'No proposal for merger of sick fertiliser units with profit-making firms'

"There is no proposal for merger of sick fertiliser units with profit making fertiliser units at present," minister said

The government has no proposal for the merger of sick public sector fertiliser units with profit-making fertiliser companies at present, Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

Currently, there are two sick public sector fertiliser manufacturing companies FACT ( Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd) and MFL (Madras Fertilisers Ltd) under the control of the Department of Fertilisers.

"Both units are operational. FACT has reported profit from 2018-19 fiscal to 2020-21. MFL has incurred losses from 2015-16 to 2019-20," Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Bhagwanth Khuba said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The minister mentioned that currently there is no such fertiliser manufacturing unit which is running in losses wherein loans have been waived and old machinery has been replaced recently.

"There is no proposal for merger of sick fertiliser units with profit making fertiliser units at present," he said.

For skill and management development of the personnel of these two sick units, the minister said MFL undertook 75 programmes for 921 personnel in the last three years, while FACT provided training to 268 employees.

Replying to another query on status of the closed unit of Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation Ltd (HFCL) located in Begusarai district of Bihar, the minister said the roadmap for its revival by a joint venture company named Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan Ltd (HURL) is in place.

The project has achieved overall progress of 94.8 per cent as on February 28, 2022. The plant is expected to start by the end of June this year, he said.

The minister said that pre-commissioning and commissioning activities are at full swing. The plant does not envisage any hurdles in realising full potential of plant.

There is no direct infusion of funds by the central government in the project. However, the Centre has granted interest-free loan equivalent to Interest During Construction (IDC) amounting to Rs 1,257.82 crore for all three plants at Gorakpur, Sindri and Barauni, he added.