Sugar tale of two states: Sops to benefit Maharashtra mills, UP has to wait

The government recently took measures such as creating a buffer stock and re-introducing release order mechanism

The big question arising out of the government’s sugar package is how far it will help mills to pay the arrears of more than Rs 220 billion to cane growers.

The government recently decided to create a buffer stock and reintroduce the release order mechanism.

The case in point is Uttar Pradesh (UP), where till June 7, that is a day after the Union Cabinet cleared the second round of sops for sugar mills to help them make payment faster, around Rs 125 billion was still to be paid to farmers.

This was when an additional Rs 223 billion has