Giving fresh breath to the ailing sugar industry in the state, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to switch over to the revenue sharing price fixation model from the current season. Under the new model, farmers will be assured of fair and remunerative price (FRP) and will also receive a share in the profits over and above the FRP. Tamil Nadu finance minister and deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam announced the new policy in his budget speech on Thursday Maharashtra and Karnataka have already migrated to the revenue sharing price fixation formula based on the recommendations of Dr Rangarajan Committee. But Tamil Nadu continues to fix state advisory price (SAP) over and above the FRP. To resolve this issue, the state has decided to switch over to the new model from the current season, he said. The sugar industry has been going through an extended phase of distress due to various factors such as failure of monsoon, varietal degeneration, reduced recovery, decline in area under sugarcane and the resultant reduction in capacity utilisation of sugar mill. This has affected timely payments to farmers. In order to facilitate the transition, the state government will protect the interests of farmers by assuring them of the present SAP of Rs 2,750 per metric tonne excluding transportation cost of Rs 100, by paying the difference between the present SAP and the price received under a new revenue sharing formula as transitional production incentive directly to the farmers.