Parliament Question: Fertilizer subsidy management and direct benefit transfer

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CHEMICAL AND FERTILIZERS DEPARTMENT OF FERTILIZERS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 1141 TO BE ANSWERED ON: 10.02.2026 Fertilizer Subsidy Management and Direct Benefit Transfer 1141 Dr. K. Laxman Will the Minister of CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS be pleased to state: (a) the functioning and benefits of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) system for fertilizers in ensuring subsidies reach intended farmers; (b) the impact of this system in curbing leakage and diversion of subsidized fertilizers ; (c) the specific data on DBT implementation and beneficiary coverage in Telangana ; (d) the steps taken to address challenges related to Aadhaar authentication and payment delays for farmers; and (e) the long-term vision for rationalizing the fertilizer subsidy mechanism? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICAL AND FERTILIZERS (SMT. ANUPRIYA PATEL) (a) The pan India roll out of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in Fertilizers completed in March, 2018. The phase-I of DBT system entails 100% payment of subsidy to the Fertilizers companies on the basis of actual sales through PoS machines by the retailer to the farmers. The farmers identity is verified through Aadhaar based authentication. The invoice is delivered via SMS to the Aadhaar linked mobile number of the farmer, conveying MRP of the fertilizer, number of bags purchased by the farmer and the amount of subsidy borne by the Government of India. Based on the PoS based sales, subsidy claims are submitted by Fertilizers Companies as weekly DBT Bills toDepartment of Fertilizers. The farmer receives the benefit of fertilizers at a subsidized cost. (b) In order to prevent leakages and diversion of subsidized fertilizers, Department of Fertilizers has put a ceiling of 50 bags of subsidized fertilizers per buyer per month. Additionally, a monthly list of 'Top 20 buyers' of each district is made available in the iFMS log-in of respective district level officials for taking necessary action at their end. Besides, Department of Fertilizers has also developed a dashboard which can be accessed by authorized users at https://urvarak.nic.in. The dashboard is developed to facilitate easy monitoring by various Stake holders viz. State Agriculture Departments, District Collectors and State Marketing Federations. The State Governments are also monitoring the availability and supply of fertilizers through iFMS and e-Urvarak Dashboard portals. (c) From roll out of DBT in the State of Talangana till date, total 62,53,069 unique beneficiaries have availed the benefit of subsidized fertilizers. During 2024-25 the total sale of subsidized fertilizers was 40.44 LMT and during 2025-26 till date, the total sale of subsidized fertilizer is 36.6 LMT. (d) The PoS devices installed at each fertilizer retail points are equipped with latest biometric fingerprint scanners called L-1 RD scanners. This ensures end to end encryption for secure and efficient biometric Aadhaar authentication. Further, for digital management of fertilizer subsidy payments at a large scale, the Government has introduced an integrated e-bill system. This digital system is aimed at reducing manual and paper-based processes, accelerating the payment workflow, and enhancing transparency and accountability in the subsidy payment process. (e) The management and implementation of payment of fertilizers subsidy on the basis of Aadhaar authentication mediated PoS sale in form of weekly DBT bills is being managed through a digital platform called Integrated Fertilizers Management System (iFMS) which captures end to end details of Fertilizer in terms of Production, Movement, availability, requirement, Sale, Subsidy Bill Generation to Subsidy payment to fertilizer companies. The iFMS is a robust end to end transaction visibility of fertilizers starting from import/ production till sales to farmers. ********