The National Food Security Act, 2013 made subsidised foodgrain a legal entitlement for up to 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population — about 81.35 crore people. But delivery ran through a public distribution system long troubled by leakage, ghost cards and a ration card that worked only in the district that issued it — leaving migrant workers, the people who needed it most, outside the net.
Food Security & Free Ration
Food Security & Free Ration
India runs one of the world's largest food-security programmes. The National Food Security Act covers about 80.6 crore people, and during the pandemic the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana added free foodgrain on top of the subsidised entitlement — sustained for 28 months; from January 2023 the entitlement itself was made free, and in January 2024 that was extended for five years to December 2028. One Nation One Ration Card made the entitlement portable, so a migrant worker can draw rations at any fair-price shop in the country. The counter shows beneficiaries covered.
80.6 cr
People covered
Dec 2028
Free ration extended to
One Nation
One Ration Card portability
People covered under NFSA (Feb 2026)
| Year | Beneficiaries covered |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 80.0 crore |
| 2018 | 80.7 crore |
| 2020 | 80.6 crore |
| 2021 | 80.0 crore |
| 2022 | 80.0 crore |
| 2023 | 80.1 crore |
| 2024 | 80.7 crore |
| 2025 | 79.8 crore |
| 2026 | 80.6 crore |
| Dashed bars are years the source does not publish; the shape between published years is drawn, not measured. | |
2016
0.0crore
Beneficiaries covered
20162026
Since 2016
Added
+0.6 crore
2016
80.0 crore
2026
80.6 crore
Dashed bars are years the source does not publish; the shape between published years is drawn, not measured.
Why it matters During COVID the scheme kept foodgrain flowing to about 80 crore people through 28 months of free rations. Portability ended the migrant's choice between work in one state and rations in another.
- About 80.6 crore people covered under the National Food Security Act.
- PMGKAY provided free foodgrain for 28 months through the pandemic, with a planned outlay of about ₹3.91 lakh crore.
- Extended free of cost for five years from January 2024 to December 2028.
- One Nation One Ration Card makes entitlements portable across all states and UTs.
- 99.8% of fair-price shops (5.50 lakh of 5.51 lakh) use ePoS devices.
History
Notable milestone
When the pandemic hit, the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana added free foodgrain on top of the existing subsidised entitlement for about 80 crore people — and sustained it for 28 months, with a planned outlay of about ₹3.91 lakh crore. From January 2023 the regular entitlement itself was made free, and in January 2024 that was extended for five years to December 2028.
How it works
One Nation One Ration Card made the entitlement portable. 99.8% of fair-price shops are now ePoS-enabled with Aadhaar-based authentication, so a beneficiary can draw their ration at any shop in any state. A migrant worker from Bihar in a Chennai construction camp collects the same entitlement there. About 4.74 crore ineligible, duplicate or inactive ration cards were weeded out between 2013 and 2021.
Outlook
Alongside it, PM POSHAN provides a hot cooked mid-day meal to about 11.8 crore schoolchildren (2021), and fortified rice is now distributed across the entire PDS network to address anaemia and micronutrient deficiency.
By the numbers
80.56 crore people covered under NFSA (February 2026). 28 months of free foodgrain under PMGKAY, with a planned outlay of about ₹3.91 lakh crore. Free entitlement extended to December 2028. One Nation One Ration Card portable across all states and UTs. 11.8 crore children under PM POSHAN. Sources: Dept of Food & Public Distribution, PIB.
Data current to: February 2026 (published 12 August 2026)
Source: Department of Food & Public Distribution (via PIB) — people covered under the National Food Security Act, who receive free foodgrain, crore: about 80 (2016), 80.72 (2018), 80.6 (2020), nearly 80 (2021 and 2022), 80.11 (February 2023), 80.67 receiving free grain (December 2024), 79.8 (December 2025) and 80.56 identified by States against an intended 81.35 (February 2026, linked). PIB reports the count in slightly different ways over the years. No figure is shown for 2014, when the Act ran in only 11 States/UTs. · link