Lok Sabha Question No. 27 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-02
Subject: Import of Fertilizers
Ministry: CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
Asked by: Dr. T. Sumathy (a) Thamizhachi Thangapandian, D. M. Kathir Anand

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.27 TO BE ANSWERED ON02.02.2024

## Import of Fertilizers

## 27. DR. T. SUMATHY (a) THAMIZHACHI THANGAPANDIAN: SHRI  D.M. KATHIR ANAND:

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

- (a) whether it is a fact that India's import of fertilizers during 2022-23, stands at US$ 18 Billion and from China alone accounts about US$ 3 Billion and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the  steps  taken/proposed  to  be  taken  by  the  Government  to  attain  selfsufficiency in demand and supply of Fertilizers by 2030;
- (c) whether the Government has been providing Rs. 80,000 crore as Fertilizer subsidy every year; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof along with the current prices of fertilizers along with the subsidy provided to farmers across the country, State/UT- wise?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS

## (SHRI BHAGWANTH KHUBA)

(a): The  Government  of  India  through  Department  of  Fertilizers  imports  urea (Agriculture purpose) on Government account to bridge the gap between production and assessed demand. The import of urea and its value in Billion US$ during the 2022-23 is as under:

|   Quantity (in Lakh MT) of urea imported in 2022- 23 |   Value of urea in Billion US$ |   Quantity (in Lakh MT) of urea imported from China in 2022-23 |   Value of urea imported from China in Billion US$ |
|------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|
|                                                 75.8 |                          4.751 |                                                           12.8 |                                              0.831 |

So far as P&K fertilizers is concerned these grade of fertilizers are covered under  Open  General  License  (OGL)  under  the  Nutrient  Based  Subsidy  Scheme (NBS).  They  are  imported  by  the  companies  on  their  commercially  viable  terms. The value of imported P&K fertilizers is not maintained in the Department. However, the quantum of P&K fertilizers imported during the year is given in the table below:

|   Quantity (in Lakh MT) of P&K fertilizers imported in 2022-23 |   Quantity (in Lakh MT) of P&K fertilizers imported from China in 2022-23 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                                         112.01 |                                                                        13 |

(b): The  Government had announced  New  Investment Policy  (NIP)  -  2012  on 2 nd January,  2013  and  its  amendment  on  7 th October,  2014  to  facilitate  fresh investment in the urea sector and to make India self-sufficient in the urea sector. Total 6 new urea units have been set up under NIP - 2012. These are Panagarh urea unit of Matix Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. (Matix); Gadepan-III urea unit of Chambal  Fertilizers  and  Chemicals  Ltd.  (CFCL);  Ramagundam  urea  unit  of Ramagundam  Fertilizers  and  Chemicals  Ltd.(RFCL);  and  3  urea  units  namely Gorakhpur, Sindri and Barauni of Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Limited (HURL). Each of these units have the installed urea production capacity of 12.7 Lakh Metric Tonne  per  annum.  Therefore,  these  units  have  together  added  76.2  LMT  per annum in the existing indigenous urea production capacity of the country which is currently 283.74 LMT.  Further, an exclusive policy has been notified on 28 th April 2021 for the revival of Talcher unit of FCIL by setting up a new greenfield urea plant of 12.7 LMT per annum at coal gasification route.

The  Government  has  notified  the  New  Urea  Policy  (NUP)  -  2015  on 25th May,  2015  with  one  of  the  objectives  of  maximizing  indigenous  urea production. The NUP-2015 has led to additional production of urea as compared to the production during 2014-15.

In order to increase indigenous urea production in the country, Government of  India  mandated  revival  of  Ramagundam  (Telangana),  Gorakhpur  (Uttar Pradesh), Sindri (Jharkhand) and Talcher (Odisha) units of Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCIL) and Barauni (Bihar) unit of Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Ltd. (HFCL) through Joint Venture Company (JVC) of nominated PSUs for setting up new  ammonia-urea  plants of 12.7 LMT  per annum  capacity each. The Ramagundam and Gorakhpur units have been commissioned on 22.03.2021 and 07.12.2021 respectively. Also, Barauni and Sindri units started urea production on 18.10.2022 and 05.11.2022 respectively. These four plants have added 50.8 LMT of domestic urea production capacity in the country.

Government has implemented Nutrient Based Subsidy Policy w.e.f. 1.4.2010 for Phosphatic and Potassic (P&K) Fertilizers.  Under the policy, a fixed amount of subsidy, decided on annual/semi-annual basis, is provided on notified P&K  fertilizers  depending  on  their  nutrient  content. Under  this  policy,  MRP  is fixed by fertilizer companies as per market dynamics at reasonable level which is monitored by the Government.

