Govt's subsidy bill 13.32 pc up at Rs 3,01,694 cr for 2019-20

The government's subsidy bill on food, fertiliser and fuel is estimated to go up by 13.32 per cent to Rs 3,01,694 crore in the current fiscal, according to the Budget document.

Of the total subsidy bill, much of the increase has been made in the fuel subsidy, which is pegged at Rs 37,478 crore for the current fiscal from the revised estimate of Rs 24,833 crore for the 2018-19 fiscal.

In the fuel subsidy bill, LPG subsidy has been projected at Rs 32,989 crore for the 2019-20 fiscal as against Rs 20,283 crore in 2018-19.

However, the kerosene subsidy has been estimated lower and pegged at Rs 4,489 crore for this fiscal, as against Rs 4,550 crore during 2018-19.

In case of food subsidy bill, the government has estimated increase of 7.54 per cent to Rs 1,84,220 crore for the current fiscal from the revised estimate of Rs 1,71,298 crore during the 2018-19.

Similarly, the fertiliser subsidy is projected to increased by 14.14 per cent to Rs 79,996 crore in 2019-20 from the revised estimate of Rs 70,085.70 crore in the last fiscal.

Out of this allocation, urea subsidy comprises of Rs 53,629 crores and nutrient-based subsidies of Rs 26,367 crores, as per the Budget document.

Satisfied with the higher allocation, Fertiliser Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said in a statement that the increased allocation would further help in increasing the efficiency of subsidy transfers to the farmers through direct benefit transfer (DBT).

The government said 610.08 lakh tonnes of fertilizers were sold via DBT scheme from March 2018 to May 2019 and it has facilitated in removal of fake or duplicate beneficiaries.

The budget 2019-20 was tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. This is the first budget of the Modi 2.0 government.