-The Economic Times A Committee of Secretaries (CoS) recommendation for a 10% increase in Urea prices notwithstanding, the fertiliser ministry is in no mood to bite the bullet. The ministry has categorically said in a note that it opposes the recommendation and that there should be no price revision. The Cabinet has been deferring a price raise for the last six months due to the fertiliser ministry's opposition. The government has been...

-Outlook The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved a urea investment policy that is likely to incentivise fertiliser firms setting up new plants and expanding existing capacity. India imports over 30 per cent of urea requirement and the policy aims at reducing that. But, it is unlikely to have any impact on existing prices. "The new urea investment policy has been cleared," sources said after the CCEA meeting here. The policy, which...

-The Indian Express Economy Govt drafts plan to boost farming, allied sectors with Central fund. Kolkata: To boost the state’s economy, the Trinamool Congress government has set up an ambitious target of 8 per cent growth rate in agriculture and allied sectors for the next fiscal year. The current growth rate in agriculture is a mere 2.6 per cent. A draft proposal prepared by the Agriculture Department on the ways to achieve the...

-The Business Standard Cabinet decisions on fertiliser are not enough Of the two fertiliser-related decisions taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs at its recent meeting, the token hike of Rs 50 per tonne in Urea prices is inconsequential, and the new mechanism for subsidising fertiliser is problematic. An increase of less than one per cent in Urea prices will do little to bring down the subsidy bill or to reduce...

-Tehelka Policy flaw lets private players jack up prices and siphon off massive government subsidies. TO DROUGHTS and abject poverty, farmers can add another crisis: sky-rocketing fertiliser prices. The issue has prompted eight chief ministers of large states to seek the intervention of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers (MoCF) in the matter. Consider, for example, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash (MoP), two fertilisers that used to have massive demand...