After years of dependence on fertiliser imports, India has finally made a breakthrough in developing its own water-soluble fertiliser technology, announced the Soluble Fertilizer Industry Association (SFIA).
The breakthrough technology, which found success after seven years of research, is environmentally sustainable and completely ‘Made-in-India’ – from using raw materials sourced domestically to using Indian-designed plants, informed Rajiv Chakraborty, president of SFIA, who spearheaded the research initiative.
Backed by India’s Ministry of Mines, the project offers several game-changing features that set it apart from conventional fertiliser-manufacturing processes, such as integrating different technologies into a single process.
"This technology is special in terms of many things. First, one single process produces the entire soluble fertiliser. Usually, there is a different technology for every product, but this technology enables production of all products in one process," Chakraborty explained.
However, what is special is the project’s environmental sustainability, which was instrumental in securing government support.
Also Read: China’s exports curbs on fertiliser to be reimposed from Oct
"This particular technology is a zero-effluent project. There are no emissions from it, which was one of the grounds that the Ministry of Mines took into consideration and accorded national importance," he said.
The green credentials of the fertiliser certainly address growing concerns about pollution and the increasing difficulty of effluent disposal in industrial operations.
Chakraborty said his aim is to turn India into an export-dominant country from its import-heavy dependence.
Since the country only produces 5 per cent of NPK formulations domestically, it imports at least 95 per cent specialty-fertilisers, mainly from China.
“India's overwhelming reliance on Chinese-specialty fertiliser imports provided the impetus for developing indigenous technology. The country currently imports 80 per cent of its specialty fertilisers directly from China, while the remaining 20 per cent is indirectly traded through Chinese sources,” Chakraborty informed.
The SFIA president added that the development of the new fertiliser technology was arduous, involving the typical challenges of research and development.
“R&D means a failure game a thousand times. Have you only succeeded once after failing for a thousand times? So it's common to every R&D process," he added.
The financial toll was also substantial, with Chakraborty risking his business to pursue the breakthrough. "I risked my entire life in doing that. I was almost out of business at one point of time, because I was not able to focus on developing my business as a soluble fertiliser player," he revealed.
With the technology having undergone multiple layers of government scrutiny, it finally received support from the Ministry of Mines for developing a pilot plant.
"This will start coming to the market two years down the line, when we will see big capacities, and I think very soon it will bring self-reliance in specialty fertiliser at least," Chakraborty said.
The indigenous development addresses India's longstanding reliance on foreign fertiliser technologies, which has imposed significant financial burdens through licensing fees and upgrade costs.
"Whatever technology we have today, especially in fertilisers, is actually borrowed technology. That is not our Indian technology. So for every borrowing, we have to pay a very big price," he noted.
In fact, he added, the dependency extends beyond initial acquisition costs.
"We don't get upgradation with the technology. Then we pay another price for getting the upgradation. But if it is our own, we can keep on developing," Chakraborty said, highlighting the long-term strategic benefits of indigenous innovation for India's fertiliser sector.
Follow us
