Maize acreage in India was unchanged on year at 7.7 mln ha. The Centre has hiked minimum support price for maize to 1,700 rupees per 100 kg for kharif marketing year starting October from 1,425 rupees in the previous year, which encouraged farmers to sow more in the key producing states of Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Gujarat. However, in some states, the acreage was down because of patchy distribution of rains. During Jun 1-Sep 2, the country received 683.2 mm rains, 6% below the normal weighted average of 728.3 mm.