The Open Market Sales Scheme is a program introduced by the central government that allows states to borrow up to 75% of their food grain requirements from the National Food Corporation of India at a concessional rate. The remaining 25% of the requirement has to be procured from the open market. However, this scheme has created tension between the Centre and states in the following ways:

• The scheme puts the onus of procuring and distributing food grains on the states, while the central government takes little responsibility for it.
• Some states have expressed concern that the 25% open market purchase clause could lead to a spike in food grain prices and affect their food subsidy schemes.
• The scheme has also been criticized for not taking into account regional food habits. For example, some states have complained that the scheme provides insufficient quantities of locally consumed food grains.
• The central government has been accused of using the Open Market Sales Scheme as a tool to pressurize states into implementing other central schemes, which some states see as an infringement on their autonomy.

These factors have led to tensions between states and the Centre over the Open Market Sales Scheme.