73% of India's fertiliser demand met via domestic production in 2025: Govt

This has happened as domestic production of fertilisers in 2025 reached an all-time record

Around 73 per cent of the country’s total fertiliser demand was met by domestic production in 2025, the government said on Friday. This comes amid reports of growing dependence on imported fertilisers.

 

Domestic production of fertilisers in 2025 had reached a record high, the official statement said.

 

Last week, the Fertiliser Association of India (FAI) cited data showing urea imports had more than doubled to 7.17 million tonnes in the first eight months of the current financial year as domestic production had declined, highlighting the country’s growing dependence on foreign supplies to meet the demand.

 

While the FAI based its argument on a financial-year basis, the government has made its calculations on a calendar-year basis.

 

According to the government, domestic production of fertilisers-- which is urea, di-ammonia phosphate, NPK and single super-phosphate (SSP)-- was around 43.32 million tonnes in 2021, which rose to 46.78 million tonnes in 2022. In 2023, it saw a big jump and rose to 50.79 million tonnes. In 2024, it touched 50.95 million and reached 52.46 million tonnes in 2025.

 

“Setting up of new fertiliser plants, revival of closed units, and boost to indigenous production have all boosted the sector,” the official statement said.

 

The FAI data, meanwhile, also showed that urea imports jumped 120.3 per cent to 7.17 million tonnes during April-November 2024-25 compared with 3.26 million tonnes in the year-ago period.

 

Domestic urea production fell 3.7 per cent to 19.75 million tonnes during the same period, the FAI data showed. Overall, urea sales rose 2.3 per cent to 25.40 million tonnes.

 

“While we’ve achieved sales growth through coordinated planning, the significant reliance on imports -- particularly for urea and DAP -- underscores the importance of strategic supply chain management,” FAI Chairman S Sankarasubramanian had said in a statement.

 

 The data showed that in November alone, urea imports rose 68.4 per cent to 1.31 million tonnes, compared with 0.78 million tonnes in November 2024, while urea sales rose 4.8 per cent to 3.75 million tonnes in November from over a year ago.