Parliamentary panel seeks allocation of realistic fertiliser subsidy fund at budget estimate stage | India News
New Delhi: A parliamentary panel has recommended to the finance ministry to allocate funds for fertilizer subsidy at the Budget Estimates (BE) stage to ensure that allocations are as close as possible to actual requirements.In its report tabled in Parliament on Friday, the Standing Committee on Fertilizers said the practice of assigning parking subsidy to the next year’s liability also distorts the true picture of the government’s subsidy allocation. Considering the exodus of higher subsidies for imported urea and other soil nutrients, the panel recommended increasing domestic production.“The committee observed that the subsidy burden per bag on imported urea, at approximately Rs 2,100 per 45-kg bag, is significantly higher than the subsidy for domestically produced urea at approximately Rs 1,397. The significant difference arises from volatility, international price volatility, insurance cost and international price volatility. and exchange rate fluctuations,” the report said.Similarly, in the case of phosphatic and potassic fertilizers (NPK), the subsidy for imported varieties is higher than that of non-domestically produced soil nutrients.On Friday, the Department of Fertilizers told the Lok Sabha that imports of urea from Russia rose to 14 lakh tonnes from 9.2 lakh tonnes in 2024-25 till February, and imports from China increased by 1 lakh tonnes to 21.2 lakh tonnes. Imports of NPK from China have also increased from less than 1 lakh tonnes in 2024-25 to 9.6 lakh tonnes in the current fiscal.For realistic, advance budget allocations for subsidies, the panel noted that in FY24, the final allocation was revised upwards to around Rs 2 lakh crore, against a BE (Budget Estimate) of Rs 1.8 lakh crore, and in FY26, a BE of Rs 1.8 lakh crore for fertilizers was resubsidized to Rs 2 lakh crore.
