Study on Profitability of Wheat in Major Wheat Producing States of India

The present study was undertaken with the objective to compare the minimum support price (MSP) with total Cost (C2) of wheat and also actual yield with break-even yield in major wheat producing states of India. The secondary data were collected from Directorate of Economics and Statistics for the period 2000-01 to 2016-17. The area of study comprises those states which covered >80 per cent of wheat production in India (i.e., Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana). The result of study showed that the difference between MSP and cost C2 per quintal was found to be positive but fluctuating over the study period (except in the year 2002-03 and 2005-06 in Madhya Pradesh and 2005-06 and 2014-15 in Uttar Pradesh). It can be concluded that wheat growers of the states benefitted more from MSP by cultivation of wheat. The margin of safety was also fluctuating over the period of time in all the five wheat-producing states but gap continuously widening in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan revealed that the profitability from wheat was increasing in these states.