Indian Economy: News and Discussion

[HariPrasad-1]

India’s Make In India moment: Before Modi’s 2nd term completion, country to turn zero urea importer


Amid a slowdown in Indian Economy, Urea industry is flourishing with new plants getting commissioned.

Urea is witnessing frenetic activity, with new plants that have just got commissioned or are about to within the next 2-4 years (PTI)

• Harish Damodaran

The Indian economy may be going through an extended investment slump, but one industry — urea — is witnessing frenetic activity, with new plants that have just got commissioned or are about to within the next 2-4 years. On January 1, Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd kicked off commercial production at its fresh 1.34 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) capacity facility at Gadepan in Rajasthan, costing $ 903 million (Rs 6,035 crore). However, this is just the start.

By the end of 2019, there will be a second 1.27 mtpa plant coming up at Ramagundam in Telangana. This is one of the five closed units of the Fertiliser Corporation of India Ltd (FCIL) and Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation Ltd (HFCL), which are being revived through greenfield investments involving newly-created public sector joint ventures (JV). Ramagundam Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd is a JV of National Fertilisers Ltd (NFL), Engineers India Ltd and FCIL.


Three other such plants of 1.27 mtpa each — at Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), Sindri (Jharkhand) and Barauni (Bihar) — are being set up by Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Ltd, a JV of Coal India Ltd, NTPC Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation, HFCL and FCIL. “The lump-sum turnkey contracts for their execution have already been awarded — to Japan’s Toyo Engineering Corporation for Gorakhpur and to a consortium of the London-based TechnipFMC and L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering for the other two projects. Onsite work, too, is in full swing. We expect Gorakhpur’s commissioning by February 2021, and both Sindri and Barauni in May 2021,” a senior government official said.

All these are state-of-the-art plants running on natural gas, which is first ‘reformed’ to produce hydrogen for conversion into ammonia by combining with nitrogen from the atmosphere. The ammonia is, then, further processed into urea. The process licensors in the Gadepan and Gorakhpur projects are KBR Inc, US (formerly Kellogg Brown & Root) and Toyo Engineering for the ammonia and urea lines, respectively. For Ramagundam, Sindri and Barauni, the technology suppliers are Denmark’s Haldor Topsoe (ammonia) and Italy’s Saipem (urea).

In addition to the above five, there are two other plants, also of 1.27 mtpa capacity each.

The first one, at Panagarh near Durgapur in West Bengal and promoted by Matix Fertilisers & Chemicals Ltd, was originally supposed to run on coal-bed methane based on KBR-Saipem technology. It actually began production on October 1, 2017, but the non-availability of feedstock led to a suspension of operations from November 15, 2017, and Matix even being dragged to the National Company Law Tribunal after defaulting on loans. The unit’s resumption hinges upon natural gas availability from the 2,655-km pipeline from Jagdishpur (UP) to Dhamra (Odisha). This pipeline, being built by GAIL (India) Ltd, has already reached Barauni, while the spur lines to Gorakhpur, Sindri and Durgapur are scheduled for completion by December 2019.

The second plant at Talcher (Odisha) is yet another revival project. Being executed by Talcher Fertilisers Ltd — a JV of GAIL, Coal India, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers (RCF) and FCIL — it is envisaged to be a coal gasification-based ammonia-urea complex.

“The plant will use coal from the Talcher mines. Since this coal has high ash content, it will be blended up to 25% with petroleum coke sourced from Indian Oil’s Paradip refinery. The urea to be produced would be costlier than from imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), but the government wants to go ahead, as it is being fired by feedstock that is substantially indigenous (pet-coke is a byproduct of domestic refineries that process imported crude). We are going to soon award the lump-sum turnkey contract and the targeted commissioning is by September 2023,” added the earlier-quoted official.

Put together, all the seven plants add up to 8.96 mtpa, which is nearly 40% of the country’s total urea production capacity of 23.5 mtpa till September 2017, before the now-idle Matix Fertilisers facility came on steam. The projected aggregate outlay: Rs 51,000 crore (see table 1).

A boom in urea investment of this scale was last seen during the 1980s when the overall manufacturing capacity virtually doubled from about 7.5 mtpa to 14.70 mtpa. A host of new plants — Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilisers & Chemicals’ Bharuch and Krishak Bharati Cooperative’s Hazira (Gujarat), RCF’s Trombay-V and Thal (Maharashtra), NFL’s Vijaipur (Madhya Pradesh), Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative’s Phulpur and Aonla (UP), Indo Gulf Fertilisers’ Jagdishpur (UP) and Brahmaputra Valley Fertiliser Corporation’s Namrup-III (Assam) units — sprung up. All of them – barring Bharuch, Thal and Phulpur — operated on indigenous natural gas, mainly supplied through the Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur pipeline. And they (with the exception of Namrup-III) deployed the Haldor Topsoe process for ammonia and Snamprogetti (which is now Saipem) technology in urea manufacturing.

