Page 127 - CW E-Magazine (29-7-2025)

Point of View

Self-suffi ciency in fertiliser manufacture – a lofty

goal that must be diligently pursued

Food security is high priority for India and rightly so. The transformation of the country from one fatally dependent on imports of foodgrains
at the time of Independence to one surplus in most, needs to be lauded. This has been possible by policy measures enabling the cheap and
abundant availability of key inputs – high yielding varieties of seeds, nutrients for the soil, and agrochemicals to protect crops from pest attacks
and keep stored grains safe. The Green Revolution which ushered in a never-before-seen increase in agricultural productivity is one of the most
transformative events of modern India, but not a laurel to rest on.

Nutrients needed
The availability of fertilisers in the right place, time, and price has been a high priority for governments whatever their political hue. There
has always been a heavy hand of government in luring investments into fertiliser manufacture, in where projects are sited, how feedstocks are
allocated, and, importantly, how nutrients are selected and priced. The extent of control has diminished over time, but the fertiliser sector still
remains a politically sensitive one in which the Centre and the States keep oversight.

The large volume nutrients needed are nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potash (K). In addition, there are several other so-called micro-
nutrients that, as the name suggests, are needed in smaller volumes, but are still critical. These include boron, iron, magnesium, zinc, etc.
Among the nitrogenous fertilisers, urea is the most widely used (globally and in India), through several others can also provide the N needed.
The alternatives include monoammonium phosphate (MAP), diammonium phosphate (DAP), ammonium nitrate (AN), calcium ammonium nitrate
(CAN), ammonium sulphate (AS), etc. All also provide other nutrients, aside of N – phosphorus in the case of the phosphates, calcium in the
case of CAN, and sulphur in the case of AS.

The important potassic fertilisers include potassium chloride (KCl) (also known as muriate of potash, MOP), potassium sulphate (K SO ), and
4
2
potassium nitrate (KNO ). These are water-soluble, making the potassium readily available for plant uptake. MOP is the most widely applied K
3
fertiliser because of its relatively low cost and because it includes more K than most others.
The largest volume phosphatic fertilisers in use in India is DAP.
Import dependence
India’s domestic production of each of the major fertilisers – urea, DAP and MOP – falls below domestic demand, and the gap is met through
imports. Approximately 20% of urea, 50-60% of DAP, and 100% of MOP are currently imported. Besides, India also imports NPK compounds,
which are tailored formulations with specific ratios of each of the three nutrients.

In FY25, India imported about 5.6-mt of urea, 4.6-mt of DAP and 2.7-mt of MOP. While urea imports have been on a downward trend in
recent years as domestic production increased, newer formulations enabled higher use efficiencies, and wastage was curbed, imports of DAP
and MOP remain high.

Raising urea production
Raising domestic availability of fertilisers is constrained by the availability of feedstock, and the appetite of the private sector to invest in a
business where there is the looming presence of government.

Urea manufacture hinges on availability of ammonia, and the latter needs natural gas as fuel and feedstock. The availability of domestic
natural gas in the offshore Bombay High fields, and the creation of a network of pipelines to carry the gas to the hinterland, led to a flurry of new
ammonia/urea capacity in the mid-1990s, which build-up has not been matched since. In more recent times, this gas has been supplemented
by imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and the two are now supplied to all urea/ammonia plants at a ‘pooled’ price. Manufacturing units were
also encouraged to switch from liquid fuels to natural gas – for more efficient operations – and this transition is complete.

In the last three years, a concerted attempt has been made to revive four defunct urea plants in the public sector. These are being done
through consortia of companies and while three projects are based on natural gas, the fourth is on coal, inspired by the success of China’s
industry to leverage this hydrocarbon resource for making ammonia and methanol, in particular.

The political desire to keep urea prices to farmers below manufacturing costs has forced payment of subsidies to producers. There are some
who opine that India will do well to import cheaper foreign urea instead of producing it at higher costs from relatively more expensive ‘pooled’

Chemical Weekly July 29, 2025 127

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