This paper estimates and compares the paid-out cost of cultivation of wheat in India, the most state-protected crop, during the input subsidy regime of the 1970s and 1980s and after its abolition in the 1990s, when economic reforms were initiated. The study uses the valuable time series information collected as part of the "comprehensive scheme' of the ministry of agriculture. After surveying the pattern of changes in inputs as well as costs of cultivation vis-