NEW DELHI: The government's fertiliser subsidy bill for 2026-27 may surge by Rs 70,000 crore to Rs 2.4 lakh crore because of rising import costs of urea and other fertilisers amid the ongoing West Asia crisis, officials said on Monday. There is enough stock and imports are lined up to meet the requirement of Kharif crops, they said.
Aparna S Sharma, additional secretary in the fertilisers department, on the sidelines of an inter-ministerial briefing on West Asia developments, said the subsidy bill will go up, "but what percentage is something I cannot say." On whether it could be around Rs 70,000 crore, she said, "may be." As per the Budget Estimate, fertiliser subsidies in 2026-27 is Rs 1.7 lakh crore.
She said that despite the conflict hitting the fertiliser supply chain, availability for the upcoming Kharif season remains comfortable, with stocks of around 201 lakh tonnes, 51% of the total requirement of 390 lakh tonnes.
The official added that domestic production is running at approximately 80,000 tonnes per day and the output, since the crisis, is around 86.2 lakh tonnes (from March till now), slightly below the 93 lakh tonnes recorded in the year-ago period. "There is a small shortfall which we hope to cover in the coming months," Sharma said. Sufficient gas supply is available for urea plants.
The government said India has secured approximately 13.5 lakh tonnes of Di-Ammonium Phosphate and seven lakh tonnes of NPK complex, besides ammonium sulphate, phosphate, and other raw materials.
