Govt approves continuation of production of urea from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu & Kerala
Updated: Jun 10, 2015 05:35:24pm
“These three naphtha based urea units with an annual capacity of 14.88 lakh metric tonne will cater to the demand in the Southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala (around 22.5 lakh MT per annum) throughout the year,” said the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
The production of urea by these units will ensure timely and adequate availability of urea to farmers of the Southern states and will result in import substitution of urea.
However, the state government concerned that is governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka would be required not to charge VAT or entry tax on the Naptha/FO as decided in the earlier meeting of the CCEA in December 2014, said the ministry.
There are only two urea units at Kakinada in the entire southern region other than these three units. If these three units would have been closed, then the entire requirement of the Southern region would have had to be sourced mainly through imports.
Continuation of operation of these three units would substantially ease the problems of urea supply in Southern states during the ensuing Kharif, it said. (KNN/ST)