Friday 27 September 2013

Finance Ministry approves Rs 5,500 crore fertiliser subsidy under SBA

Indian fertilizer sector suffering with acute liquidity crunch is not likely to get much respite, as the Finance ministry has agreed to pay only Rs 5,500 crore subsidy under a special banking arrangement (SBA) as against Rs 12,000 crore sought by the Department of Fertilisers (DoF). 

Though, the total requirement of funds for the sector is estimated to be around Rs 30,000 crore, which the department was going to seek under supplementary grant, but as the domestic urea subsidy funds got exhausted, DoF sought Rs 12,000 crore under SBA as immediate requirement. DoF hopes that finance ministry will pay the remaining amount soon as industry plays an important role in making the country self-reliant in food grain production.

Meanwhile, the government has marginally reduced the fertiliser subsidy to Rs 65,971.50 crore for the current fiscal as compared to the revised estimate of Rs 65,974 crore in the previous fiscal. For current fiscal, the government will provide Rs 21,000 crore for indigenous (urea) fertilisers, Rs 15,544.44 crore for imported urea, and Rs 29,426.86 crore for decontrolled fertilisers (DAP, MOP and complexes) for supplying the inputs to farmers at a subsidised rate.

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