FCI, the nodal central agency of Government of India, along with other State Agencies undertakes procurement of wheat and paddy under price support scheme . Coarse grains are procured by State Government Agencies for Central Pool as per the direction issued by Government of India on time to time. The procurement under Price Support is taken up mainly to ensure remunerative prices to the farmers for their produce which works as an incentive for achieving better production. 

To facilitate procurement of food grains, FCI and various State Agencies in consultation with the State Government establish a large number of purchase centres at various mandis and key points. The number of centres and their locations are decided by the State Governments, based on various parameters, so as to maximize the MSP operations. For instance for Wheat procurement more than 20,000 procurement centers were operated during RMS 2015-16 & for Rice procurement more than 44,000 procurement centres were operated. Such extensive & effective price support operations have resulted in sustaining the income of farmers over a period and in providing the required impetus for higher investment in agriculture sector for improved productivity.