India approves $4 billion to aid farm incomes

NEW DELHI, Sept 18 (Reuters): India's cabinet has approved spending more than $4 billion to support farm incomes and blunt food price volatility until the fiscal year 2025/26, the information minister said on Wednesday.
The cabinet also approved fertiliser subsidy of 244.75 billion rupees ($2.92 billion) for winter sown crops, Information Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
The fertiliser subsidy is part of the 1.64 trillion rupees allocation made in the federal budget for this fiscal year.
Food inflation in India has remained high for nearly two years, prompting the government to intervene via export curbs and stock limits to cool prices. These steps, in turn, have hurt farm incomes.
In August, headline inflation was at 3.65 per cent but food inflation remained elevated at 5.66 per cent.