The Union government’s food subsidy budget for FY26 is expected to surpass the budget estimates by over Rs 22,000 crore due to the high cost of storing excess grains. FCI has revised its projected expenditure to Rs 1.72 lakh crore for 2025-26, mostly due to surplus rice stocks. The PMGKAY subsidy burden is set to exceed Rs 2.25 lakh crore, the highest since FY23, with additional funds talks.