With 3 new projects ready to take off, urea imports set to decline.

Urea imports are set to dip with the Government expected to notify changes in the new investment policy shortly.

'Apart from increasing availability of domestic urea, the revised policy has the potential to bring investments of Rs. 15,000-20,000 crore in the next three years,' Fertiliser Secretary Shaktikanta Das told BusinessLine. The previous Government had already approved changes in the new investment policy, but these could not be notified due to the elections.

With the revised policy, the Ministry sees implementation of at least three projects immediately. These include revival of the defunct unit of Fertiliser Corporation of India at Talchar in Odisha, setting up anew project at Thal in Maharashtra and a third one from the private sector.

Each of the first three will have a manufacturing capacity of 1.3 million tonnes and involve an investment of approximately Rs. 5,000 crore each. Once these projects are completed, domestic availability is expected to rise by around 4 million tonnes, thus reducing dependence on imports.

HBL