The Parliamentary Standing Committee report says that until December 2019, 1182.04 lakh metric tonnes of fertilizers have been sold under Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme.
Currently, the identity of the buyer or farmer is authenticated through Aadhar-based identification, Kisan Credit Card, biometric or voter ID.
The subsidies are paid to the fertilizer companies based on the receipts of their sales made by the retailers to the beneficiaries.
The fertilizers subsidies consume 0.5% of GDP which is the second highest after food.
The three major types of fertilizers used are Urea, Muriate of Potash and Diammonium Phosphate.
Of all these fertilizers, urea accounts to 86%.
Currently, the Government of India is taking several steps to control the use of urea and replace it with NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) fertilizers.