In the 1990s, a few more capacities — including Chambal Fertilisers’ Gadepan I and II, Iffco’s Phulpur II and Aonla II, Nagarjuna Fertilisers & Chemicals’ Kakinada I and II (Andhra Pradesh), NFL’s Vijaipur II, Kribhco’s Shahjahanpur (UP) and Tata Chemicals’ Babrala (UP) — were established, taking the total to 20 mtpa by the decade’s end. In the subsequent decade and a half, hardly another 3.5 mtpa got added.

The current revival, unlike the 1980s boom, is based largely on the use of imported re-gasified LNG feedstock, conveyed via newly laid pipeline systems such as Jagdishpur-Haldia and Bokaro-Dhamra (for Gorakhpur, Barauni, Sindri and Panagarh) and Mallavaram-Bhopal-Bhilwara-Vijaipur (for Ramagundam). The LNG would be mostly imported into the eastern coast Dhamra and Kakinada ports, where independent re-gasification terminals are being developed.

India now produces roughly 24 mtpa of urea (many plants operate above their rated capacities) and imports 7-8 mtpa (table 2). If all the proposed new capacities materialise, imports may reduce to nothing.

https://www.financialexpress.com/ec...n-country-to-turn-zero-urea-importer/1664040/

I hope country becomes Zero urea country. There should not be any Eurea production in few years from now. It has the dire consequences on Soil quality and food quality. We must move to natural or organic farming as soon as possible.

 

[Prashant12]

India's July Nikkei services PMI comes in higher on a sequential basis

 

[Vijyes]

I hope country becomes Zero urea country. There should not be any Eurea production in few years from now. It has the dire consequences on Soil quality and food quality. We must move to natural or organic farming as soon as possible.

What absurdity! Urea is key fertiliser. Without it there will be famine. How do you think agriculture is booming for last 40 years if soil quality is declining? Soil quality decline can be reversed by adding some other basic chemical.

 

[Aaj ka hero]

What absurdity! Urea is key fertiliser. Without it there will be famine. How do you think agriculture is booming for last 40 years if soil quality is declining? Soil quality decline can be reversed by adding some other basic chemical.

Nah, we are talking here about future and not some chemicals but precious chemicals are evaporated.

 

[ezsasa]

Brace yourself for tomorrow’s bloodbath in stock market...

US markets have taken a heavy beating today....

@Haldiram

 

[Haldiram]

Brace yourself for tomorrow’s bloodbath in stock market...

US markets have taken a heavy beating today....

@Haldiram

I was already in loss by the end of yesterday's trading session itself. It fell -7% before I bought it, and then it fell another -4% later in the day.

I bought a 1000 stocks of this sarkari company yesterday, so even a 2 rupee decline per stock gets multiplied X 1000 and shows up as 2000 rs loss. If it falls even 5 rupees today, that'll be another 5000 rs turning to dust.

It is very difficult to catch the lowest point in one go. One can only keep averaging around their desired price. It's not possible to get it at a *fallen* price. One can only get it at a *falling* price and then average as it falls. Speaking from past experience, the risk of stock price going down is not the only risk. The risk of prices going up before you've bought also looms. Today buying at 39 and watching it go to 37 appears like a loss, but tomorrow if a big player like LIC buys in bulk, it might go to 45. Then one will be forced to buy at a higher price. Stocks at the bottom have random volatility; It goes +/- 15% even after hitting bottom, because majority of the investors have left the playground, the stocks have lost their volumes, so the stock price moves up-down easily even if a small number of people buy or sell it.

The Up-Down Up-Down will continue until volumes and optimism returns. Until then the portfolio will remain in red. Incidentally someone sold (or bought, if you look at it that way) 30 million shares of NBCC yesterday, when I bought.

 

[indiatester]

I was already in loss by the end of yesterday's trading session itself. It fell -7% before I bought it, and then it fell another -4% later in the day.

View attachment 36685

I bought a 1000 stocks of this sarkari company yesterday, so even a 2 rupee decline per stock gets multiplied X 1000 and shows up as 2000 rs loss. If it falls even 5 rupees today, that'll be another 5000 rs turning to dust.

