The program provided 5 kg (11 lb) of food grains per month to poor families in addition to other highly subsidized food grains. It started in April 2020 and cost the government about $47 billion.
The government was spending 2 trillion rupees ($24.16 billion) under the National Food Security Act to provide highly subsidized food grains to about 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population.
Goyal said that now the government will make highly subsidized food grains free for the next 12 months. It provides 35 kg of grain to families every month at a cost of 1 rupee ($0.0121) to 3 Indian rupees ($0.0362). Lakhs of poor families are benefited while some priority groups get 5 kg of food grains per person at the same price.