Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 7 (IANS) The government Friday said states and para military forces have been asked to check smuggling of fertilisers to neighbouring countries.
The Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Srikant Jena, told Rajya Sabha that there were reports of smuggling of fertilisers from India. “However, these have not been confirmed by the state governments.”

“The state governments and para military forces have been asked by the home ministry and the fertiliser ministry to keep a vigil and check smuggling of fertilisers, if any, from India to neighbouring countries through land and sea routes,” said Jena.

Reports said smuggling of commonly used fertilisers like DAP across India’s porous borders, especially to Nepal and Bangladesh, is a thriving business. For, there is a huge price differential between the subsidised indigenous fertilisers and prices in the neighbouring countries where fertilisers are not subsidised.

And this has implication for the government’s annual fertiliser subsidy bill.

Jena said fertiliser subsidy in 2008-09 was more than in the last fiscal because of higher prices of raw material and finished fertilisers in the international market.

“The subsidy outgo in the year 2008-09 was more because of higher prices of finished fertilisers, raw material in the international market. We had spent Rs.64,032.3 crore on fertiliser subsidy during the year 2009-10 whereas the payments of 99,494.71 crore of which Rs.79,494.71 crore in cash and Rs.20,000 crore in the form of bonds were made during the year 2008-09,” the minister informed the house.

The sales of DAP, MOP and NPK fertilisers during 2009-10 were higher than those compared with the sales during 2008-09.

“In the case of urea, the sales during 2009-10 have been lower than that compared with the sales during 2008-09,” he added.