The Union Cabinet has approved the new Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) rates for decontrolled fertilizers for the Rabi season (2022-23). The proposal from the Department of Fertilisers (DoF) was approved in a Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. The subsidy rates have been approved as follows: Rs 98.02 per kg for Nitrogen (N), Rs 66.93 per kg for Phosphorus (P), Rs 23.65 per kg for Potash (K) and Rs 6.12 per kg for Sulphur (S). These are used to manufacture various variants of phosphatic and potassic fertilizers like Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP), Muriate of Potash (MOP) and Single Super Phosphate (SSP) that are known as complex or NPK and P&K fertilizers. The new NBS rates will apply for the Rabi season 2022-23 for the period 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. Fertilizer subsidies of Rs 51,875 crore have been approved for NBS for the current Rabi season.
|
Year |
Rs per kg |
|||
|
N |
P |
K |
S |
|
|
Rabi 2022-23 (from 01.10.2022 to 31.03.2023) |
98.02 |
66.93 |
23.65 |
6.12 |
The government has fixed the subsidy rates on the basis of the prices of the decontrolled fertilizers and their raw materials in the international market. These rates are for subsidies given on non-urea fertilizers. Their prices are determined by the fertilizer companies. In the case of urea, the price is fixed by the government and it compensates through subsidies the gap between its cost and the price at which it is sold to the farmers. In the NBS rates fixed by the Cabinet, the Nitrogen subsidy has been increased from that in the Kharif season while the subsidy rates for Phosphorus, Potash and Sulphur have been decreased.
The Kharif season NBS rates stood as follows: Rs 91.96 per kg for N, Rs 72.74 per kg for P, Rs 25.31 per kg for K and Rs 6.94 per kg for S. These rates were applicable for the Kharif season 2022 from 1 April 2022 to 30 September 2022.
Under the NBS scheme, the government gives subsidies on 25 grades of P&K fertilizers. These include both indigenously manufactured and imported fertilizers. The government has had to make sizeable increases in subsidies over the last two years due to the steep rise in the raw material prices of these fertilizers in the international market. But the prices of DAP and phosphoric acid have decreased recently. It is due to this that the subsidies on their raw materials have been somewhat decreased for the Rabi season.