Government reviving five fertiliser plants to reduce urea imports

The government is reviving five closed fertiliser plants at a cost of Rs 37,971 crore to increase urea production in the country and reduce imports, Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers D V Sadananda Gowda said on Tuesday.

Four of these plants of Fertiliser Corporation of India are located at Talcher in Odisha, Ramagundam in Andhra Pradesh, Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and Sindri in Jharkhand. The fifth plant of Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation is located at Barauni in Bihar.

New ammonia urea plants of 12.7 lakh tonnes per annum capacity each will be set up at these places, Gowda said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

"Subsequent to commissioning of these plants, the indigenous urea production will be enhanced by 63.5 lakh tonnes per year, leading to corresponding reduction in import of urea. The project cost of urea plants is Rs 37,971 crore approximately," he said.

In the past three years, average imported urea is 63.12 lakh tonnes and average expenditure is Rs 12,797.31 crore. The average total production is about 241 lakh tonnes while total consumption is 305.48 lakh tonnes, said Gowda.

The government fixes the maximum retail price of urea and manufacturers are compensated by way of subsidies.