BIFR deregisters Fert Corp; revival of 3 closed plants on cards

NEW DELHI: The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) has de-registered the Fertiliser Corporation of India Ltd (FCIL), paving way for revival of three closed urea plants with an investment of about Rs 17,000 crore.

"BIFR has given an order for de-registration of the FCIL from BIFR and the company is out of BIFR now," Fertiliser Minister Srikant Jena said today in a statement.

The de-registration of FCIL from BIFR has paved the way for revival of Talcher unit in Odisha, Ramagundam unit in Andhra Pradesh and Sindri unit in Jharkhand.

Sources said that revival of these three plants in total will bring investment in tune of Rs 17,000 crore.

On May 9, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had approved the proposal regarding revival of 5 closed units of FCIL at Sindri, Talcher, Ramagundam, Gorakhpur and Korba and approved the waiver of Government of India loan and interest thereon to FCIL amounting to Rs 10,644 crore.

The government had also approved inter-corporate loan of Rs 171 crore and commitment fee of Rs 25 crore for FCIL to be given by PSUs involved in the revival of Sindri, Talcher and Ramagundam.

The country's urea production is 21-22 million tonne, while the domestic demand is over 30 million tonne.