The Union Cabinet on April 20 approved a plan to boost fertilizer production in India through the use of technology oriented processes. A crucial component of Make in India, a new subsidy costing Rs 13,277 crore will be exclusively provided to Talcher Fertilizers Limited (TFL).
"The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for the proposal of the Department of Fertilizers for the formulation of exclusive subsidy policy for Urea produced through coal gasification route by Talcher Fertilizers Limited (TFL)," the official statement said.
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According to CCEA, the project will improve availability of fertilizer to farmers thereby boosting development of eastern region -- Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand, and will save transport subsidy for supply of urea in eastern part of the country. Also, it would assist in reducing urea imports to the tune of 12.7 LMT per annum leading to savings in foreign exchange, the statement added.
As coal prices are non-volatile and coal is abundantly available, coal gasification plants are strategically important. The CCEA was of the opinion that Talcher plant would reduce dependence on important Natural Gas for production of urea leading to reduction in LNG import bill.
The gasification process adopted in Talcher unit is a clean coal technology giving negligible SOx, NOx and free particulate emissions as compared to directly coal fired processes, the official statement said.
The Cabinet also approved an agreement signed between India and Bangladesh on cooperation in trade remedial measures. It also gave its nod to mutual recognition agreements signed between the The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and its counterparts in Australia and New Zealand.
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