Question : PRODUCTION OF FERTILIZERS

(a) whether the production of urea and other fertilizers by fertilizer producing companies including private sector companies has declined;

(b) if so. the details thereof and the reasons therefor indicating the quantum of urea and other fertilizers produced during each of the last three years and the current year, company -wise ;

(c) whether all the units of the fertilizer companies have achieved the target set for production of fertilizer in the country;

(d) if so, the details thereof company-wise and if not, the reasons therefor during the said period along with the steps taken/being taken to achieve the target set for the purpose: and

(e) whether the Government proposes to distribute fertilizers to all the States as per requirement and if so, the details thereof ?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS (SHRI HANSRAJ GANGARAM AHIR) -

(a) to (d) : The details of company-wise/unit-wise /Target/Production of fertilizers during last three years and current year are at Annexure-‘A. Urea fertilizer units are producing as per their target. But some of the DAP & Complex Fertilizers plants are under-utilized mainly due to i) inadequate availability of Natural Gas ii)shutdown of plants for maintenance and iii) shortage of raw materials etc.

In order to facilitate fresh investment in the urea sector and bridge the gap between consumption and production, the Government notified the New Investment Policy 2012 on 2nd January 2013. Further, amendment to New Investment Policy- 2012 has been notified on 7!h October, 2014. Insofar as P & K fertilizers are concerned, the country is fully dependent on imports in respect of Potash as no indigenous natural resources are available and to the extent of 90% for phosphatic fertilizer in the form of either finished products or its raw materials. The Government has been encouraging Indian Companies to establish Joint Ventures abroad in Countries which are rich in fertilizer resources for production facilities with buy back arrangements and to enter into long term agreement for supply of fertilizers and fertilizer inputs to India. Further, the Department is also working with the goal of having access to acquisition of the fertilizer raw materials abroad.

(e): The month-wise demand is assessed and projected by the Department of Agriculture & Co-operation (DAC) in consultation with State Governments before commencement of each cropping season. On the basis of month-wise & state-wise projection given by DAC. Department of Fertilizers allocates sufficient/adequate quantity of fertilizers to State by issuing monthly supply plan and continuously monitors the availability through following system:

(i) The movement of all major subsidized fertilizers in being monitored throughout the country by an on-line web based monitoring system (www.urvarak.co.in) also called as Fertilizer Monitoring System ( FMS).

(ii) The State Governments are regularly advised to coordinate with manufactures and importers of fertilizers for streamlining the supplies through timely placement of indents for railway rakes through their state institutional agencies like Markfed etc.

(iii) Regular Weekly Video Conference is conducted jointly by Department of Agriculture & Co-operation ( DAC), Department of Fertilizers ( DoF) and Ministry of Railways with State Agriculture Officials and corrective actions are taken to dispatch fertilizer as indicated by the state Governments.

(iv) The gap in the,demand and domestic production of fertilizer is met through imports.