Centre hikes non-urea fertiliser subsidy to Rs 38k crore for this season

NEW DELHI: Govt Tuesday approved Rs 37,952 crore subsidy for phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilisers for Rabi 2025-26 season (Oct-March) under the nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) mechanism, insulating farmers against rise in global prices of soil nutrients.

The subsidy approved for this season is nearly 55% more than that of last year. This means prices of non-urea soil nutrients, largely used in wheat, oilseeds and pulses, will remain unchanged for next Rabi season, and farmers will continue to get diammonium phosphate at Rs 1,350 per 50 kg bag despite global volatility in price. "Subsidy approved for 2025 Rabi season is higher by about Rs 14,000 crore from previous Rabi season (2024).

During last Rabi season, the subsidy was about Rs 24,000 crore," I&B minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters. With this increase, overall fertiliser subsidy is likely to cross Rs 1.95 lakh crore - Rs 1.2 lakh crore for urea and Rs 75,168 crore for NBS - for 2025-26, marginally higher than Rs 1.91 lakh crore spent in 2024-25. The Budget Estimate of fertiliser subsidy for the current financial year was around Rs 1.7 lakh crore.

"Subsidy rate has been fixed, considering the import price and other factors like nutrient requirement, subsidy burden and MRP," the minister said. Govt has provided a special package to ensure availability of DAP and triple super phosphate to farmers without any increased MRP.