New fertiliser units to boost production in next five years

Six to seven fertiliser manufacturing facilities are expected to boost domestic production over the next five years. “For the last one decade, the country has not seen a new fertiliser plant but the Prime Minister has now told us that we should strictly follow the principle of ‘Make in India’. Accordingly we are going to start and revive at least 6-7 fertiliser plants in next 5 years in both public and private sectors,” said Ananth Kumar, the Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, at the Fertilizer Association of India (FAI) conference in New Delhi on December 11, 2014. The minister said this will be done through a mixture of new units and revival of closed sites to augment the country’s existing capacity.
 
Assuring the industry that government will clear fertiliser subsidy arrears within a month, Ananth Kumar also assured that various issues relating to the fertiliser sector would be addressed at the earliest.
 
At present, about eight units of state-owned FCIL and HFCL are closed. The ministry is working on reviving the five closed plants of the Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd (FCIL) and Hindustan Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd (HFCL).
 
The Fertilizers Ministry is seeking increased supply of gas for urea manufacturing plants. It has also asked oil ministry to explore the possibility of gas pipeline from Phulpur to Haldia, the minister pointed out and that this can lead to revival of five closed plants.
 
Meanwhile, Ananth Kumar, during a discussion on a private members bill in the Rajya Sabha on December 12, 2014, pointed out that government is making every effort to increase production of fertilisers in the country by reviving closed fertiliser companies at Gorakhpur, Talcher and at Ramagundam to begin with. He also proposed that the issue of reviving FACT can be discussed further with Union finance minister and the Chief Minister of Kerala. The Minister said government would extend subsidy to the three southern-based fertiliser companies in Mangalore, Chennai and Tuticorin, provided the State governments waive VAT on Naphtha based on which these plants are producing fertiliser at a high cost.
 
While calling for a comprehensive fertiliser policy, Ananth Kumar said in the Rajya Sabha that there is a need to have a scientific debate on how to rationalise nutrient based subsidy (NBS) to bring down prices of N-P-K fertilisers. “We need to take urea, NPK, organic, bio-fertilisers and micro nutrients into consideration while discussing issues of imbalanced use of chemical fertilisers,” he added. The minister hoped that the announcement in the budget for setting up over thousand soil testing centres would help farmers to plan the mix of fertilisers that they should use.