Digital tracking of urea sales, coming soon to a mobile app near you

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Centre is building a digital system to track the sale of its urea, in an effort to curb diversion and hoarding of its most-utilized fertilizer at a time of broken supply chains and concerns of food security.The new system, spearheaded by the Department of Fertilizers, will require Aadhaar-based biometric authentication through a mobile app currently under development, two people familiar with the plan said. At a later stage, the system will also integrate farmers' land records, crop details, and fertilizer requirements based on landholding.

The plan draws heavily from similar models in Haryana, Rajasthan and Telangana, the people said on the condition of anonymity.The move is significant for India, the world’s largest urea importer and its second-largest fertilizer consumer. The country expects to spend ₹1.71 trillion in subsidizing fertilizers in the current fiscal year, a big chunk of which will go towards urea.

Adding to the urgency is the war in West Asia, the source of around two-third of urea imports and nearly 32% of India’s diammonium phosphate (DAP) imports in FY25.“We plan to adopt best practices already implemented by other states to streamline inventory management and distribution. These initiatives have enabled authorities to better align supply with demand and curb diversion,” the first person cited above said.The platform will streamline access to key nutrients such as urea and DAP, by enabling farmers to place advance orders through their mobile phones.

Farmers may be able to select nearby retailers, check real-time availability and receive booking confirmations or delivery timelines. The move is expected to reduce last-mile bottlenecks, long queues at retail outlets