Maintaining that fertiliser imports have not gone down, the government today said that with an increase in urea import, fertiliser subsidy has witnessed a rise from Rs 36,000 crore last year to Rs 1.02 lakh crore till date this fiscal.
Minister of Steel, Chemicals and Fertilisers Ram Vilas Paswan, while replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, said, "Fertilisers import has not gone down. In fact, due to increase in urea import, we have increased fertiliser subsidy considerably from last year."
The Minister said that last year, the subsidy was Rs 36,000 crore, while during the current fiscal it has been Rs 1.02 lakh crore till now. "It is estimated that by the end of this financial year, another Rs 12,000 crore will be required as subsidy," he added.
Paswan said that while in 2006-07 urea import was 47.18 lakh metric tonnes, during the current fiscal, it has gone up to 57.13 lakh metric tonnes till date.
He said the import of di-ammonium phosphates (DAP) too has gone up from 28.41 lakh metric tonnes in 2006-07 to 64.92 lakh metric tonnes till date during the current fiscal.
Replying to another supplementary on distribution of fertilisers, Paswan said that movement of fertilisers is being monitored throughout the country by an online web-based monitoring system to track production, imports, dispatch, arrival and sales up to the district level.