NTPC has announced earlier this week that it was entering into a joint venture with Coal India – Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayn Ltd – to revive Gorakhpur and Sindri fertilizer plants of Fertilizer Corporation of India. NTPC said that “pursuant to joint venture agreement dated 16 May 2016 signed with Coal India Ltd, a Joint Venture Company in the name of ‘Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayn Limited’, with 50:50 shareholding by NTPC & Coal India has been incorporated on 15 June 2016”.
The joint venture company will be in charge of the revival of Gorakhpur and Sindri plants of the ailing Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd by setting up ammonia urea plants at both locations. The joint venture company between NTPC and Coal India is designed to revive fertilizer plants at Sindhri and Gorakhpur, whereby the revitalization of these plants would help generate 1.27 million tons of urea annually as well as other associated chemicals from each plant, which would help bridge the demand-supply gap of urea, currently standing at about 8 million tons annually.
“Things, however, are at the initial stage and both companies will put their heads together in finalizing a detailed roadmap and mapping out other details in a threadbare manner in days to come,” a CIL official had commented. Last year, CIL had signed up for a joint venture with GAIL and major fertilizer companies, RCF and FCIL, to incorporate a firm for setting up and operating a new ammonia urea complex in Odisha. These deals are part of the government’s efforts to revive closed fertilizer plants through joint ventures, aiming to increase domestic production of the crop nutrient.
