Modi’s bonanza to Indian farmers hampered by funds, storage.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pre-election gambit to sharply hike state-mandated prices for summer crops, including soybean, may mean little to millions of farmers, as the government lacks the storage and funds needed to buy most of the produce. The government announces MSPs for most crops to set a benchmark, but state agencies mainly buy limited quantities of staples such as rice and wheat at those prices, restricting benefits of higher prices to only around 7 percent of the country’s 263 million farmers. Implementing the scheme in full would be expensive, economists say. The government’s fiscal deficit target for the current financial year, at 3.3 percent of GDP, is already under pressure due to high oil prices.