India extends policy for natural gas-based urea plants beyond 1 April

LONDON (ICIS)–India’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) said on Monday it has approved the proposal by the Department of Fertilizers to continue incentives for natural gas-based urea plants after 1 April.

The move will ensure regular operations at urea plants and continued supply of the crop nutrient to farmers, CCEA said.

Energy-efficiency regulations were tightened by the New Urea Policy 2015, under which the government incentivised companies that used energy-efficient technologies to increase production.

The policy was aimed at increasing domestic urea production and to promote energy efficiency in plants to reduce the subsidy burden on the government.

In March 2017, an amendment was made to allow manufacturers to produce additional quantities of urea.

The amendment was valid until 1 April 2019.

Indian urea imports are estimated at around 7m tonnes/year, while domestic production is expected to be over 24m tonnes/year in the Indian fiscal year, which runs from April to March.

Pictured: Farming fields in Jammu and Kashmir, India
Source: Frank Bienewald/imageBROKER/REX/Shutterstock