Further,  P&K fertilizers  are  covered  under  Open  General  License  (OGL) and companies are free to import/produce these fertilizers as per their business dynamics. Based on examination of requests received, permission is granted to the  fertilizer  companies  for  increasing  their  manufacturing  capacity  and  for induction of new P&K companies & their fertilizer products under NBS, with a view to boost manufacturing and make country self-reliant in fertilizer production. The other measures taken are: (i)  To  promote  Potash  derived  from  Molasses  (PDM)  which  is  100% indigenously  manufactured  fertilizer  has  been  notified  under  Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) regime w.e.f. 13.10.2021.

(ii) Freight subsidy on SSP, which is an indigenously manufactured fertilizer, has been made applicable for Kharif and Rabi 2023-24 to help in promotion of SSP usage for providing Phosphatic or 'P' nutrient to the soil.

(c): The  year  wise  expenditure  on  NBS  subsidy  from  2019-20  onwards  till present is as under:

| 2019-20   | - Rs. 83,468 crores (AE)   |
|-----------|----------------------------|
| 2020-21   | - Rs. 131,229 crores (AE)  |
| 2021-22   | Rs. 157,640 crores (AE)    |
| 2022-23   | - Rs. 254,799 crores (AE)  |

(d): Urea is provided to the farmers at a statutorily notified Maximum Retail Price (MRP). The MRP of 45 kg bag of urea is Rs.242 per bag (exclusive of charges towards  neem  coating  and  taxes  as  applicable).  The  difference  between  the delivered cost of urea at farm gate and net market realization by the urea units is given  as  subsidy  to  the  urea  manufacturer/importer  by  the  Government  of  India. Accordingly, all farmers are being supplied urea at the subsidized rates.

The  current  average  MRP  of  P&K  fertilizers  for  the  FY  2023-24  (as  on 30.01.2024) (as received from NIC Consultant) is enclosed.

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## Grade-wise Average  MRP per MT of notified P&K fertilizer under NBS regime (Figure in Rs.)

|   S. No | Product                          | 2023-24 as on 30.01.2024   |
|---------|----------------------------------|----------------------------|
|       1 | 10-26-26                         | 29394                      |
|       2 | 12-32-16                         | 29958                      |
|       3 | 14-28-0-0                        | 30681                      |
|       4 | 14-28-14                         | 33500                      |
|       5 | 14-35-14                         | 30861                      |
|       6 | 15-15-15                         | 29017                      |
|       7 | 15-15-15-9                       | 29003                      |
|       8 | 16-16-16                         |                            |
|       9 | 16-20-0-13                       | 24449                      |
|      10 | 17-17-17                         | 25000                      |
|      11 | 19-19-19                         | 31286                      |
|      12 | 20-20-0                          | 23656                      |
|      13 | 20-20-0-13                       | 25136                      |
|      14 | 20-20-0-13(UAP)                  |                            |
|      15 | 24-24-0                          | 33120                      |
|      16 | 24-24-0-8                        | 30922                      |
|      17 | 28-28-0                          | 30882                      |
|      18 | Amm Sulphate                     | 20000                      |
|      19 | Boronated 12-32-16               | 28500                      |
|      20 | City Compost                     |                            |
|      21 | DAP                              | 27000                      |
|      22 | FOM                              | 7052                       |
|      23 | Imported 10-26-26                | 29344                      |
|      24 | Imported 12-32-16                | 31232                      |
|      25 | Imported 15-15-15                | 29071                      |
|      26 | Imported 15-15-15-9              | 29048                      |
|      27 | Imported 16-16-16                | 25220                      |
|      28 | Imported 16-20-0-13              | 28998                      |
|      29 | Imported 17-17-17                |                            |
|      30 | Imported 20-20-0                 |                            |
|      31 | Imported 20-20-0-13              | 26038                      |
|      32 | Imported DAP                     | 27000                      |
|      33 | Imported DAP Lite                |                            |
|      34 | Imported MAP                     | 33980                      |
|      35 | Imported Neem Coated Urea(45 Kg) |                            |
|      36 | LFOM                             | 6826                       |
|      37 | MOP                              | 34208                      |
|      38 | Neem Coated Urea(45 Kg)          |                            |
|      39 | PROM                             | 14742                      |

|   40 | SSP-Boronated                     | 12130   |
|------|-----------------------------------|---------|
|   41 | SSP-Granular                      | 11057   |
|   42 | SSP-Powdered                      | 10536   |
|   43 | SSP-Zincated (Granular)           | 11797   |
|   44 | SSP-Zincated (Powder)             | 10984   |
|   45 | SSP-Zincated-Boronated (Granular) | 13998   |
|   46 | TSP                               | 25000   |
|   47 | Zinc and Boron NPK 8-21-21(40 Kg) | 42787   |
|   48 | Zinc and Boron NPK 9-24-24(40Kg)  | 44732   |
|   49 | Zincated 10-26-26                 | 30000   |
|   50 | Zincated 12-32-16                 | 28500   |
|   51 | Zincated 20-20-0-13               | 26445   |
|   52 | Zincated DAP                      |         |
|   53 | Zincated NPK 14-35-14             | 32000   |

* Data from https://dbtfert.nic.in/

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