Cabinet clears Rs 62,370-crore rabi fertiliser subsidy, Rs 3,230-crore museum in North and South Block

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday, November 11, approved five decisions covering farm inputs, small-business credit, culture and urban transport, with a combined value of about Rs 77,101 crore. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw briefed reporters in New Delhi after the meeting.

Bigger fertiliser bill for rabi season

The largest item is the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) for phosphatic and potassic fertilisers for the rabi season, which runs from October 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027. The tentative requirement has been put at about Rs 62,370 crore, roughly Rs 24,418 crore more than the Rs 37,952 crore set aside for the previous rabi season. The subsidy covers 28 grades of fertilisers, including DAP and NPKS complexes.

The government linked the increase to recent movements in global prices of fertilisers and raw materials such as urea, DAP and sulphur. Vaishnaw said the subsidy would keep these fertilisers available to farmers at affordable prices. The rabi season is when wheat, pulses and oilseeds are sown, so input costs directly affect farm incomes across north and central India.

Credit support for small entrepreneurs

The Cabinet extended the Credit Guarantee Fund for Micro Units, which backs collateral-free loans under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, for five more years until March 31, 2031, with a Rs 5,000-crore guarantee corpus. The guarantee fee on eligible Mudra loans will be cut from 1 per cent to 0.75 per cent a year. The government expects the fund to support Mudra lending of about Rs 12.6 lakh crore over the period. According to official figures, more than 60 crore Mudra loans worth over Rs 43 lakh crore had been sanctioned by September 2026.

The Stand-Up India scheme, which offers loans between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore to women and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs for new ventures, was also extended to March 2031. It aims to reach another 2.5 lakh borrowers, after supporting over 2.75 lakh since its launch in April 2016.

Museum and metro

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs cleared the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum at an estimated cost of Rs 3,230 crore. It will reuse the colonial-era North and South Block buildings, with a built-up area of about 1.78 lakh square metres, and is to be developed in phases until 2030-31. The first gallery, on the theme of adornment, is expected to open in North Block in the later part of 2027. Vaishnaw claimed it would have the largest display area of any museum in the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the decision would give impetus to transforming the historic buildings.

The Cabinet also approved an 8.45-km elevated extension of the Noida Metro Aqua Line from Noida Sector 51 to Greater Noida Sector 4, with five stations, at a cost of about Rs 2,390 crore. Once running, it is expected to take the active metro network in Noida and Greater Noida to nearly 72 km.