Parliament Question: Distribution of Fertilizers

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS DEPARTMENT OF FERTILIZERS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3534 TO BE ANSWERED ON: 13.03.2026 Distribution of Fertilizers 3534 MD. RAKIBUL HUSSAIN: SHRI GOPAL JEE THAKUR: SHRI UTKARSH VERMA MADHUR: Will the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that high fertilizer prices, artificial scarcity and instances of forced black- marketing have adversely affected small and marginal farmers particularly in Assam, if so, the details thereof; (b) the steps taken by the Union Government in coordination with the State Governments, District Authorities, Agriculture Department and Fertilizer Units to strengthen and monitor continuous and equitable availability and distribution of fertilizers to farmers; (c) the number of complaints received by the Union and State Government regarding overpricing, hoarding and black-marketing of fertilizers during the last three years; (d) the number of inspections, raids and enforcement drives conducted to check illegal movement, hoarding, black marketing and overpricing, State/district-wise including Assam and Darbhanga district of Bihar; (e) the procedure adopted to detect and check the supply of inferior quality fertilizers; and (f) the details of action taken against violators, including suspension or cancellation of licences, penalties imposed and prosecutions initiated? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS (SMT. ANUPRIYA PATEL) (a) to (f) Following steps are taken by the Government every season for ensuring timely and adequate availability of all fertilizers in the country:-2- (i) Before the commencement of each cropping season, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), in consultation with all the State Governments, assesses the State-wise & month-wise requirement of fertilizers. (ii) On the basis of requirement projected by DA&FW, D/o Fertilizers allocates adequate quantities of fertilizers to States by issuing monthly supply plan and continuously monitors the availability. (iii) The movement of all major subsidized fertilizers is monitored throughout the country by an on-line web-based monitoring system called integrated Fertilizer Management System (iFMS). (iv) The State Governments are regularly advised to coordinate with manufacturers and importers for streamlining the supplies through timely placement of indents. (v) Regular coordination meetings are held with Ministry of Railways for giving sufficient rakes, priority to fertilizers and for timely evacuation of rakes for States. (vi) The distribution of fertilizers within the State at district level is done by the concerned State government. In view of above, it is submitted that the availability of fertilizers has remained adequate in the country during the ongoing Rabi 2025-26 season. Further, Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare in consultation with the State Government is regularly monitoring the enforcement action taken by State Government against the cases of Black marketing, Hoarding, Sub-standard and Diversion on weekly basis. In the country, from 01.04.2025 to 06.03.2026, 4,60,840 raids have been conducted with 16,160 show cause notices issued, 6,782 licenses suspended/cancelled and 817 FIRs registered against defaulters. DA&FW regularly pursues with the State Government to strictly implement the enforcement action against the defaulters. Besides, as informed by DA&FW, a comprehensive multilevel mechanism namely, Dharti Mata Bachao Abhiyan with Committees constituted at Village level, Sub Division (taluka/tehsil) & District Level was initiated in the Month of August , 2025. Under the program, Dharti Mata Bachao Nigrani Samiti will be constituted at Village level to be headed by Gram Pradhan, Sub Division Level Committee will be headed by Sub Divisional Magistrate and District level Committee will be headed by District Magistrate. The Samiti is to monitor excessive sale of fertilizers to particular individuals or group of individuals in panchayat, ascertaining the reason for the same and informing district & sub-division authorities in case of diversion for non agricultural use / cross border smuggling. Such surveillance mechanism, which will keep tab on any illegal diversion of fertilizers as well as on production/distribution of spurious or fake fertilizers. As on date 1,71,150 Gram level panchayat Committee, 2,286 Sub Divisional Level Committee and 467 District level Committee have been formed across the country. The State-wise-3- details of enforcement activities performed by the States during the period 01.04.2025 to 06.03.2026, as informed by them is placed at Annexure. In view of this, it is informed that during last 3 years and in current year as on 28.02.2026, 405 complaints of overpricing, hoarding, black-marketing and other malpractices have been received in D/o Fertilizers through CP-GRAMS portal which is an online platform to redress grievances related to fertilizers. These complaints were sent to concerned State govts. for necessary action under FCO-1985. Moreover, State govt. of Assam has informed