India’s dependence on imported fertilisers and critical raw materials remains an important challenge for its agricultural and economic resilience. As global supply chains face increasing uncertainty, building a stronger domestic fertiliser ecosystem has become essential not only for ensuring timely availability of nutrients to farmers but also for strengthening India’s long-term food security.
Against this backdrop, Dr. Suhas Budhe, Advisor, Soluble Fertilizer Industry Association (SFIA), speaks to Firenib News about the key priorities for making India’s fertiliser sector more self-reliant. In this interaction, Dr. Budhe discusses the need to strengthen domestic manufacturing, develop integrated value chains, reduce import dependence, secure critical raw materials and promote efficient nutrient management.
The conversation also looks at the policy and industry interventions required to build a more resilient fertiliser sector and examines what India needs to prioritise to move from import dependence towards greater domestic capability and self-reliance.
1.Top Priorities for Domestic Self-Reliance:
The foremost priority to insulate Indian agriculture from global supply chain shocks and price volatility is bridging the chronic deficit in indigenous urea and phosphatic production.
Accelerating Greenfield and Brownfield Capacities: Fully operationalizing modern, energy-efficient manufacturing units through progressive policy frameworks like NIPU to add millions of tonnes of domestic capacity.
Raw Material Diversification & Sourcing Security: Mitigating over-dependence on volatile West Asian shipping routes by forging long-term bilateral supply pacts and joint ventures for critical raw materials—such as rock phosphate, phosphoric acid, and potash —across stable global hubs.
Nutrient-Use Efficiency (NUE) Correction: Actively shifting away from brute-force volume expansion toward scientific application, correcting severe NPK imbalances, and curbing the massive subsidy drain caused by unmitigated chemical overuse.
2.Policy Support, Investments, and Technological Advancements
Expanding domestic manufacturing requires a predictable, long-term investment climate backed by smart policy engineering:
Transparent and Flexible Fiscal Incentives: Policy frameworks must separate fixed and variable costs, offer competitive Return on Equity (RoE) bands, and provide robust foreign exchange risk mitigations.
Technology-Led Manufacturing: Transitioning legacy industrial plants toward advanced gas-based manufacturing, low-carbon production methodologies, and automated process controls.
Scaling Next-Gen Alternatives: Institutionalizing advanced high-efficiency nutrient delivery systems that drastically cut down bulk transport requirements and reduce warehousing overheads compared to traditional granular inputs.
3.The Role of Specialty and Soluble Fertilisers
Specialty, water-soluble, and customized micronutrient-coated fertilisers are instrumental catalysts for both import substitution and sustainable agronomy.
Precision Agronomy and Fertigation: Soluble fertilisers integrate seamlessly with micro-irrigation, delivering nutrients directly to plant roots, minimizing runoff, and preventing chemical fixation.
Import Substitution via Value Addition: Targeted domestic blending and manufacturing of specialty grades capture higher value domestically, optimize crop yields per drop, and reduce the volume of raw fertilizer intensity.
4.Building an Integrated Domestic Fertiliser Value Chain
India must move beyond isolated manufacturing plants and build a fully integrated, end-to-end value chain linking upstream raw material sourcing directly with midstream chemical processing and downstream hyper-local distribution.
Case Study: Integrated Gas-to-Fertiliser Infrastructure
The revival of closed fertilizer plants in Gorakhpur, Barauni, and Sindri demonstrates the power of integration. By connecting these facilities to the national gas grid and leveraging state-of-the-art ammonia-urea technology, these hubs have reclaimed millions of tonnes of lost domestic capacity, effectively insulating regional supply chains from global freight volatility.
5.A 5–10 Year Strategic Roadmap
Achieving complete fertilizer security demands a synchronized tripartite framework:
Government: Provide policy stability, rationalize subsidies, and fund deep-tech R&D for alternative inputs.
Industry: Deploy green-transition technologies, invest in supply chain resilience, and collaborate on farmer education regarding precision dosing.
Farmers: Adopt soil-test-based applications and integrated nutrient management to maximize productivity while preserving natural capital.
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Author: Shivam
Shivam Dwivedi is a senior journalist with extensive experience in research-driven journalism, policy communication, and multi-platform storytelling. His areas of interest include international relations, defence, science & technology, education, urban development, agriculture, spirituality, and environmental sustainability. His work focuses on in-depth analysis, public discourse, and impactful narratives across governance and development sectors, with a strong commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Contact: [email protected]
