‘Revival of fertiliser plants can make India an exporter’

Starting up four plants can add 75 lakh metric tonnes

The Centre’s revival of four fertiliser plants at a total cost of ₹50,000 crore has the potential to turn India into a fertiliser exporting country from an importing one, Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Ananth Kumar said.

“When all these plants (at Barauni, Singhri, Gorakhpur, and Talcher) start, they will add about 75 lakh metric tonnes to the output, taking the total capacity to about 320 lakh metric tonnes,” Mr. Kumar told reporters following a joint review meeting with Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Power Minister Piyush Goyal.

“From a fertiliser importing country, we will be capable of exporting.”

“In agriculture, one of the most important issue is that of fertiliser,” Mr. Pradhan, who was also present at the press conference, said.

“The expenditure and the construction activities for all four plants will begin in calendar year 2017 after the monsoon, and depending on the availability of the Prime Minister, he will lay the foundation stones at that time,” he said.

Eastern region

Mr. Pradhan also emphasised the Centre’s plan to improve development in the eastern region of the country, adding that massive infrastructure investment in the region would be a boost to a ‘Second Green Revolution’ in the region.

“A massive investment of ₹50,000 crore is being undertaken for the revival of the closed fertiliser plants and setting up of a gas pipeline network to connect Eastern India to the national gas grid,” Mr. Pradhan said.

“Of this, ₹20,000 crore would be invested to revive the plants at Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), Barauni (Bihar) and Sindri (Jharkhand).”

The government will be investing ₹8,000 crore in the Talcher fertilizer plant in Odisha through a consortium comprising Fertilizer Corporation of India, Gas Authority of India Limited, Rashtriya Chemical and Fertilizer Limited, and Coal India Limited. The Talcher facility will also be the first plant to deploy a coal gasification system.

“We have already improved the capacity of the existing fertiliser plants from 225 lakh metric tonnes to 245 lakh metric tonnes at no additional cost,” Mr. Kumar said. “With neem coating, every granule of fertiliser has higher efficiency, and so we have reduced our fertiliser demand by 10% and increased agriculture output by 10%.”