Farmers May Soon Get Fertiliser Subsidy Directly In Their Accounts As Centre Mulls Reforms

The Union government is mulling on giving fertiliser subsidy directly to farmers under the second phase of implementation of direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme, a senior official of fertiliser ministry said on Thursday (6 June), reports The Hindu BusinessLine.

The first phase of the fertiliser DBT was rolled out in October 2017. In the first phase, subsidy is being transferred to companies after checking retail sales data captured through the point of sales (PoS) machines.

According to the report, the direct transfer of fertiliser subsidy into farmers’ bank accounts was to be taken up in the second phase after taking inputs from the NITI Aayog.

“We want to try giving fertiliser subsidy directly into farmers’ bank accounts. Now, there is a thinking in this line. Now, we are ready for the phase two implementation. When and how -- that is under discussion,” the official was quoted in the report as saying.

The government is also planning to improve existing fertiliser DBT mechanism by allowing retailers to use desktop or laptop along with PoS machines for smooth operation, the official informed.

As per the report, the government spends over Rs 70,000 crore annually as fertiliser subsidy to provide cheaper farm nutrient to farmers.