Nutrient-Based Subsidy for Rabi 2026-27 Set at Rs 62,370.02 Crore

The Government has cleared the Nutrient-Based Subsidy (NBS) rates for phosphatic and potassic fertilisers for Rabi 2026-27. The decision was taken on 11 November 2026 and the rates hold from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027, the season in which wheat, gram and mustard go into the ground.

How much money is set aside

The tentative outlay works out to about Rs 62,370.02 crore. That is more than 64 per cent above the Rs 37,952.29 crore kept for Rabi 2025-26, the increase being read against the movement of international fertiliser and input prices.

The rates per kilogram

What the scheme does

Running since 1 April 2010, the scheme ties the subsidy on a fertiliser to the nutrients it carries rather than to the product, and rates are fixed twice a year, once for Kharif and once for Rabi, over 28 grades of P and K fertilisers. Since this part of the trade is decontrolled, makers and importers set the maximum retail price under government watch, and the farmer gets the benefit of the subsidy at the counter.

Special provisions continued

• Di-Ammonium Phosphate stays available at a fixed Rs 1,350 per bag beyond the regular subsidy, a provision extended to imported and domestic Triple Superphosphate and to imported Monoammonium Phosphate.
• Freight subsidy on Single Superphosphate continues, so that it works as an affordable substitute for DAP.
• Subsidy on imported and domestically made Ammonium Sulphate continues.
• Under the sulphur package, domestic makers of sulphur and sulphuric acid get a fifth of the actual procurement cost, with floor prices of USD 800 and USD 266.67 a tonne respectively.

Where the scheme stands

Between 2022-23 and 2025-26 the Government paid out over Rs 2.79 lakh crore as subsidy on indigenous and imported P and K fertilisers. Stocks of major fertilisers rose from 173.46 lakh tonnes on 10 November 2025 to 235.21 lakh tonnes a year later, a gain of roughly 35.6 per cent, urea making up the largest share of that stock.