New Delhi: Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman, presented the Union Budget 2019-20 in Parliament today.
Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers D.V. Sadananda Gowda thanked the Finance Minister for increased allocation towards the Fertilizer Subsidy and said that the increased allocation would further help in increasing the efficiency of subsidy transfers to the farmers through DBT.
The Fertilizer Subsidy allocations have seen a hike of around Rs. 10,000 crores from Rs. 70,090.35 crores (Budget Estimates 2018-19) to Rs. 79,996 crores (Budget Estimates 2019-20). Out of this allocation, Urea subsidy comprises of Rs. 53,629 crores and Nutrient based subsidies of Rs. 26,367 crores, as per the Expenditure Profile 2019-20 document in the Budget.
The Fiscal Policy statement of the Budget mentions that a total of 610.08 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of fertilizers have been sold under DBT scheme from March 2018 to May 2019. As this scheme has facilitated in removal of fake or duplicate beneficiaries, there has been a reduction of 120.88 in fertilizer sales to retailers after the implementation of DBT scheme, the statement said.
Further, the National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) have also seen a hike in allocations from Rs. 135 crores (Budget Estimates 2018-19) to Rs. Rs. 150 crores (Budget Estimates 2019-20).
