Panel urges review of dormant urea plants as India weighs next fertiliser capacity push
A parliamentary committee has urged the government to examine reviving dormant urea plants at Durgapur, Haldia and Korba. The push comes as domestic production trails consumption and demand is projected to rise sharply by 2035-36.
India’s fertiliser debate is shifting from subsidies and imports to a more basic question: how much dormant industrial capacity can be brought back before new plants are the only option? A parliamentary panel has now pressed the government to examine whether long-idle urea facilities at Durgapur, Haldia and Korba can be revived, arguing that the country’s rising demand leaves little room to ignore existing assets.Why the committee is revisiting old plantsStanding Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers placed its report in the Lok Sabha on Monday, focusing on self-sufficiency in fertiliser production and the bottlenecks that keep India reliant on imports. The panel said the case for reviving legacy units deserves closer scrutiny because the domestic supply gap is widening and demand is expected to climb further over the next decade.What the panel wants the government to examineDepartment of Fertilizers to take a time-bound view on the Durgapur, Haldia and Korba facilities, rather than deferring the issue until after other plants stabilise. The report said the department’s reply effectively pushed a decision on the Durgapur and Haldia units of Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Ltd and the Korba unit of Fertilizer Corporation of India to a later stage, tied to future demand-supply calculations.Existing revival plan may not close the gapRamagundam plant in Telangana, Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, Sindri in Jharkhand, Talcher in Odisha and Barauni in Bihar, with each new ammonia-urea project designed for 12.7 lakh tonne per annum capacity.Namrup in Assam has also been approved and a joint venture agreement has been signed.Why the issue matters for policy and marketsindustrial policy slogan. Urea remains central to Indian agriculture, and any supply disruption quickly feeds into farm sentiment, subsidy outgo and import dependence. For policymakers, the question is whether reviving old units can offer a faster bridge than waiting for greenfield capacity to mature.The road ahead for urea capacity