In an interview given to Indian Express IFFCO Managing Director U S Awasthi emphasized that the rationalization of subsidies to eliminate leakages should be the government’s priority.
Talking about gas pooling scheme, IFFCO MD felt that his move will have a positive impact on the overall energy consumption pattern for urea production. By bringing uniformity in input costs through gas pooling, the cost of production will vary only with variation in energy consumption levels.
On fertiliser sector claim to be given priority in terms of allocation of gas, Awasthi said “This should be need based. Domestic gas is not adequate for the production in fertilisers. Nearly 25 per cent gas is imported by the Indian fertiliser industry to fulfill the demand.”
On IFFCO venturing out into banking he clarified that IFFCO does not have any certain plans to get into the banking sector. Strengthening the cooperatives is the first priority and it is important to make them digital for a good efficient banking infrastructure.
Excessive use of Urea has been MD’s concern and once again said farmers to desist from it. Of course, the excess use of only urea is impacting the productivity of soil as it is depleting the nutrient contents of the soil, he added.
Talking on DBT he felt there is an urgent need to rationalise the requisite subsidies. The government needs to improve targeting of subsidies and eliminate leakages through direct benefit transfer (DBT) using JAM platform.