NFL scaling heights in Agro Sector & beyond

National Fertilizers Limited’s endeavor has been to constantly improve the production performance of the plants and achieve substantial growth in its marketing performance. A synergy of expert technical manpower and new business initiatives of the current management has boosted the chances of NFL becoming the dominant player in the agro sector.

NFL, till recently was a single product company with brand name as KISAN Urea. After the current management took over the reign of the company in 2015, besides challenge of turning around the company after consecutive losses during the year 2012-13 & 2013-14, a number of other common problems of the fertilizer sector like delay in receipt of subsidy, lower International Parity Price (IPP) of Urea, inadequate gas availability etc. were inherited by them.

NFL in a phased manner, forayed in to imports and sale of non-Urea fertilizers like DAP, MoP and Complex Fertilizers and has set its ambitious targets in the years to come. During 201617, company has imported and sold 2.14 Lakh MT of DAP. The company is also exploring long term agreements with the global manufacturers of these fertilizers to ensure smooth and competitive supply of imported fertilizers.

Apart from this, company has also set ambitious targets for domestic trading of various agro products like Agro Chemicals. For this, company has already started marketing of weedicides, pesticides, fungicides, compost and seeds. The Company is also envisioning to set up its own manufacturing unit in Bathinda for production of Crop Care Products.

KISAN BEEJ

NFL has also added another feather in its cap by entering in to production of certified seeds under the brand name “Kisan Beej”, thereby providing quality seeds to the farming community. Company has sold 52595 quintals of certified seeds

In order to tide over these challenges and de-risking the business, the company undertook a major shift in its strategy i.e. moving from a single product to multi-products company to double its top line as well as to ensure availability of all agro products to the farming community under a single roof.

during 2016-17 including 8271 quintals of wheat seeds produced for the first time by the company under its own Seed Multiplication Programme. Based on the encouraging feedback received from the market, NFL is set to increase its seeds production in the coming years. In order to give impetus to seed business, Company is in process of establishing a State-ofthe-art Seed Processing Unit in Indore. In addition to this, Company is also entering the business of Hybrid Paddy Seeds and shall soon launch Hybrid seed under its name ‘Kisan 157’.

BENTONITE SULPHUR PLANT

Towards adding new products through its own manufacturing facility, the company is already in the process of setting up a Bentonite Sulphur Plant with an annual capacity of 25000 MT at an investment of Rs. 42 crore at its Panipat Unit. This plant after commissioning by December 2017 shall help in a big way to address the problem of sulphur deficiency in the soil across the country and also reduce imports dependence thereby saving foreign exchange.

RECORD PRODUCTION

The year 2016-17 has been a landmark year for the company and achieved many record breaking results like ever best Urea Production of 38.10 LMT and ever best sale of Fertilizers of 39.75 LMT which included sale of Urea, imported DAP & Bentonite Sulphur. In addition, Company also achieved record sale of Nitric Acid surpassing previous record.

In the endeavor to improve the performance of existing manufacturing facilities, while meeting the stringent safety norms, the company re-started the production of Ammonium Nitrate in 201617 after a gap of more than 2 years and sold around 9293 MT of Ammonium Nitrate during 2016-17.

All efforts were made to maximize the capacity utilization of existing Nitric Acid plant at Nangal Unit and Company achieved a record production of 75,479 MT of Nitric Acid during 2016-17.

The GoI has incentivized additional production of Urea beyond 100% capacity utilization and also notified stricter energy norms to be implemented w.e.f. 01-042018 under new Urea Policy 2015. In line with this, company has initiated process to set up Gas Turbine Generators (GTGs) at its Panipat, Bathinda & Nangal Plants which will reduce energy consumption of these plants.

In line with the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the present Government, the company has formed a joint venture viz. Ramagundam Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (RFCL) with EIL and FCIL. RFCL is setting up a new gasbased Ammonia-Urea complex at the existing Ramagundam plant site of FCIL, with the capacity of 2200 MTPD of Ammonia and 3850 MTPD of Urea at an estimated cost of Rs. 5254 crore with scheduled completion by end of 2018. After commissioning of RFCL, Company’s aggregate production capacity shall touch about 50 LMT of Urea. With this, Company’s presence shall expand beyond North and Central to Southern India.

Apart from this, company is also foraying into ventures beyond India and is currently exploring to set up a DAP Plant in Algeria through Joint Venture.

The company is also setting up a Di-Nitrogen Tetra Oxide (N2O4) plant at Vijaipur for ISRO on Built, Own, Operate & Supply (BOOS) model.

The company has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Department of Fertilizers, Government of India, for the fiscal year 2017-18. Under the MoU, the company has targeted production of 38.00 Lakh MT of Urea and sales turnover of Rs.7,500 crore. The MoU lays stress, inter alia, on financial performance, growth in sale of Certified Seeds under Seeds Multiplication Programme, timely achievements of milestones of various capital projects, inventory control and commissioning of Bentonite Sulphur Project.