Grant to fertiliser sector slashed by 34%

The government has squeezed the allocation to the fertiliser sector by 34 per cent at Rs 50,200 crore for the next fiscal by slashing the non-plan spend substantially.

The grant for the Department of Fertilizers has been cut from Rs 75,915.01 crore in the revised estimate for 2008-09. However, it is still higher than the budget estimate of Rs 31,200 crore for fiscal 2008-09.

The non-plan spend, comprising subsidies and special securities issued to fertiliser companies, has been reduced to Rs 50,000 crore for 2009-10, compared with Rs 75,865 crore in the year-ago period.

The subsidy on the sale of de-controlled fertilisers, such as phosphatic and potassic nutrients, to farmers at cheaper rates has been cut by about half to Rs 33,600 crore for the next fiscal from Rs 65,351 crore this fiscal.

The dole-out for fertilisers produced in the country has also been cut by more than 50 per cent to Rs 8,580 crore from Rs 19,516 crore this fiscal.

On imported fertilisers, the subsidy burden was pegged at Rs 7,800 crore for the next fiscal, down by 29 per cent from Rs 10,981 crore during 2008-09.

However, the government has raised plan spend four-fold to Rs 200 crore for the next fiscal from Rs 50.01 crore in 2008-09.