It is very difficult to catch the lowest point in one go. One can only keep averaging around their desired price. It's not possible to get it at a *fallen* price. One can only get it at a *falling* price and then average as it falls. Speaking from past experience, the risk of stock price going down is not the only risk. The risk of prices going up before you've bought also looms. Today buying at 39 and watching it go to 37 appears like a loss, but tomorrow if a big player like LIC buys in bulk, it might go to 45. Then one will be forced to buy at a higher price. Stocks at the bottom have random volatility; It goes +/- 15% even after hitting bottom, because majority of the investors have left the playground, the stocks have lost their volumes, so the stock price moves up-down easily even if a small number of people buy or sell it.

The Up-Down Up-Down will continue until volumes and optimism returns. Until then the portfolio will remain in red. Incidentally someone sold (or bought, if you look at it that way) 30 million shares of NBCC yesterday, when I bought.

View attachment 36688

Sh!t, I went live with my algo trading. I hope it has taken the short. I don't have the guts to look at it now.

 

[Haldiram]

Sh!t, I went live with my algo trading. I hope it has taken the short. I don't have the guts to look at it now.

Screenshots required!

A lot of bonding happens over adversity.

 

[Deathstar]

I earned more than a lac in 2 days through put option lol but i hope market recovers

 

[indiatester]

Screenshots required!

A lot of bonding happens over adversity.

Shit... it took a long in Nifty and BN at 1.30 yesterday. Stupid friends who convinced me to take my system live. shit shit shit.

 

[jadoogar]

India’s Make In India moment: Before Modi’s 2nd term completion, country to turn zero urea importer


Amid a slowdown in Indian Economy, Urea industry is flourishing with new plants getting commissioned.

Urea is witnessing frenetic activity, with new plants that have just got commissioned or are about to within the next 2-4 years (PTI)

• Harish Damodaran

The Indian economy may be going through an extended investment slump, but one industry — urea — is witnessing frenetic activity, with new plants that have just got commissioned or are about to within the next 2-4 years. On January 1, Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd kicked off commercial production at its fresh 1.34 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) capacity facility at Gadepan in Rajasthan, costing $ 903 million (Rs 6,035 crore). However, this is just the start.

By the end of 2019, there will be a second 1.27 mtpa plant coming up at Ramagundam in Telangana. This is one of the five closed units of the Fertiliser Corporation of India Ltd (FCIL) and Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation Ltd (HFCL), which are being revived through greenfield investments involving newly-created public sector joint ventures (JV). Ramagundam Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd is a JV of National Fertilisers Ltd (NFL), Engineers India Ltd and FCIL.


Three other such plants of 1.27 mtpa each — at Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), Sindri (Jharkhand) and Barauni (Bihar) — are being set up by Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Ltd, a JV of Coal India Ltd, NTPC Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation, HFCL and FCIL. “The lump-sum turnkey contracts for their execution have already been awarded — to Japan’s Toyo Engineering Corporation for Gorakhpur and to a consortium of the London-based TechnipFMC and L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering for the other two projects. Onsite work, too, is in full swing. We expect Gorakhpur’s commissioning by February 2021, and both Sindri and Barauni in May 2021,” a senior government official said.

All these are state-of-the-art plants running on natural gas, which is first ‘reformed’ to produce hydrogen for conversion into ammonia by combining with nitrogen from the atmosphere. The ammonia is, then, further processed into urea. The process licensors in the Gadepan and Gorakhpur projects are KBR Inc, US (formerly Kellogg Brown & Root) and Toyo Engineering for the ammonia and urea lines, respectively. For Ramagundam, Sindri and Barauni, the technology suppliers are Denmark’s Haldor Topsoe (ammonia) and Italy’s Saipem (urea).

In addition to the above five, there are two other plants, also of 1.27 mtpa capacity each.

The first one, at Panagarh near Durgapur in West Bengal and promoted by Matix Fertilisers & Chemicals Ltd, was originally supposed to run on coal-bed methane based on KBR-Saipem technology. It actually began production on October 1, 2017, but the non-availability of feedstock led to a suspension of operations from November 15, 2017, and Matix even being dragged to the National Company Law Tribunal after defaulting on loans. The unit’s resumption hinges upon natural gas availability from the 2,655-km pipeline from Jagdishpur (UP) to Dhamra (Odisha). This pipeline, being built by GAIL (India) Ltd, has already reached Barauni, while the spur lines to Gorakhpur, Sindri and Durgapur are scheduled for completion by December 2019.

The second plant at Talcher (Odisha) is yet another revival project. Being executed by Talcher Fertilisers Ltd — a JV of GAIL, Coal India, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers (RCF) and FCIL — it is envisaged to be a coal gasification-based ammonia-urea complex.

