Fertiliser Min to send new urea policy to the Cabinet soon

The fertilizer ministry is likely to send the new urea policy proposing a 10% hike in prices to the Cabinet for approval by next week, say CNBC-TV18 sources. In the past ten years, the government has raised urea prices only once by 10% from Rs 5,310 per tonne to Rs 5,841 per tonne.

The draft policy mooted by the ministry also proposes pooling of natural gas prices for the fertiliser sector. Under gas price pooling, the government will calculate the subsidy on urea based on the weighted average pooled gas price. About 85% of the country's urea production is gas-based.
Sources also say if the prices are revised, it will help the government to reduce its subsidy bill by atleast Rs 1,800 crore.
It may be recalled that in the Union Budget 2012-13, the Finance minister has announced 
that the government would reduce the outgo on major subsidies including food, oil and fertilisers to Rs 1.79 lakh crore from Rs 2.08 lakh crore estimated in the last fiscal.