The government on December 16 approved a subsidy of Rs 3,500 crore to sugar mills for the export of 60 lakh tonnes of the sweetener during the ongoing marketing year 2020-21.
"Cabinet has taken the decision to help farmers directly by depositing money of subsidy into their accounts. The subsidy will be given on 60 lakh tonnes of sugar exports at the rate of Rs 6000 per tonne," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said during a briefing today.
The minister said both "sugar industry as well as sugarcane farmers are in crisis" because of high domestic production at 310 lakh tonnes as against the annual demand of 260 lakh tonnes.
Javadekar said that the decision will benefit 5 crore farmers.
In the previous marketing year 2019-20 (October-September), the government provided a lump sum export subsidy of Rs 10,448 per tonne, costing the exchequer Rs 6,268 crore.
Mills exported 5.7 million tonnes of sugar against the mandatory quota of 6 million tonnes set for the 2019-20 season (October-September), according to official data.
(With inputs from PTI).
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