Foundation stone for the Talcher Fertiliser project laid by PM Narendra Modi

India: Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd will start working on the fertilizer plant at Talcher, Odisha which is based on coal gasification. The cabinet has approved the proposal of an equity investment of INR 1033.54 crore by the Department of Fertilizers for setting up the project in Talcher Fertilizer Ltd. PM Narendra Modi laid the foundation of the unit which has been shut down since the year 2002. This revival is expected to create new job opportunities and increase the growth of fertilizers and natural gas by the Country. The fertilizer plant in Talcher is expected to begin production within the stipulated time frame of 36 months. This plant will be seeing the conversion of coal into gas which will be used as feedstock and for the production of neem coated urea. This project will help India cut off natural gas and fertilizer import from outside and push the country towards its aim of becoming self-reliant. The plant is supposed to use the latest technologies for the production of natural gas which will then be used to produce neem coated urea. The fertilizer project is expected to produce around 1.27 million tonnes of urea coated with neem which is a crop nutrient. They will be using the technology of coal-gasification for the production of feedstock for the plant. The Talcher Fertilizer Ltd. is a joint venture among GAIL, RCF, Coal India Ltd (CIL) and Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd. The shareholding to revive the fertilizer plant is 29.67% of GAIL as well as of RCF and CIL each and 10.99% of FCIL. According to the industry analysis of BlueWeave Consulting, the revival of the fertilizer plant in Talcher will guarantee a huge investment by the government in the fertilizer sector through PSUs.  For the first time in India, the technology of coal gasification is being used to derive gas from the black diamond coal. This will help the country in reducing the import of natural gas fertilizer. The project is also expected to generate about 4,500 employments. The Fertilizer project will produce around 2.38 million cubic metres natural gas equivalent per day by utilising the coal available domestically in an organic and environment friendly way. This is estimated to reduce the import bill of LNG by almost INR 1,620 crore every year. The economy of the state and eastern region will also get a boost due to this project leading to the indigenous production of urea so that the country can have higher self-reliance in the sector of urea. This will promulgate the production of natural gas and fertilizer industry in the country.