NEW DELHI, 23 July 2020: With a view to become self-sufficient in urea production, government has started reviving the closed fertilizer units of Fertilizer Corporation of India Limited (FCIL) at Ramagundam, Talcher, Gorakhpur & Sindri and Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Limited (HFCL) unit at Barauni , Indian minister of chemicals and fertilizers D V Sadananda Gowda said recently.
The mknister said that NDA Government took various initiatives to boost fertilizer sector so that adequate amount of fertilizers could be made available to farmers during the sowing season.
Gowda said that under the provisions of New Investment Policy – 2012 and its amendment in 2014, Chambal Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (CFCL) has set up a Brownfield project at Gadepan, Rajasthan with a production capacity of 12.7 LMT Urea per annum. Here the commercial production started on 1 January, 2019 which helped in producing 244.55 LMT indigenous urea in the country during 2019-20.
The overall progress and likely commissioning of the projects are as under:
| Project | Overall progress | Likely commissioning of the project |
| Ramagundam | 99.58% | In pre-commissioning / commissioning stage |
| Talcher | 59.48% | By 2023 |
| Gorakhpur | 88.10% | By 2021 |
| Sindri | 77.80% | By 2021 |
| Barauni | 77.60% | By 2021 |
The minister further stated that as per Modified New Pricing Scheme (NPS-III), all of the Units which are using naphtha as feedstock are to be converted on natural gas .
Madras Fertilizers Ltd. has already moved from Naptha feedstock to Natural Gas as feedstock. After getting pipeline connectivity, this unit has started producing Urea w.e.f. 29 July, 2019 on natural gas feedstock.
The Minister also said that a major decision was also taken to infuse INR 900 crore in Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACT) for its Modernization.