that no case of high prices and artificial scarcity of fertilizers has been observed in the State. With respect to details of enforcement activities in Darbhanga district of Bihar, the State govt. has informed that during Kharif 2026 and Rabi 2025-26 seasons the number of inspections, raids and enforcement drives conducted to check illegal movement, hording, black marketing and overpricing of fertilizers includes 530 inspections, 03 FIRs, 15 License cancellation, 11 show-cause notices and 17 license suspensions. Further, under the Urea Subsidy Scheme, Urea is provided to the farmers at a statutorily notified Maximum Retail Price (MRP). The MRP of 45 kg bag of urea is Rs.242 per bag (exclusive of charges towards neem coating and taxes as applicable). The difference between the delivered cost of Urea at farm gate and net market realization by the urea units is given as subsidy to the urea manufacturer/importer by the Government of India. Accordingly, all farmers are being supplied urea at the subsidized rate. Besides, the Government has implemented Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Scheme w.e.f. 01.04.2010 for Phosphatic and Potassic (P&K) Fertilizers. Under NBS Scheme, MRP of P&K fertilizers are decontrolled and companies are free to fix MRP as per their business dynamics at a reasonable level which is monitored by the government. The subsidy is provided to manufacturer/imported on notified P&K fertilizers on its PoS sale during the season, depending on their nutrient content to ensure availability of fertilizers to farmers. Furthermore, for ensuring adequate availability of good quality fertilizers to the farmers, Fertilizer Control Order (FCO)-1985 has laid down fertilizer-wise detailed specifications. Any fertilizer, not meeting the said specifications, cannot be sold in the country for agricultural purpose. Clause 19 of FCO strictly prohibits the sale or manufacture of fertilizers which are not of prescribed standards. Any sale of substandard/fake/adulterated fertilizers is punishable under Essential Commodities Act, 1955. The State Governments are the enforcement agencies and are adequately empowered to enforce the provisions of FCO. *******-4- Annexure Annexure referred to in reply to parta (a) to (f) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No 3534 for answering on 13.03.2026 Action taken by the State Governments to check black marketing, hoarding, quality check, diversion during 01.04.2025 to 06.03.2026 Convicti Black Marketing Hoarding Sub Standard Quality Diversion Toatal on with details* No. of No. of No. of No. of FIR Show Show No. of No. of Show licenses FIR Show licenses Regist- cause licenses FIR cause licenses FIR Show licenses FIR States Inspectio cause cancelled/ registere cause cancelled/ ered notice cancelled/ registered notice cancelled/ registe cause cancelled/ registere /ran is d s n iso st uic ee d su d n iso st uic ee d su issued suspended issued suspended red n iso st uic ee d su d spended spended spended Andhra Pradesh 23898 80 10 9 207 11 19 380 0 0 19 4 12 NIL 686 25 40 Arunachal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NIL 0 0 0 Pradesh Assam 5284 12 6 1 59 0 0 46 1 0 27 0 0 NIL 144 7 1 Bihar 24751 1283 845 122 7 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 NIL 1296 845 122 Chhattisgarh 7118 297 13 4 29 1 0 145 5 0 24 0 0 NIL 495 19 4 Dadar & Nagar 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NIL 0 0 0 Delhi 395 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 3 0 NIL 3 3 1 Goa 619 544 180 6 10 0 0 32 1 0 16 0 0 NIL 602 181 6 Gujarat 17933 56 3 1 25 0 0 146 2 0 19 4 13 NIL 246 9 14 Haryana 5181 68 16 10 25 21 5 51 12 6 14 6 6 NIL 158 55 27 Himachal 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NIL 0 0 0 Pradesh Jammu & 5613 154 46 2 36 3 0 73 2 0 8 0 0 NIL 271 51 2 Kashmir Jharkhand 759 57 20 11 32 4 0 2 0 0 1 1 0 NIL 92 25 11 Karnataka 9709 368 25 1 243 5 0 258 14 2 96 6 11 NIL 965 50 14 Kerala 1735 0 0 0 0 0 0 53 0 0 4 0 4 NIL 57 0 4 Madhya 6207 0 0 93 0 0 0 759 44 4 748 160 15 NIL 1507 204 112 Pradesh Maharashtra 50288 16 0 16 0 0 0 1906 1404 46 1 73 2 NIL 1923 1477 64 Manipur 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 NIL 1 0 0 Meghalaya 757 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NIL 0 0 0 Mizoram 39 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 NIL 8 0 0 Nagaland 81 14 0 14 0 0 0 101 0 0 2 64 1 NIL 117 64 15 Odisha 8149 4 3 2 0 0 0 55 1 1 2204 112 4 0 2263 116 7 Puducherry 56 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NIL 0 0 0 Punjab 6844 37 1 1 20 0 1 330 103 4 5 0 6 NIL 392 104 12 Rajasthan 12004 652 118 48 74 41 34 519 1 2 27 22 27 NIL 1272 182 111 Tamilnadu 22392 14 0 8 6 8 0 33 25 0 112 17 1 NIL 165 50 9 Telangana 145170 7 11 3 4 2 0 139 0 0 4 0 5 NIL 154 13 8 Tripura 865 0 0 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NIL 9 0 0 Uttar Pradesh 45387 2562 2981 185 164 139 13 171 175 20 88 7 15 3 2985 3302 233 Uttarakhand 585 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 43 0 0 NIL 43 0 0 West Bengal 58993 0 0 0 0 0 0 306 0 0 0 0 0 NIL 306 0 0 Total 460840 6229 4278 538 950 235 72 5514 0 85 3467 479 122 3 16160 6782 817