MINISTER OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS AND PARLIAMENTRY AFFAIRS
(SHRI ANANTH KUMAR)
(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) to (d) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 286* FOR REPLY ON 07.08.2018 REGARDING “PRODUCTION/IMPORT OF UREA”.
(a) & (b): The total production of urea in the country and quantum of urea imported during the last three years & current and amount of revenue saved are given below:-
Years Production Urea Imports Qty declined Expenditure on Amount of revenue
of Urea (Figure in LMT) (in lakh MT) compare to the import of urea saved compare to
last year (In crore Rupees) last year.
2015-16 244.75 84.74 - 16400.00 -
2016-17 242.01 54.81 29.93 11256.59 5143.41
2017-18 240.23 59.75 - 9980.00 1276.59
As per the table above, a decrease in quantity of imports of urea between 2015-16 and 2016-17 can be observed. There is a marginal increase in imports between 2016-17 and 2017-18. However, a clear cut declining trend of expenditure during last three years is discernable. Savings in subsidy out go are Rs.5143.41 crore and Rs.1276.59 crore for 2016-17 and 2017-18 respectively. During the year 2017-18, subsidy saved was Rs.1276.59 crore despite slight increase in urea imports of 4.94 LMT, due to decrease in urea price in global market.
(c): The Government of India is promoting the judicious and balanced use of chemical fertilizers. The kg per hectare consumption of urea at all India level during the year 2016-17 was 140.84 kg.
The Government of India has introduced Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) with an aim to assist all State Governments evaluate fertility in all farm holdings across the country and issue soil health cards to farmers regularly in a cycle of 2 years. The Soil Health Card provides information to the farmer on nutrient status of their soil along with recommendations on appropriate dosage on nutrients to be applied for improving soil health and its fertility.
In order to ensure balanced use of fertilizers and reduce the consumption of urea, vide notification dated 4th September, 2017 Government of India has decided to introduce 45 kg bag of urea replacing 50 kg bag.
In order to encourage the use of neem coated urea having high nutrient efficiency over plain urea, the Government of India has made it mandatory for all domestic and imported urea to be neem coated.
(d): The Government has announced New Investment Policy (NIP) - 2012 on 2nd January, 2013 and its amendment on 7th October 2014 to facilitate fresh investment in Urea sector and to make India self-sufficient in the Urea sector. Under the provisions of NIP – 2012 and its amendment, Chambal Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (CFCL) has proposed to set up a Brownfield project with capacity of 13.4 LMT at Gadepan, Rajasthan, which is likely to start commercial production in January, 2019.
To increase the production of fertilizers by Central Public Sector Enterprises(CPSEs), Government has decided to revive 5 closed units namely Gorakhpur, Sindri, Talcher and Ramagundam units of Fertilizer Corporation of India Limited (FCIL) and Barauni unit of Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Limited (HFCL) through ‘Nomination Route’ through Joint Ventures of nominated Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). Each of these units are being revived by installing new Urea Plant having production capacity of 12.7 Lakh Metric Tonne Urea per annum.
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