(LiveMint)
After putting a lid on the runaway petroleum subsidy by decontrolling petrol and diesel prices and limiting LPG subsidy to the really needy, the Centre has quietly put in place a mechanism to curb its fertiliser subsidy outgo. So far, fertiliser outlets in 31 states/UTs in the country have installed electronic point of sale (ePoS) devices linked to Aadhaar. And, according to preliminary estimates, the subsidy outgo on these farm inputs has reduced by around a third thanks to the new mechanism — flagged as in-kind direct benefit transfer (DBT) — that weeded out most unintended beneficiaries (see chart). EPoS facilities make it impossible for retailers to sell subsidised fertilisers without authenticating the deliveries with the Aadhaar-validated thumb impressions of the farmer being captured on the machines with each purchase. Earlier, fertiliser companies used to get the subsidy amounts once the soil nutrient reached a district and it was not based on actual sales. Now, the Centre is releasing the subsidy to a company based on sales data after actual sales are recorded through ePoS machines. In fact, ePoS-enabled sale of fertilisers to farmers had resulted in some savings to the exchequer in 2017-18 itself. Since the coverage of the facility has increased considerably during the last two quarters of the fiscal, the fertiliser subsidy came down from an estimated Rs 70,000 crore (budget estimate) to Rs 6,5000 crore (revised estimate) in 2017-18.
