The Indian government has cut fertilizer spending by 13pc to 1.64 trillion rupees ($20bn) for the 2024-25 fiscal year, which runs from 1 April-31 March.
The reduction includes an 8pc reduction in funding for urea and a 25pc cull in funding for phosphates- and potash-based fertilizers from the revised 2023-24 budget. Spending on imports will bear the brunt of the deductions.
Expenditure on urea will total Rs1.19 trillion, down from Rs1.29 trillion. Funding for imported urea will fall by a quarter to Rs226bn, while subsidies for domestically produced urea will be Rs1 trillion, roughly in line with last year's Rs1.02 trillion.
The government has set aside Rs450bn for phosphates- and potash-based products under India's nutrient-based subsidy, down from Rs603bn under the revised budget for last year. Spending on imports will fall by 34pc to Rs185bn, while the funds to subsidise domestic production will decline by 18pc to Rs324bn.
India's finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, presented the budget to the nation's parliament on 1 February.
International price trends have been mixed over the past six months. Granular urea prices were $334-370/t fob Middle East, all netbacks, last week, down from $376-451/t fob at the beginning of August last year. But Indian DAP prices are up to $595/t cfr, from $490-500/t cfr six months ago.
