Fertiliser Association of India

Why is in news? Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Dr Mansukh Mandaviya inaugurates FAI Annual Seminar at New Delhi

Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Ministry has said that the central government has brought various reforms and ensured that fertilizers are made available at affordable prices to farmers.

The Ministry said, one of the important components for ensuring food security is fertilizers.

The Ministry said, the world today faces severe challenges in the rising costs and availability of fertilizers.

The Ministry said, the government has increased the amount of fertilizer subsidy from 10 Billion US dollars for the pre-pandemic year 2019-20 to almost 27 Billion US dollars in the current year. By 2025, India will become self-sufficient in urea.

Fertiliser Association of India:

The Fertiliser Association of India (FAI) is a non-profit and non-trading company representing mainly the fertiliser manufacturers, distributors, importers, equipment manufacturers, research institutes and suppliers of inputs.

Ensuring Food Security through balanced and efficient use of plant nutrients is the prime objective of the Association.

The Association was established in 1955 with the objective of bringing together all concerned with the production, marketing and use of fertilisers.

The FAI has four Regional offices located in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi.

FAI is managed by the Board of Directors representing various interests of constituent member units. Presently, the Board comprises 32 Directors who are mostly the Chief Executives of various member companies.

The Chairman and the Co-Chairman are elected periodically. The Director General of the FAI is the full time Chief Executive of the Association and administers the Association within the policy guidelines laid down by the Board.

For carrying out its activities, the Association is assisted by Advisory Committees in different disciplines, viz., (i) Technical, (ii) Environment, (iii) Marketing, (iv) Policy, Finance & Taxation, (v) Agricultural Sciences, (vi) SSP, (vii) Information and Communication.

Adhoc/ small committees or Expert Groups are also constituted from time to time, for tackling specific problems/ issues.

Fertilizer Corporation of India:

Fertilizer Corporation of India is an Indian central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.

It began in 1961 when Indian government consolidated several state run fertiliser companies into a single SBU.

FCI has manufacturing units in five states: Sindri complex (Jharkhand), Gorakhpur complex (Uttar Pradesh), Ramagundam complex (Telangana), Talcher complex (Odisha) and an un-commissioned project in Korba (Chhattisgarh).

The organisation was declared "sick" in 1992 and in 2002 the government of India initiated actions to close it.

It has been seeking to restart operations and as of May 2010 had received initial approvals of a government loan forgiveness plan which would allow operations to restart in five of its units.

In the mid 1990s, FCI employed around 28,000 people and was one of the largest public-sector companies in India.

The main products of Fertilizer Corporation of India Limited were Ammonia, Urea, Nitric Acid, Ammonium Bicarbonate, Gypsum, and Ammonium Nitrate in varied forms such as Prill, Flake, and Melt.