“The plant will use coal from the Talcher mines. Since this coal has high ash content, it will be blended up to 25% with petroleum coke sourced from Indian Oil’s Paradip refinery. The urea to be produced would be costlier than from imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), but the government wants to go ahead, as it is being fired by feedstock that is substantially indigenous (pet-coke is a byproduct of domestic refineries that process imported crude). We are going to soon award the lump-sum turnkey contract and the targeted commissioning is by September 2023,” added the earlier-quoted official.

Put together, all the seven plants add up to 8.96 mtpa, which is nearly 40% of the country’s total urea production capacity of 23.5 mtpa till September 2017, before the now-idle Matix Fertilisers facility came on steam. The projected aggregate outlay: Rs 51,000 crore (see table 1).

A boom in urea investment of this scale was last seen during the 1980s when the overall manufacturing capacity virtually doubled from about 7.5 mtpa to 14.70 mtpa. A host of new plants — Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilisers & Chemicals’ Bharuch and Krishak Bharati Cooperative’s Hazira (Gujarat), RCF’s Trombay-V and Thal (Maharashtra), NFL’s Vijaipur (Madhya Pradesh), Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative’s Phulpur and Aonla (UP), Indo Gulf Fertilisers’ Jagdishpur (UP) and Brahmaputra Valley Fertiliser Corporation’s Namrup-III (Assam) units — sprung up. All of them – barring Bharuch, Thal and Phulpur — operated on indigenous natural gas, mainly supplied through the Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur pipeline. And they (with the exception of Namrup-III) deployed the Haldor Topsoe process for ammonia and Snamprogetti (which is now Saipem) technology in urea manufacturing.

In the 1990s, a few more capacities — including Chambal Fertilisers’ Gadepan I and II, Iffco’s Phulpur II and Aonla II, Nagarjuna Fertilisers & Chemicals’ Kakinada I and II (Andhra Pradesh), NFL’s Vijaipur II, Kribhco’s Shahjahanpur (UP) and Tata Chemicals’ Babrala (UP) — were established, taking the total to 20 mtpa by the decade’s end. In the subsequent decade and a half, hardly another 3.5 mtpa got added.

The current revival, unlike the 1980s boom, is based largely on the use of imported re-gasified LNG feedstock, conveyed via newly laid pipeline systems such as Jagdishpur-Haldia and Bokaro-Dhamra (for Gorakhpur, Barauni, Sindri and Panagarh) and Mallavaram-Bhopal-Bhilwara-Vijaipur (for Ramagundam). The LNG would be mostly imported into the eastern coast Dhamra and Kakinada ports, where independent re-gasification terminals are being developed.

India now produces roughly 24 mtpa of urea (many plants operate above their rated capacities) and imports 7-8 mtpa (table 2). If all the proposed new capacities materialise, imports may reduce to nothing.

https://www.financialexpress.com/ec...n-country-to-turn-zero-urea-importer/1664040/

There is the concept of "comparative advantage". The article says that the Urea plants are based on imported LNG. I can identify several issues with the strategy of mindless import substitution

(1) There are substantial losses and costs associated with imported LNG. For e.g. if imported from the US - the cost of the gas at the well head in the US may be USD 2 per 1000 cubic feet. By the time it reaches port in India that cost is likely to be around USD 6 per 1000 cu ft. Add another $ 1 for the pipeline transport from port to inland - say Gorakhpur.

(2) From (1) above the system is taking $2 gas at well-head in the US and converting it to fertilizer at $7 deep within India. It would be a lot cheaper obviously to put Urea plants close to the well-head in the US and convert to Urea there.

(3) Urea is a very dense and stable molecule. It will be infinitely cheaper to transport it to port in New Orleans or Houston by train or barge and then ship to India. Result much cheaper Urea in India.

(4) So import LNG or import Urea. It is a lot cheaper to import Urea.

(5) That would also take care of some trade deficit concerns of the US.

(6) Urea plants are automated and do not require much labour at all - in India and especially in the US. In India the public sector plants used to be overstaffed but that was political and general PS inefficiency.

(7) Use the land, capital, labor to produce something else in India which is more labor intensive. instead of producing Urea at perhaps double the landed cost of US produced Urea.

