Fertilizer plants at Ramagundam, Talcher to commence production soon: Gowda

With the objective of making the country self-reliant in Urea, the Government approved in 2016 the revival of three sick Urea plants located at Gorakhpur, Sindri, and Barauni.

The Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Shri D.V. Sadananda Gowda launched the "APNA UREA - Sona Ugle" brand of Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Limited (HURL) at a function here today. On occasion, he also unveiled the Company’s logo.

HURL is a Joint Venture Company promoted by the three Maharatna Companies i.e. Coal India Limited (CIL), NTPC Limited (NTPC) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) as the lead promoters with FCIL and HFCL as other two partners.

With the objective of making the country self-reliant in Urea, the Government approved in 2016 the revival of three sick Urea plants located at Gorakhpur, Sindri, and Barauni. The task of the revival of these three Units has been undertaken by HURL. “The Prime Minister has directed for the revival of five major sick/shutdown fertilizer plants, three of which have been undertaken by HURL. The other two plants at Ramagundam and Talcher will also commence production soon,” said Shri Gowda. “We are importing 70-80 LMT fertilizer every year. After the commissioning of these five units, the total production of Urea will increase by 63.5 Lakh Metric Tonne Per Annum (LMTPA),” he added.

Lauding HURL for setting in place the delivery system and supply chain ahead of schedule, the Minister encouraged the Company’s Board to continue the momentum and hoped the commissioning of the three plants will also be advanced.

Speaking on the occasion, the Secretary, Department of Fertilizers, Shri Chhabilendra Roul stressed the balanced use of fertilizers including organic ingredients and micro-nutrients.

The HURL is being looked like a major emerging player in the Urea market due to the revival of the three closed units in 2021 having a total installed production capacity of 38.1 LMT of Neem Coated Urea per annum. The Company will establish and operate state-of-the-art environment-friendly and energy-efficient Natural Gas based new Fertilizer Complexes with the annual installed capacity of 1.27 MMTPA neem coated Urea at each of the three locations which are expected to be commissioned in February 2021 (Gorakhpur, UP) and May 2021 (Barauni and Sindri). The feedstock to the plants i.e. Natural Gas will be supplied by GAIL under the Pooled Price Mechanism.

The commissioning of the HURL’s three Units in the states of UP, Bihar, and Jharkhand will open forward and backward linkages for business activity in the Eastern part of India. It will be instrumental in opening new avenues for the generation of income and employment in the Eastern part of our country.

The other two Urea Units being revived are Ramagundam unit by M/s. Ramagundam Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (RFCL), a Joint Venture of National Fertilizers Limited (NFL), EIL & FCIL, and Talcher unit by M/s. Talcher Fertilizers Limited (TFL), a Joint Venture of Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited (RCF), CIL, GAIL & FCIL.

India’s average urea import is to the tune 63.12 LMT while the average total production of urea in the country is around 241 LMT and the total consumption (Sales) is 305.48 LMT approximately. The gap is fulfilled through imports.

(With Inputs from PIB)