Govt cracks down on diversion, black marketing of fertilisers

New Delhi: In a crackdown on suspected diversion and black marketing of fertilisers, the government has warned manufacturers that unusually high sales recorded through point-of-sale (POS) systems during the lean season could attract disastrous regulatory action.

"We have received notices over WhatsApp," a senior executive at a fertiliser firm told ET. The communication was informal and could mean anything between cancellation of registration to criminal proceedings, the person said.

Industry executives said the current demand is largely coming from regions where farmers are preparing to sow maize, after harvesting wheat.


Some farmers are also buying in advance, anticipating possible shortages due to the ongoing conflicts in West Asia, which have disrupted liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies, leading to manufacturing cuts of urea and other fertilisers, one of the executives said.

The government has been assuring that the fertiliser stocks in the country are adequate to meet the requirements of farmers during the ongoing Rabi 2025-26 season and beyond.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Anupriya Patel, minister of state for chemicals and fertilisers, said the country had 53.08 lakh metric tonnes of urea, 21.80 lmt of DAP, 7.98 lmt of MOP, and 48.38 lmt of NPKS as of on March 23.

Agriculture and farmers' welfare minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in a meeting last week, had instructed officials to take strict action against those engaging in the black marketing of fertilisers, encouraging states to do the same.