Lok Sabha Question No. 2172 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-29
Subject: Operational Fertilizer Plants
Ministry: CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
Asked by: Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS DEPARTMENT OF FERTILIZERS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2172 TO BE ANSWERED ON: 29.07.2022

## Operational Fertilizer Plants

## 2172: SHRI SHRINIWAS PATIL:

Will the Minister of CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of   fertilizer plants operating in  public,  private sectors in the country along with the details of products and total capacity being utilized by such plants, State/UT-wise including Maharashtra;
- (b) whether the fertilizers produced by these plants are not sufficient to meet the demand of fertilizers in the country;
- (c) if the details of shortage of fertilizers faced in the country; and SO,
- (d) the corrective measures taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS (SHRI BHAGWANTH KHUBA)

(a) to (c): The details of number of fertilizer plants operating in public, private and COoperative sectors in the country with the details of products and total capacity being utilized by such plants, State/UT-wise including Maharashtra are at Annexure: Fertilizer are made available to the farmers, majorly through indigenous production. However; the gap between demand and   supply of fertilizers are met through the   imports. The availability of fertilizers has been comfortable and there is no shortage of fertilizers faced in the country: along

(d): Government of India has notified the New Urea Policy (NUP) 2015 on 25th 2015 for existing 25 gas based urea units with the objective of maximizing indigenous urea production; promoting energy efficiency in urea production; and rationalizing subsidy burden on the Government; The implementation of NUP-2015 has led to additional production from the existing gas based urea units due to which the actual production of urea has increased by 20-25 LMTPA in comparison to the actual production during 201415. May,

Predicting the demand-supply gap and increased of the imported urea, in 2021-22 one-time   permission was granted to the urea units set up under the new price investment policy and the units converted recently  from naphtha to natural gas as feedstock to produce beyond their annual  installed capacity. This   helped additional production of 1.51 Lakh Metric Ton (LMT) of Urea. Further; urea unit of Matix Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (Matix) in Panagarh had been lying shutdown since November 2017 was facilitated in restarting its production: Matix restarted production in September 2021 and produced 6.29 LMT urea during 2021-22. Further, Department of Fertilizers by means of various review meetings from time to time instructed all the urea units not to take any planned shutdown and optimize their urea production. These measures together led to the urea production of 250.72 LMT during 2021-22 which is the highest production, SO far.

Further; Government has notified Potash derived from Molasses 0-0-14.5-0) under its Nutrient Based   Subsidy (NBS) Scheme vide notification dated 13.10.2021. Potash derived from Molasses is a 100% indigenously manufactured fertilizers. This inclusion will help in increasing production of fertilizers.

Further; the following   steps are taken by the Government to ensure adequate availability of fertilizers in the country:

- Before the commencement of each cropping season, Department of Agriculture assesses the requirement of fertilizers. After assessment of requirement; DA&FW projects month wise & state-wise requirement of all fertilizers.
- ii\_ On the basis of month-wise & State-wise projection given by DA&FW; Department of Fertilizers allocates sufficientl adequate quantities of fertilizers to States by issuing monthly supply plan and continuously monitoring the availability.
- iii. The movement of all major subsidized fertilizers are monitored throughout the country by an on-line web based monitoring system called integrated Fertilizer Monitoring System (FMS);
- iv. The State Governments are regularly advised to coordinate with manufacturers and importers of fertilizers for streamlining the supplies through timely placement of indents for railway rakes.
- V Regular Weekly Video Conference is conducted jointly by Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) , Ministry of Railways and Department of Fertilizers (DoF) with State Agriculture Officials and corrective actions are taken to dispatch fertilizer as indicated by the State Governments.
- vi. The gap between demand (requirement) and production is met through timelyimports. In case of P&K fertilizers, the imports come under Open & General license and fertilizer companies import these fertilizers on their commercial judgments. base

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