Indian government’s thrust for improving productivity will drive fertilizers consumption in the country: Bonafide Research

The government of India subsidizes fertilizer to ensure that fertilizer is easily available to farmers and the country remains self-sufficient in agriculture and food grain production. This is achieved by controlling the price of the fertilizer and the amount of production. Fertilizers are any solid, liquid or gaseous substances containing one or more plant nutrients. Either they are applied to the soil, directly on the plant (foliage) or added to aqueous solutions, in order to maintain soil fertility, improve crop development, yield and/or crop quality. The purpose of fertilizer is to supplement the natural supply of soil nutrient, build up soil fertility in order to satisfy the demand of crops with a high yield potential and to compensate for the nutrients taken by harvested products or lost by unavoidable leakages to the environment, in order to maintain good soil conditions for cropping. Manufactured fertilizers are classified according to different criteria such as number of nutrients (single-nutrient or straight fertilizers and multi-nutrient/compound fertilizers, with two, three or more nutrients), type of combination (mixed fertilizers or ‘bulk-blends), physical condition (solid, liquid & gaseous) or nutrient release (quick-acting, slow-acting, controlled-release by coating, stabilized by inhibitors). Improving productivity is the main thrust of the government’s plans for agriculture, but infrastructure investment will play an important part here. The budget sets out plans to connect each of the country’s 178,000 unconnected habitations with all-weather roads, requiring the completion of 100,000 km of roads currently under construction and the sanctioning and building of a further 100,000 km of roads. The government recognizes that agricultural incomes are under pressure and in using farm credit schemes and rural infrastructure funds as additional ways to foster the rural economy. It has committed itself to increasing the area of irrigated land and improving the efficiency of existing irrigation systems, and to enhancing productivity through Soil Health Card Scheme. Under this scheme, cards are issued farm owners detailing the nutrient status of their soil and recommending nutrients and fertilizers for the crops they grow. The government has also reiterated the need to set up a Unified National Agriculture Market to support farmer's incomes. According to recently published report of Bonafide Research "India Chemical Fertilizers Market Overview" chemical fertilizers market of the country registered a CAGR of more than 4% during the year 2010-2015, and is expected to flourish in years to come. Currently, there is low consumption of chemical fertilizers products in India compared to the world average, and this offers immense opportunities for future growth. Availability of cheap labor and low processing costs offers opportunity for MNCs to setup their manufacturing hubs in India for their export markets. The sector is driven by huge opportunity for contract manufacturing and research for Indian players due to large availability of technically skilled labor. The low consumption shows that there is a significant un-served market in the country to tap in to. By educating farmers and conducting special training programs regarding the needs to use chemical fertilizers, Indian government and private sector undertakings are improving the end yields that will satisfy the need of rising demand of food grains in the country. Major participants in the chemical fertilizers market of India are Coromandel International Limited, Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited, Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited, National Fertilizer Limited and Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative.