Parliament Question: Nutrient based Subsidy Scheme

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS DEPARTMENT OF FERTILIZERS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3491 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.03.2026 Nutrient based Subsidy Scheme 3491. Shri B K Parthasarathi: Will the Minister of CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS be pleased to state: a) the total amount of funds released under Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Scheme during the last five years in the country, year-wise and State-wise; (b) the details regarding total Point of Sale (PoS) machines installed in the country, State-wise and district-wise for Andhra Pradesh; (c) the total number of beneficiaries under the said Scheme during the last five years in the country, State-wise and district-wise for Andhra Pradesh; (d) whether the Government has conducted any study to assess the effectiveness of NBS in the prices of the fertilizers, if so, the details thereof; and (e) the manner in which the Government ensures that the subsidy given on Nutrient based fertilizers is reaching out to the farmers via affordable prices? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS (SMT. ANUPRIYA PATEL) (a): Under ‘DBT in Fertilizers’ system, 100% subsidy on various fertilizer grades is released to the fertilizer companies, on actual sales to the beneficiaries based on Aadhar authentication through PoS devices installed at each retail shop. All farmers are being supplied fertilizers at the subsidized rates on no-denial basis. The details of the total amount of funds released under Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Scheme provided by the Government during the last five years i.e. from year 2020-21 to 2024-25 are as follows:-2- (Figures in Rs. crore) Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Scheme Financial Total Indigenous Imported Year P&K P&K 2020-21 22288.36 15015.37 37303.73 2021-22 31931.46 20794.8 52726.26 2022-23 50089.67 36032.56 86122.23 2023-24 36270.00 28929.57 65199.57 2024-25 34010.00 18800.00 52810.00 (b): The details regarding total Point of Sale (PoS) machines installed in the country, State-wise and district-wise for Andhra Pradesh, are attached at Annexure-I. (c): The details of the total number of beneficiaries under the said Scheme during the last five years in the country, State-wise and district-wise for Andhra Pradesh, are attached at Annexure-II. (d) & (e): The Government has implemented Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Scheme w.e.f. 01.04.2010 for Phosphatic and Potassic (P&K) Fertilizers. Under the 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. A third party study conducted by M/s SANTEK in 2020 to assess impact of Nutrient Based subsidy has shown that objective of ‘availability at subsidized / reasonable price’ has been met. Further, under NBS, the Government has issued reasonability guidelines dated 15.11.2019 & 18.01.2024 to keep MRPs of P&K fertilizers at reasonable level and affordable to farmers. As per the reasonability guidelines dated 18.01.2024, the profit earned above 8% (for importers), 10% (for manufacturers), 12% (for integrated manufacturers) of Cost of Sales of product is treated as unreasonable based on cost data submitted by the companies. *******-3- ANNEXURE-I Annexure referred to in reply to part (b) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3491 for answer on 13.03.2026 (i.) Point of Sale (PoS) Machines Installed in the Country S. No. State/UT Name Total Count of PoS Devices 1. Andaman and Nicobar 29 2. Andhra Pradesh 11,628 3. Arunachal Pradesh 14 4. Assam 6,100 5. Bihar 30,635 6. Chhattisgarh 5,720 7. Delhi 60 8. Goa 36 9. Gujarat 9,312 10. Haryana 8,348 11. Himachal Pradesh 1,713 12. J&K 4,040 13. Jharkhand 5,278 14. Karnataka 13,049 15. Kerala 2,656 16. Ladakh 4 17. Madhya Pradesh 13,122 18. Maharashtra 32,930 19. Manipur 30 20. Meghalaya 46 21. Mizoram 57 22. Nagaland 4 23. Odisha 9,440 24. Puducherry 78 25. Punjab 9,415 26. Rajasthan 16,459 27. Tamil Nadu 12,856 28. Telangana 11,117 29. Tripura 605 30. Uttar Pradesh 70,090 31. Uttarakhand 1,274 32. West Bengal 23,067 Total 2,99,212 (SOURCE: iFMS)-4- (ii.) Point of Sale (PoS) Machines Installed in the Andhra Pradesh S.No. District Name Total Count of POS Devices 1. Alluri Sitharama Raju 075 2. Anakapalli 273 3. Ananthapuramu 519 4. Annamayya 375 5. Bapatla 558 6. Chittoor 321 7. East Godavari 365 8. Eluru 555 9. Guntur 340 10. Kakinada 491 11. Konaseema 430 12. Krishna 505 13. Kurnool 617 14. Nandyal 675 15. NTR 321 16. Palnadu 795 17. Parvathipuram Manyam 243 18. Prakasam 825 19. SPSR Nellore 732 20. Sri Sathya Sai 382 21. Srikakulam 367 22. Tirupati 496 23. Visakhapatnam 041 24. Vizianagaram 436 25. West Godavari 452 26. YSR Kadapa 439 TOTAL 11628 (SOURCE: iFMS)-5- ANNEXURE-II Annexure referred to in reply to part (c) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3491 for answer on 13.03.2026 (i.) Total Number of Beneficiaries in the Country (From 01.04.2020 to 31.03.2025) S.No. State/UT Name No of Unique Buyers/Beneficiaries 1. Andaman and Nicobar Islands 9354 2. Andhra Pradesh 5765763 3. Arunachal Pradesh 1041 4. Assam 2933890 5. Bihar 19691992 6. Chhattisgarh 3588572 7. Dadra and Nagar Haveli 9793 8. Delhi 53421 9. Goa 80052 10. Gujarat 7392578 11. Haryana 3471236 12. Himachal Pradesh 654881 13. Jammu and kashmir 1377689 14. Jharkhand 3216737 15. Karnataka 6326113 16. Kerala 882230 17. Madhya Pradesh 12055547 18. Maharashtra 12476960 19. Manipur 18526 20. Meghalaya 13944 21. Mizoram 10644 22. Nagaland 1648 23. Odisha 5623402 24. Puducherry 34881 25. Punjab 2725505 26. Rajasthan 9379679 27. Tamil Nadu 5583319 28. Telangana 4945815 29. Tripura 144022 30. Uttarakhand 645598 31. Uttar Pradesh 42698059 32. West Bengal 7489513 Total 159302404 (SOURCE: iFMS)-6- (ii.) Number of Beneficiaries in Andhra Pradesh (From 01.04.2020 to 31.03.2025) No of Buyers/ S.No. District Name Beneficiaries 1. Alluri Sitharama Raju 72262 2. Anakapalli 266463 3. Anantapur 254850 4. Annamayya 243950 5. Bapatla 243235 6. Chittoor 304141 7. East Godavari 200131 8. Eluru 268082 9. Guntur 191059 10. Kakinada 217833 11. Konaseema 182707 12. Krishna 183312 13. Kurnool 285722 14. Nandyal 279679 15. NTR 160229 16. Palnadu 300788 17. Parvathipuram Manyam 211498 18. Prakasam 231572 19. Spsr Nellore 284403 20. Srikakulam 381063 21. Sri Sathya Sai 187579 22. Tirupati 281485 23. Visakhapatanam 32486 24. Vizianagaram 369669 25. West Godavari 166769 26. Y.S.R. 227441 (SOURCE: iFMS)