Parliament Question: Sale of Spurious Fertilizers

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS DEPARTMENT OF FERTILIZERS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1047 TO BE ANSWERED ON: 25.07.2025 SALE OF SPURIOUS FERTILIZERS 1047: SHRI BABU SINGH KUSHWAHA: SHRI DAROGA PRASAD SAROJ: Will the Minister of CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has taken note of the fact that companies often sell spurious or low quality fertilizers to farmers, causing damage to crops and suffer financial losses; (b) if so, the number of such cases reported during the last five year, State-wise including Uttar Pradesh along with the action taken in such cases; (c) whether it is a fact that several cases of sale of spurious or low quality fertilizers have been registered in Uttar Pradesh during the recent years and if so, the details thereof; (d) whether any concrete action has been taken against such fraudulent companies apart from registering FIRs and seizing fertilizers, if so, the details thereof and if not, the response of the Government thereto; (e) whether the Government proposes to issue any guidelines to take strict action against such companies and if so, the details thereto; and (f) whether the Government is aware that growing prices and reduction in weight of fertilizers and short weight of fertilizers every successive year is putting excessive financial burden on the farmers across the country rendering them unable to procure fertilizers for their farming, if so, the details thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS (SMT. ANUPRIYA PATEL) (a) to (e) The 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 spurious or low quality fertilizers is punishable under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. Moreover, quality control of fertilizers comes under the purview of State Governments. In order to regulate the sale of duplicate fertilizers in the State, there is a District Quality control mechanism for awareness & vigilance at the field level and awareness is spread among the farmers on the regular basis through press note, TV talks, Kishan Gosti, Krushimela, Krushi Mahotsav etc.-2- Accordingly, as per the information received from States including the State of Uttar Pradesh, the information regarding the number of cases of spurious or low quality fertilizers in the States and action taken against them during the last 5 years is placed at Annexure. (f) Subsequent to the introduction of Neem Coated Urea (NCU), one of the primary benefits of Neem Coating is that due to slow release, the consumption of NCU reduces as compared to normal Urea. Hence, vide notification dated 4th September 2017, it was decided to introduce 45 Kg bag of Urea in place of 50 kg bag. 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) since 01.03.2018. Further, Government has implemented Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Policy w.e.f. 01.04.2010 for Phosphatic and Potassic (P&K) Fertilizers. Under of the policy, a fixed amount of subsidy, decided on annual/bi-annual basis, is provided on notified P&K fertilizers depending on their nutrient content. Under NBS Scheme, MRP is fixed by fertilizer companies as per market dynamics at reasonable level which is monitored by the Government. However, to ensure affordability, special provisions like Rs. 3500 per MT to cover Other Costs' which includes costs incurred from factory gate to farm gate, advantage / disadvantage due to increase /decrease in international prices, provision for GST component included in the MRP and provision for reasonable return @ 4% of net MRP (MRP-GST) have been extended to both imported and domestic DAP and imported TSP over and above NBS subsidy for Kharif 2025 season. *******Annexure Annexure referred to in reply to (a) to (e) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No 1047 for answering on 25.07.2025 Number of cases related to Spurious or Low Quality Fertilizers reported by States during last 5 years Andaman and Nicobar NIL NIL 1 2 Andhra Pradesh NIL NIL 3 Arunachal Pradesh NIL NIL 4 Assam 5 Lincences of the concerned were cancelled. 5 Bihar NIL NIL The action against the fertilizer company is Chhattisgarh 1 6 under proces in the court of distric collector. 7 Dadra and Nagar NIL NIL 8 Daman and Diu NIL NIL 9 Delhi NIL NIL 10 Goa NIL NIL 11 Gujarat NIL NIL 12 Haryana 707 52 FIR registered 13 Himachal Pradesh NIL NIL 14 Jammu and kashmir NIL NIL 15 Jharkhand NIL NIL 16 Karnataka 14 14 FIR registered License No. of cases reported suspended -5 for Fake Fertilizers: Hearing 17 Kerala NIL conducted – N 72 Warning - o. 247 of Cases of Explanation Substandard fertilizers: called for - 577 1026 Show cause notice - 126 18 Lakshadweep NIL NIL 19 Madhya Pradesh 17 Action Taken as per FCO-1985 & ECA-1955. 20 Maharashtra 37 3721 Manipur NIL NIL 22 Meghalaya NIL NIL 23 Mizoram NIL NIL Odisha 610 LoA cancelled: 94, LoA suspended: 228, 24 Other action (stop sale/seizure): 267, Prosecution launched: 21 25 Puducherry NIL NIL The licenses of these companies were revoked. 146 Cases are pending in various courts againt Punjab 487 companies that supplied substandard fertilizers 26 to farmers and 18 FIRs have been filed against the defaulter in such cases across the State of Punjab. 27 Rajasthan NIL NIL 28 Sikkim NIL NIL The Trial is 29 Tamil Nadu 01 proceeding at Hon'ble JM Court No. 2, Coimbatore. 30 Telangana NIL NIL 31 Tripura NIL NIL 32 Uttarakhand NIL NIL 33 Uttar Pradesh 44 44 FIRs registered West Bengal 3127 Action Taken as per FCO-1985. 35