.

MSC continues to create evidence to scale up initiatives, use PDS’s potential to improve nutritional outcomes and implement ongoing direct benefit transfer (cash) pilots in union territories alongside choice-based pilots in states.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation commissioned the project.