Declining International Prices May Trim Down Finance Subsidy Bill

Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, the Minister for Fertilisers, Chemicals and Steel, stated that the subsidy bill which was projected to be Rs 1.19 lakh crore for the financial year is expected to come down to less than Rs 1 lakh crore, due to the falling prices of fertilisers and chemicals in international markets, which would save Rs 20,000 crore for the economy.

Almost all the key fertilisers including di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and urea, and major raw materials like phosphoric acid, sulphur, etc, have undergone substantive price-cuts during last three months.

Mr Paswan further notified, “the subsidy would have come down even further but the fall in the value of rupee against the dollar has offset some of the benefits of the falling fertiliser prices.”

Speaking about the supplies of these fertilisers, the minister affirmed that the supplies would be more than that of last financial year.

Despite incredible growth in IT and other sectors, agriculture is still dubbed as the backbone of Indian economy, and hence, this massive cut in fertiliser subsidies would provide a bit of relief to the agriculture industry.