By Dr. Gyan Pathak
Department of Fertilisers, Government of India has said that in active coordination with Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, and the state government it took effective action against black marketing of fertilisers. In fact, it is half the truth. Black marketing of fertilisers continues along with the problem of shortage, price manipulation, and spurious fertilisers in the market. Farmers, preparing for the Rabi crop for 2025-26 season, are facing the challenges, and hence more action are required.
These are persistent problem in India, though national availability is reported as good. The problem is with regional and local distribution bottlenecks, in respect of transport, shortage, hoarding, and diversion. It creates artificial shortage, give rise to sale of spurious fertiliser, manipulation of prices, and the creation of black market. Since import of certain fertilizers have been disrupted, the Rabi season 2025-26 has become more troublesome for farmers in getting quality fertiliser at affordable price. It is most likely to impact the production.
The dimension of the problem is self-evident in the statement of the Department of Fertilisers. It said that it undertook a comprehensive drive during Kharif and ongoing Rabi season 2025-26 (April to November) to protect farmer interests and secure the national fertilizer supply chain. Secretary DA&FW and Secretary Fertilizers, GOI held several joint meetings with the State Governments.
In the statement the department said, “Working in close coordination with State Governments, effective enforcement action on an unprecedented scale including raids, inspections, and legal measures to curb black marketing, hoarding, and diversion of fertilizers has been taken by the district authorities.”
The Department of Fertiliser has even claimed that these proactive and strict steps taken by the State Governments ensured timely availability, reinforced market discipline, and upheld the integrity of fertilizer distribution across all regions of the country.
The scale of the black market is obvious in the outcome of the actions taken in the last eight months, during which a total of 3,17,054 inspections and raids were conducted across the country to monitor the distribution network.
These operations led to the issuance of 5,119 show cause notices for black marketing, resulting in the cancellation or suspension of 3,645 licenses and the registration of 418 FIRs nationwide.
The campaign against hoarding produced 667 show cause notices, 202 license suspensions/cancellations, and 37 FIRs.
To check diversion, authorities served 2,991 show cause notices, cancelled/suspended 451 licenses, and registered 92 FIRs. All enforcement actions were executed under the Essential Commodities Act and the Fertilizer Control Order, ensuring strict compliance and accountability.
Several States adopted a holistic approach with multidimensional interventions, the Department of Fertiliser said. Uttar Pradesh led the drive, carrying out 28,273 inspections, issuing 1,957 show cause notices for black marketing, and cancelling or suspending 2,730 licenses, along with 157 FIRs.
The Department of Fertilizer has said further that Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat were among other states that demonstrated robust enforcement, deploying large-scale inspection teams, extensive monitoring, and prompt legal action.
Maharashtra’s campaign included 42,566 inspections and over 1,000 license cancellations for diversion-related violations; Rajasthan conducted 11,253 inspections with comprehensive action across different categories, and Bihar executed nearly 14,000 inspections and more than 500 license suspensions. These initiatives prevented artificial shortages and price manipulation during the peak agricultural season.
Enforcement teams, in coordination with State Governments, issued 3,544 show cause notices in cases of suspected sub-standard fertilizers, resulting in 1,316 license cancellations or suspensions and 60 FIRs as a part of strict adherence to the Fertilizer Control Order, 1985.
Regular sampling and rigorous testing were conducted at multiple levels to eliminate sub-standard material from the supply chain, thereby ensuring that only fertilizers meeting prescribed standards reached the end users. Through these sustained quality checks, central and state authorities continued to protect farmer interests and uphold the integrity of India’s fertilizer distribution network, the Department of Fertiliser has claimed.
The Department of Fertilizers has commended the outstanding efforts of state and district administrations, agricultural officers, and law enforcement agencies for their proactive, sustained vigilance and prompt action. It said that state-level authorities, leveraging digital dashboards and coordinated resource deployment, ensured real-time monitoring of stock movement, swift redirection of seized or hoarded fertilizers to cooperative societies, and rapid response to complaints from farmers.
The Department of Fertiliser has said that it remains committed to ensuring the availability and integrity of fertilizers and calls on all citizens to remain alert and responsive. They have also urged farmers, dealers, and stakeholders to continue reporting irregularities and support transparent and lawful fertilizer distribution.
These are the stock statements issued by the department every now and then, but black marketing remains persistent. It clearly shows that the government needs more action to stop black marketing of fertilisers which may include reduce dependency on import and streamline of the supply chain to make quality fertilisers available to farmer at affordable prices. (IPA Service)
