Closed fertiliser plants to get ~50,000-cr lifeline

The Central government, along with cash-rich public sector undertakings in the coal, power, and oil sectors, will jointly invest over ~50,000 crore to revive closed fertiliser plants and set up gas pipelines, which would make India self-sufficient in urea by 2020-21.

Briefing reporters after a mid-course assessment on reviving closed fertiliser plants in India, Union Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Ananth Kumar said as and when all the five closed fertiliser units started fullfledged operation, India’s annual domestic urea production would rise to around 7.3 million tonnes, thereby meeting the demand of 3132 million tonnes.

Besides investing in rebuilding the shut urea plants in Gorakhpur (UP), Sindri (Jharkhand), Talcher (Odisha), and Barauni (Bihar), about ~13,000 crore is being invested in laying a gas pipeline to connect the eastern region with the rest of the country.

Another ~6,000-8,000 crore was being invested in setting up a terminal to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) at Dhamra in Odisha, taking the total to ~50,000 crore, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who was also present during the meeting, said. “India's annual requirement of urea is 31-32 million tonnes. In the fiscal year that ended on March 31 (2016-17), domestic production was 24.5 million tonnes and the rest was imported," Ananth Kumar said.

Reviving the fertiliser units will boost the productivity of agriculture, which accounts for about 15 per cent of India's $2.11 trillion economy and employs three-fifths of its 1.3 billion people.

Pradhan said physical work on the four fertiliser plants would start this year and production would start in 2020-21.

Work on the Ramagundam (Telangana) unit has started and is expected to be completed by the end of 2018, according to Pradhan. The fertiliser plants are being revived with the help of staterun power producer NTPC Ltd, miner Coal India Ltd, oil refiner Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and gas utility GAIL India Ltd, which have taken equity stakes in the plants.

In view of continuous losses, Fertiliser Corp of India Ltd’s (FCIL’s) units at Talcher, Ramagundam, Gorakhpur, Sindri, and Korba (Chhattisgarh) were shut down in 2002 during the previous NDA rule.

Similarly, Hindustan Fertiliser Corp Ltd’s (HFCL’s) Barauni, Durgapur (West Bengal), and Haldia (West Bengal) units in West Bengal were shut down.