Fertilizer Subsidy in India: Who are the Beneficiaries?

Agricultural subsidies that encourage production and productivity have been widely criticized because of the cost of subsidies and they are perceived to be far from uniformly distributed. There is a general view in academic, policy and political circles that agricultural subsidies are concentrated geographically, they are concentrated on relatively few crops and few producers and in many cases do not reach the targeted group(s). This paper examines trends in fertilizer subsidy and the issue of distribution of fertilizer subsidies between farmers and fertilizer industry, across regions/states, crops and different farm sizes. [W.P. No. 2009-07-01]