India

In its efforts to the poverty reduction and food security, the Government of India has put in place some of the world’s largest food-based safety nets. India’s National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013 aims to ensure food and nutrition security for the most vulnerable through its associated schemes and programmes, making access to food a legal right. 

India’s Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) is the world’s largest food-based social protection scheme, with mandated coverage of two-thirds of the most vulnerable people in India (around 813 million), providing highly subsidized rations of wheat or rice to beneficiaries through Point-of-Sale devices installed at more than 500,000 through “Fair Price Shops” (FPS). 

India’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) provides Take-Home Rations (THR) to pregnant and lactating women and children under three as part of its early childhood nutrition strategy. 

Responding to the food security challenges faced by migrants and informal workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government introduced subsidized pulses, free supplemental rations and a “One Nation One Ration” Card (ONORC) to allow migrants and other beneficiaries to obtain their entitlements at any FPS in the country.             

To ensure efficient and effective distribution of food grains at the last mile, the Department of Food and Public Distribution, the Government of India in collaboration with WFP India conceptualized, designed, and developed the 'Grain ATM,' also known as 'Annapurti' (Hindi for fulfiller of food). This automated multi-commodity dispensing machine provides people with consistent access to their food entitlement with speed and accuracy, after biometric authentication.

The Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government of India have developed the SMART warehouse solution, using the Internet to remotely monitor temperature, relative humidity, CO2, air flow, fire/smoke, phosphine gas and oxygen and alert warehouse authorities about quantity and quality loss of foodgrains stored in conventional warehouses. So far, the Government jointly with WFP India have deployed the solution in 7 locations across India, covering both producing and consuming regions and different agro-climatic zones.

India’s experience in optimising its Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS)—one of the world’s largest food-based safety nets—offers valuable lessons for other countries aiming to improve food supply chain efficiency. With technical support from WFP and IIT Delhi, India deployed a data-driven operations research model to optimise the movement of food grains from procurement points to Fair Price Shops. This innovation restructured supply routes without changing infrastructure, reducing travel distances by up to 18% and unlocking potential cost savings of USD 30–40 million annually. Recognised and adopted by the Government of India for national scale-up, this approach demonstrates how evidence-based planning can enhance transparency, cut costs, and improve delivery outcomes. 

To combat widespread micronutrient deficiencies, India has adopted a large-scale fortification of rice strategy through its public food distribution systems. WFP India has played a key role in the mainstreaming of fortified rice in the food based safety nets. Fortified rice is now being distributed through school meals, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), and targeted public distribution channels. India’s experience demonstrates how leveraging existing food delivery platforms can cost-effectively scale nutrition interventions, offering replicable pathways for other countries looking to strengthen their food-based safety nets.

India’s school meals programme- the PM POSHAN scheme, is one of the world’s largest, universal and nationally owned school meal programme reaching over 118 million children. WFP India supports this flagship initiative by strengthening the nutritional quality of meals through technical assistance and capacity building, including interventions such as setting up school kitchen gardens, capacity building of cooks, social behaviour change communication on health and nutrition with school children etc.

In addition, the Government of India has been engaging private sector in their pursuit of Zero Hunger solutions. For instance, the Science for Society Techno Services Pvt. Ltd. (S4S) has developed a solution using solar-based food processing technology for building resilience and livelihoods of women and smallholder farmers by processing perishable food, thus reducing post-harvest losses (PHL). The technology was tested in some areas in India, and based on the results, the Government of Odisha, India, WFP and S4S, have initiated the Solar 4 Resilience (S4R) project in early 2023 in order to combat at scale the challenges smallholder farmers face.