In view of the significant fall in demand for non urea fertilizers, the government has asked fertiliser firms not to lift imported nutrients, especially di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), muriate of potash (MoP), scheduled to reach ports in February and March. The move is expected to save up to Rs 1,000 crore in the subsidy bill for the government, this fiscal.
As per government officials, 5 million tonnes of potassium and phosphatic fertilizers is already lying as stocks which are more than sufficient to meet demand for the next two months. The demand for DAP and MoP has come down significantly in last few months due to high prices and it is expected that there may not be any increase in demand in February and March. Hence as per officials, it does not make sense to allow sale of imported products in February-March.
The government is currently giving a subsidy of Rs 19,763 per tonne on DAP and Rs 16,054 a tonne on MoP. However, it has decided to slash the subsidy on DAP to Rs 15,263/tonne and Rs 15,000 a tonne on MoP in view of bearish global prices. The subsidy is disbursed to fertiliser companies by the government on actual sale receipt basis. With government deciding to lower subsidy level for the next fiscal, fertiliser firms intend to claim subsidy on the 4 lakh tonnes of imported quantity in the current year itself, even as there is a poor demand of fertilizer. Major importers of these fertilizers are IFFCO, PPL, Chambal Fertilisers and Indian Potash.
India imports almost half of its requirement of DAP and almost the entire requirement of MoP. The subsidy bill is expected to increase to about Rs 70,500 crore this fiscal from about Rs 61,100 crore a year earlier. The above move could help save the government up to Rs1,000 crore in the subsidy bill for this fiscal.
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