Union Cabinet approves Rs 41,534 crore P&K fertilizers subsidy for kharif 2026 season

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday approved a Rs 41,534 crore subsidy for Phosphatic and Potassic (P&K) fertilizers for the upcoming 2025-26 kharif season, up by 12 per cent from the year-ago period.

A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the subsidy rates effective from April 1 till September 30, 2026.

The kharif (summer) crop planting begins with the onset of southwest monsoon from June.

"The subsidy has been increased by Rs 4,317 crore over kharif 2025 season," I&B Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters.

For the kharif 2026 season, the government has fixed the subsidy rate for nitrogen at Rs 47.32 per kg, phosphate at Rs 52.76/ kg, potash Rs 2.38/kg and sulphur at Rs 3.16/kg.

The subsidy rate for nitrogen, phosphate and sulphur fertilisers has been increased for the kharif 2026 season, while subsidy rate for potash has been kept unchanged from the 2025 rabi season.

For the just completed rabi season, the subsidy rate for nitrogen was Rs 43.02/kg, phosphate at Rs47.96/kg , potash Rs 2.38/kg and sulphur at Rs 2.87/kg.

The subsidy on P&K fertilizers is being governed by the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) scheme with effect from April 2010. Subsidy is given for 28 grades of P&K fertilizers.

Retail prices of non-urea fertilizers such as Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP), Muriate of Potash (MoP) and Nitrogen, Phosphate, Potash (NPK) are decontrolled and determined by manufacturers, while the Centre gives them fixed subsidies each year.

The budgetary allocation for the NBS and urea subsidy scheme for FY 2026–27 (which covers kharif 2026 and rabi 2026–27) is about Rs 1,70,799 crore.