MSC has been engaged in a nationally representative study on DBT in fertilizer in India, based on a request from NITI Aayog. It identified issues and challenges around the implementation of DBT at the national level.

Over the past few years, there was a continuous effort by the government to streamline the in-kind distribution of fertiliser. Targeting fertiliser subsidies directly to farmers would be a herculean task, but can be attempted by combining several initiatives that the central government and some state governments have undertaken over the past years. This note discusses potential solutions to improve in-kind transfers and suggests few ideas for cash transfer pilots for fertiliser subsidy.

The Indian government initiated DBT in fertiliser to plug leakages and bring transparency in the system. Direct Benefit Transfer in Fertiliser (DBT-F) in its current form is a modified subsidy payment system, where the government pays subsidy to fertiliser companies only after fertiliser retailers have sold fertiliser to farmers or buyers. The subsidy isn’t directly credited to farmers in their bank accounts owing to certain challenges. This note highlights the major barriers to distributing fertiliser subsidy through cash transfers and in-kind transfers.

The blog highlights lessons from the digitisation of government to person (G2P) programmes in India

This blog discussed possibilities regarding how India can phase out kerosesne subsidy.

The blog identifies how India can move towards an efficient fertiliser distribution system.

The report elaborates key findings of the study on three major aspects —Farmer Readiness, Retailer Readiness, and Transaction Status. It also explains best practices being followed by districts based on indigenous wisdom and provides actionable solutions for smooth implementation of AeFDS initiative.

This Policy Note Part II, details out the “Seven Steps of DBT Programme Design” for a robust and beneficiary centric direct benefit transfer programme.