India to replace 2.5 million tonnes of conventional urea with nano urea in FY24, minister says

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₹7 crore) produced by the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) were sold from August 2021 to February 2024, the minister said. Nano urea is a liquid form of the fertiliser for which IFFCO owns the patent. Though the cooperative claims that nano urea increases the availability of nitrogen to crops by 80% and reduces the loss of nutrients from fields, these claims have been disputed by several scientists.

Three plants across the country produce conventional urea to meet domestic demand. With India’s urea consumption growing at 6-7% a year, the government aims to use a fourth plant for its production. With this plant – owned by Talcher Fertilizers Limited in Odisha – urea production capacity could be increased by 1.25 mt a year, the minister said.

The three plants currently in use produce 28.4 mt of urea a year. Increasing the production of conventional urea and using nano urea could reduce India’s import bill by around ₹15,000-20,000 crore, union fertiliser secretary Arun Singhal said in April 2023. Data from the department of chemicals and fertilisers showed that India’s fertiliser requirement ranges from 58 to 63 million tonnes a year, but the country produces only about 43 to 46 million tonnes and the rest is imported.

India, the second-largest consumer of fertilisers after China, is entirely dependent on imports for muriate of potash (MOP), a granular fertiliser with 60% potash content. It also imports 4.3 to 4.7 million tonnes of phosphate rock, 9.1 to 9.8 million tonnes of urea, 5.3 to 5.4 million tonnes of di-ammonium phosphate, and 1.2 to 1.4 million tonnes of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilisers. The government spends a hefty amount on this.