NEW DELHI, Oct 16 Reuters India has raised the price at which it will buy newseason wheat from domestic farmers by 150 rupees or 6.6 to encourage growers to expand acreage and remove the need for imports in the world39;s secondbiggest producer of the grain.

The revised purchase price of 2,425 rupees 28.88 per 100 kg for 2025 compares with 2,275 a year earlier, Minister for Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw told a news conference after a meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi39;s cabinet.

India sets a price each year at which it will buy wheat and rice from local farmers to distribute for free to 800 million beneficiaries of the world39;s biggest food welfare programme.

A reasonable increase in the stateset support or guaranteed prices encourages farmers to boost output.

Unlike rice, India does not have large stockpiles of wheat. Still, Modi39;s administration has resisted calls for removing a 40 tax on wheat imports, as facilitating imports is seen as an antifarmer move.

India39;s millions of farmers are considered an influential voting bloc and Modi39;s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party lost 75 rural seats in this year39;s general election.

After five consecutive record harvests, a sharp rise in temperatures shrivelled India39;s wheat crop in 2022 and 2023, prompting the world39;s No. 2 producer to ban exports.

India grows one wheat crop a year, with plantings in October and November and harvests from April.

This year39;s crop was also nearly 6.25 lower than a…