EID Parry established India's first Single Superphosphate (SSP) plant in Ranipet, Tamil Nadu, with a capacity of 6,000 MT per year.
Ammonium sulphate production as by-product of steel plant began in 1933.
Synthetic Ammonium Sulphate production commenced in 1941.
FACT Establishment (1943) – Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) set up a plant in Udyog Mandal and started producing in 1947.
Impact of Bengal Famine (1943)
The famine and the "Grow More Food" campaign emphasized the role of fertilizers in food security.
During 1950-1960s
The first major public sector fertilizer plant, FCI, Sindri at Jharkhand was established for producing urea and ammonium sulphate nitrate in 1959.
Nangal Fertilizer Plant (1961) – First Calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) plant based on electrolysis of water was commissioned.
One ammonium chloride plant established at Varanasi.
FACT Establishment (1943) – Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) set up a plant in Udyog Mandal and started producing in 1947.
During 1960 to 1970s
Entry of Private and Cooperative Sectors – Expanded fertilizer production beyond the public sector.
8 Urea Plants were set up; 6 based on Naphtha feedstock at Trombay, Gorakhpur, Vadodara, Visakhapatnam, Kota and Kanpur.
One DAP/NP/NPK plant at Vadodara was commissioned.
First natural gas based urea plant was set up at Namrup.
One urea plant based on lignite was commissioned at Neyveli.
One plant for producing calcium ammonium nitrate based on coke oven gas was set up at Rourkela.
One plant at Ennore was set up on naphtha feedstock to produce ammonia.
During 1970 to 1980s
Seven urea plants based on naphtha feedstock were set up at Chennai, Cochin, Durgapur, Goa, Mangalore, Tuticorin and Baruani.
3 urea plants already based on naphtha viz. at Kota, Gorkahpur and Visakhapatnam expanded their capacities.
2 natural gas based urea plants were commissioned at Kalol and Namrup.
Three urea plants based on Fuel oil feedstock were set up and 1 plant at Sindri was modernized based on fuel oil feedstock from coke oven gas.
Production of various grades of NP/NPK complex fertilisers commenced at Chennai, Goa, Kandla, Tuticorin and Cochin.
A plant at Trombay commenced nitrophosphate production.
A DAP/NP/NPK plant was commissioned at Kandla.
During 1980 to 1990s
Two coal based urea plants one each at Talcher and Ramagundam were set up.
A naphtha based urea plant at Phulpur was commissioned.
Expansion of urea plants based on naphtha at Kanpur.
Capacity expansion by NP/NPK complex fertilisers plants at Kandla.
Seven natural gas based urea plants at Trombay, Thal, Hazira, Namrup, Vijapur, Aonla and Jagdishpur were set up.
One ammonia plant based on natural gas was set up at Taloja.
A fuel oil based urea plant was also commissioned at Bharuch.
Two ammonium chloride plants based on by-product from soda ash plants were set up at Tuticorin and Naya Nangal.
4 DAP plants were commissioned at Sikka, Kakinada, Paradeep and Haldia.
During 1990 to 2000s
6 urea plants based on natural gas were set up at Kakinada, Gadepan, Babrala, Shahjhanpur, Aonla (expansion) and Vijaipur (expansion).
3 other urea plants were set up based on mixed feedstock (natural gas and naphtha) at Kakinada (expansion), Phulpur (expansion) and Gadepan (expansion).
4 complex fertiliser based plants were commissioned at Taloja, Haldia (Expansion), Dahej and Paradeep and 1 nitrophosphate based plant was commissioned at Bharuch.
During 2000 to 2020s
Due to financial losses, urea plants at Sindri, Gorakhpur, Talchar, Ramagundam, Baruani and Durgapur ceased operations.
Urea plants under the policy directive changed their feedstock from naphtha and fuel oil to natural gas. All expect two plants could not converted to natural gas due to infrastructure limitation.
NP/NPK and DAP Production – Indigenous production of NP/NPK complex fertilizers and Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) expanded.
One DAP plant closed at Dahej.
Two urea plants 1.27 million MT annual capacity each at Gadepan (Expansion) and Panagarh were set up.
During 2020s - till date
Remaining two urea plants also changed their feedstock to natural gas.
Four closed urea plants were revived at Barauni, Gorakhpur, Sindri, and Ramagundam each with a 1.27 million MT annual capacity.
One urea plant at Talcher (2025) is under commissioning and another urea plant at Namrup will be set up.
Two DAP plants commissioned at Sagar and Meghnagar.
Two DAP plants are under commissioning at Thal and Debari.
Present Status
There are 36 Urea, 20 DAP/NP/NPKs and 100 SSP plants in the country. The total installed capacity of urea is 31.3 million MT, DAP/NP/NPKs 16.2 million MT and 12.8 million MT of SSP.
Investment in the Sector
The estimated investment in the fertilizer industry is about ₹83,396 crore.
