CPI(M) Demands Halt to Adani-Leap India Takeover of FCI Silo Network

New Delhi: The CPI(M) Polit Bureau on Wednesday demanded an immediate halt to what it described as a corporate takeover of India's public food security infrastructure, citing a recent investigative report exposing an alleged duopoly by Adani Agri Logistics Ltd and Leap India Food & Logistics Private Ltd in the Food Corporation of India's silo modernisation scheme.

In a press statement, the CPI(M) said the two companies had together secured 110 out of 134 silo contracts under the FCI scheme, worth over Rs 16,500 crore, giving them combined control over an estimated 46.5 lakh metric tonnes of grain storage capacity out of a total of 60 lakh metric tonnes to be housed in the new silos.

The party said the concentration was particularly alarming given that the FCI had itself initially proposed an anti-monopoly clause to prevent such an outcome. The clause was subsequently removed following intervention by the NITI Aayog and the Department of Economic Affairs, ostensibly to favour companies with "deep balance sheets," according to the Newslaundry expose cited in the statement.

The CPI(M) further stated that Adani Agri Logistics Ltd, a subsidiary of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd, is constructing a large private railway network as part of the project to link the silos to distribution centres — effectively enabling the Adani Group to extend its grip across the entire grain supply chain, from procurement and storage through transportation and export.

The party characterised the scheme as an attempt to push through the corporatisation of Indian agriculture through the backdoor, following the withdrawal of the three contentious farm laws in 2021. "Even as the government has refused to honour the promise made to the peasantry regarding the implementation of a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price, it is undermining the strategically vital public distribution system and, as a result, India's food security," the statement said.

The Polit Bureau issued three specific demands: the immediate restoration of the anti-monopoly clause in the silo tender structure; redirection of public investment to strengthen FCI's own infrastructure rather than privatising it; and the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate the role of the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee and concerned government ministries in facilitating the concentration of control by large business conglomerates.

The CPI(M) also called on all democratic forces to unite in resisting what it termed the corporate capture of India's food security apparatus.