Urea is an important nitrogenous fertiliser and Tata Chemicals is a major manufacturer of the product in India Tata Chemicals makes urea at its fertiliser complex in Babrala. The complex has an installed capacity of 8,64,000 tonnes per year, which constitutes nearly 12 per cent of the total urea produced by India's private sector.
The Babrala facility, among the best of its kind in India and comparable to the best in the world, has set new standards in technology, energy conservation, productivity and safety. It is the only fertiliser plant in the country to use dual feedstock: natural gas or naphtha, or a combination of both.
The nature of the soil in many Indian regions is such that nitrogenous fertilisers are an important input for most crops. It is, thus, important that farmers have access to good urea at low cost.
Government aid
To make fertilisers available to farmers at affordable prices and to encourage balanced use, the Indian government regulates the sale price of fertilisers and provides a subsidy on urea and concessions on decontrolled phosphatic and potassic fertilisers. The government provides subsidy for the production and use of fertilisers under the retention price-cum-subsidy scheme (RPS), which was introduced in 1977.
The main objective of the scheme is to insulate farmers from fluctuations in fertiliser costs. It is also intended to ensure that fertiliser consumption does not suffer, as its growth was an essential ingredient of the Indian green revolution.
The RPS scheme is aimed at assuring a reasonable return on investment to indigenous manufacturers and to attract further investment in the fertiliser sector. The scheme has proved its worth in terms of stimulating higher production and use of fertilisers, thereby contributing to increased agricultural production in the country.
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