The railway Budget proposals, presented by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in Parliament Today, proposed to hike freight rates for 12 commodities in the range of 0.8 percent to 10 percent.
The government reimburses the difference between the cost of production and MRP in form of subsidy to fertiliser companies. The Department would also consider the industry's demand to review the cost of urea production, the basis on which the subsidy is paid to manufacturers.
RG Rajan, CMD, Rashtriya Chemical Fertilisers (RCF) explains on CNBC-TV18 that the new investment policy, based on import parity pricing, maybe approved during this week or next and calls for a hike in urea prices as P&K (phosphorus and potassium) prices have gone up.
In a blow to the farmers, the price of urea which is used in fertilisers is set to go up by 10%ent. The government has planned to reduce the subsidies.
A group of ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee would meet on August 5 to finalise the policy on partially decontrolling urea prices.