Close on the heels of the Union Fertiliser Ministry demanding an extra Rs 60,000 crore for fertiliser subsidy over and above Rs 30,986 crore provided in the Budget, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday deferred a proposal regarding measures for standardisation and rationalisation of sale price of high-nutrient fertilisers, in particular single super phosphate (SSP) fertilisers. The CCEA meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Sources said Finance Minister P Chidambaram objected to the proposals by the Fertiliser Ministry on the grounds that the matter had not been discussed properly and contended that the exact proposals were not part of the GoM on fertiliser headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. The sources said the Cabinet asked both the ministries (Finance and Fertiliser) to go through the proposals afresh and bring them before it at the earliest. Apart from the Government subsidies, the proposals also sought to spread burden of high-nutrient value fertiliser prices on farmers and other stakeholders. The GoM, which concluded its meeting before the Budget, agreed to shift towards a nutrient-based subsidy regime where fertiliser products would become eligible for subsidy based on the nutrient content. But it referred the pricing issue to the Cabinet.