National Fertilizers
National Fertilizers Limited (NFL) – Miniratna (Cat-1) () () is an Indian government owned fertilizer producer under the ownership of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India that manufactures chemical fertilizers, organic fertilizers and industrial chemicals. As of 2018, it was the second largest producer of fertilizers in India. NFL, incorporated in 1974 is India's largest government corporation in Fertilizer Sector with a turnover of over Rs. 75 billion. Coming under the administrative control of Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, it is the second largest producer of the key fertiliser urea in India. NFL has five gas-based  ammonia-urea plants viz Nangal and Bathinda in Punjab, Panipat in Haryana and two at Vijaipur (Madhya Pradesh). History. NFL was established in 23 August 1974, as a public-sector undertaking of the Government of India. NFL initially operated two plants in Bathinda and Panipat. In 1978, the ownership and operations of the Nangal plant of FCI was transferred to NFL. The Govt. of India, in 1984, entrusted the company to execute the country's first inland gas based fertiliser project of 726,000 tonnes urea capacity in District Guna of Madhya Pradesh, and commercial production started from 1 July 1988 . The company built and commissioned its Vijaipur plant in Guna district of Madhyacapacity was doubled to 1.45 million tonnes in 1997. NFL was granted the Mini-Navratna status with additional autonomy due to its profitable operations. In 2001, the company went public, with listings on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange. Industrial and business operations. NFL has five gas-based urea plants viz Nangal and Bathinda in Punjab, Panipat in Haryana and two at Vijaipur (Madhya Pradesh). The plants at Panipat, Bathinda and Nangal have recently been converted from fuel oil feedstock to natural gas. Vijaipur plants  have also been revamped for energy saving and capacity enhancement. Products. NFL is engaged in manufacturing and marketing of urea, Neem-coated urea, bio-fertilizers (solid and liquid) and other allied industrial products like ammonia, nitric acid, ammonium nitrate, sodium nitrite, sodium nitrate etc. The value-added Neem-coated urea developed by NFL and widely recognized for its effectiveness is being produced at its three units at Panipat, Bathinda and Vijaipur. NFL is the first company in India to be permitted by the Government of India to produce and market Neem-coated urea. NFL manufactures and markets three types of  Bio-Fertilizers namely Rhizobium, Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria (PSB) and Azotobacter. Starting with a mere 23 MT production in 1995–96, the production has risen to 231 MT (Approx) in 2010–11. Business. The company is also doing trading business in various agro-inputs like certified quality seeds, compost / Vermicompost manure, agrochemicals like Insecticides / Herbicides, Bentonite Sulphur etc. Company is also taking up initiative for setting up of Single Super Phosphate (SSP), Heavy water, Bentonite Sulphur plants etc. Marketing. The company's marketing network comprises central marketing office at NOIDA, Four zonal offices at Bhopal, Lucknow and Chandigarh and Hyderabad, 14 state offices  and 39 area offices spread across the country. Future projects. An agreement for a joint venture company "Ramagundam Fertilizers And Chemicals Limited" has been signed on 14 January 2015 between National Fertilizers Limited, Engineers India Limited (EIL) and FCIL for setting up new ammonia and urea plants of 2200 MT per day and 3850 MT per day capacity respectively at the existing site of Ramagundam Fertilizer Plant in District. Ramagundam in Telangana. As per this joint venture agreement, NFL shall provide commissioning, operation, maintenance and marketing services to the joint venture company and EIL shall provide Engineering, Procurement and Construction  Management (EPCM) Consultancy Services for the project. The total capital expenditure of 50 billion is being funded in Debt:Equity of 70:30 percentage. NFL and EIL are contributing equity of 26% each and 11% is from FCIL. The balance equity is in the process of being tied up. The company also has a joint venture (33.33% share) “Urvarak Videsh Limited” with M/s. KRIBHCO and RCF as promoters. The main objective of the joint venture company is to explore investment opportunity abroad and within the country in nitrogenous, phosphatic and potassic sectors and to render consultancy services for setting up  projects in India and abroad. Consultancy. NFL is well known for taking up assignments in India and abroad in the fields of: Assignments taken abroad. Assistance in checking the operability and maintainability of PETROBRAS Fertilizer Plant in Brazil and training of Specialist Welders. Assistance in operation and maintenance of Ammonia and Methanol Complex of Gulf Petrochemical Industries Co., Bahrain. Assistance in operation and maintenance of Ammonia Plant of NAPETCO, Libya through UNIDO. Performance. Production. The percentage share of NFL in urea production in the country was 14.2% during 2012–13. The company produced 3211,000 tonnes of urea, which includes 10.83 LMT  of Neem-coated urea. 448 MT of bio-fertilizers (solid and liquid) was produced during the year. Sales and marketing. During 2012–13, company sold 31.62 LMT of urea (including 10.92 LMT of Neem-coated urea). Industrial products of worth ` 956.3 million and Bio-Fertilizers (liquid and solid) of` 36.5 million were sold during 2012–13. Turnover of traded Agri products (compost, seeds, Bentonite sulphur and pesticides) was ` 300.8 million. Financial. The company, during 2012–13, achieved a sales turnover of ` 67.47 billion (previous year ` 73.41 billion). The lower turnover was primarily due to lower urea production as  all the units were under shutdown for hooking up and commissioning activities of the projects. The loss before tax was ` 2306.2 million (previous year profit `1842.0 million) and loss after tax was ` 1707.3 million (previous year profit `1267.3 million). The main reasons for loss were due to the following: 1) Lower production / sale because of shut-downs taken for commissioning of urea capacity enhancement projects at Vijaipur and changeover of feedstock from Fuel-oil to natural gas at Nangal, Bathinda and Panipat Units. 2) Decrease in sale and contribution of industrial products due to non-availability  of cheaper ammonia, non-availability of gases, Sulphur and Argon gas at three Fuel-oil based Units post commissioning. 3) Provision for purchase tax liability pertaining to previous years. 4) Higher interest expenditure mainly due to delay in receipt of subsidy. Some of the major strategic issues affecting the profitability of the company include: 1) Non-allocation of domestic gas for operation of FO-based plants converted on natural gas at Panipat, Bathinda and Nangal Units. 2) Non-revision of concessional price for existing capacity of urea by updation of fixed cost in NPS-III. 3) Timely release of urea  subsidy from GoI.