Fertiliser stocks jump after govt raises subsidy by 140%

“Recently, the international prices of phosphoric acid, ammonia, etc, used in DAP have gone up by 60-70 percent. So the actual price of a DAP bag is now Rs 2400, which could be sold by fertiliser companies at Rs 1900 after considering a subsidy of Rs 500. With this decision, farmers will continue to get a DAP bag for Rs 1200. With the increase in subsidy in DAP, Government of India will spend an additional Rs 14,775 crore as subsidy in Kharif season,” it said, indicating that if need be, a further increase in fertiliser subsidies was possible.

Earlier this month, the central government had asked the fertiliser industry to maintain retail prices of fertilisers at “reasonable” levels, as the cost of their raw materials and imports surged due to an uptick in global commodity prices.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said farmers should get fertilisers at old rates despite the international price rise… The welfare of farmers is at the core of government's efforts," the PM's office said in a statement.