(8) Thus I rest my case (not my words - Hari Prasad or someone used to end like this)

(9) There is also market risk. If organic farming and / or crop rotation takes off (rotate legumes with cereals) then Urea demand goes down a lot resulting in billions in stranded investment. Also as the population peaks and starts falling Urea demand can also fall due to lower cereal production. Already there is no market for many foodgrains etc except for government Miminum Support Prices

(10) IMO many or all of these Urea plants run the risk of losing money - thus becoming "sick". I hope that there is substantial private equity that is being invested in these plants and it is not public money. And I also hope that there has been good cost, alternative cost and market analysis done on all these projects and that this is not just some mindless import substitution. Unfortunately I get the feeling that sufficient due diligence has not been done.

 

[Haldiram]

Bad news in Real Estate has begun. Milard is snatching private builder's land and giving it to NBCC. "sell their land and give it to NBCC". Wut? even Aurangzeb wasn't this level of #gangasta.

Wokay milard, me will buy NBCC then.

 

[indiatester]

There is the concept of "comparative advantage". The article says that the Urea plants are based on imported LNG. I can identify several issues with the strategy of mindless import substitution

(1) There are substantial losses and costs associated with imported LNG. For e.g. if imported from the US - the cost of the gas at the well head in the US may be USD 2 per 1000 cubic feet. By the time it reaches port in India that cost is likely to be around USD 6 per 1000 cu ft. Add another $ 1 for the pipeline transport from port to inland - say Gorakhpur.

(2) From (1) above the system is taking $2 gas at well-head in the US and converting it to fertilizer at $7 deep within India. It would be a lot cheaper obviously to put Urea plants close to the well-head in the US and convert to Urea there.

(3) Urea is a very dense and stable molecule. It will be infinitely cheaper to transport it to port in New Orleans or Houston by train or barge and then ship to India. Result much cheaper Urea in India.

(4) So import LNG or import Urea. It is a lot cheaper to import Urea.

(5) That would also take care of some trade deficit concerns of the US.

(6) Urea plants are automated and do not require much labour at all - in India and especially in the US. In India the public sector plants used to be overstaffed but that was political and general PS inefficiency.

(7) Use the land, capital, labor to produce something else in India which is more labor intensive. instead of producing Urea at perhaps double the landed cost of US produced Urea.

(8) Thus I rest my case (not my words - Hari Prasad or someone used to end like this)

(9) There is also market risk. If organic farming and / or crop rotation takes off (rotate legumes with cereals) then Urea demand goes down a lot resulting in billions in stranded investment. Also as the population peaks and starts falling Urea demand can also fall due to lower cereal production. Already there is no market for many foodgrains etc except for government Miminum Support Prices

(10) IMO many or all of these Urea plants run the risk of losing money - thus becoming "sick". I hope that there is substantial private equity that is being invested in these plants and it is not public money. And I also hope that there has been good cost, alternative cost and market analysis done on all these projects and that this is not just some mindless import substitution. Unfortunately I get the feeling that sufficient due diligence has not been done.

Why not use gas from KG basin? How do these costs hold up when we consider LNG import say from Oman which is considerably closer.

 

[jadoogar]

Why not use gas from KG basin? How do these costs hold up when we consider LNG import say from Oman which is considerably closer.

Yes of course gas from KG basin, Oman or Qatar will be cheaper. KG basin being the cheapest since liquefaction and re-gasification will not be required. (However the article says that they are planning on using imported LNG as feedstock) But I do not think that Oman, Qatar or Iran gas will be much cheaper because
(1) Liquefaction and regasification is very capital intensive and expensive so a good portion of costs are for that part of the process
(2) Oman, Qatar, Iran etc may just take larger profits

Therefore I would say that
(3) It is quite easy to sign very long term supply contracts in the US at very low gas costs for onshore delivery of Natural Gas (near existing pipelines). Land, electricity in the US (Australia, Russia also) is infinitely available and really cheap. Capital is also cheap in the US. Any entity seeking a profit or trying to break even should set up the Urea plant in the US or Oman, Russia, Australia etc. Basically much cheaper to transport urea than gas when no pipeline is present.

(4) or just investigate pricing of long term Urea supply contracts vs domestically produced Urea.

I don't work in the field and so do not have accurate data. I am just hoping that those who are putting these Urea plants have done their homework - just that to me it does not appear India can be cost competitive with imported Urea when using imported LNG as feedstock.

 

[Haldiram]

Markit opens in the green.

My situation so far : +4.06% gain.

This upmove is as random as yesterday's downmove.

 

[Deathstar]

Markit opens in the green.

View attachment 36695



My situation so far : +4.10% gain.

View attachment 36696

This upmove is as random as yesterday's downmove.

Positive response to yesterday's historic day , increased investment opportunities in Ladakh, huge resources available now

 

[Vijyes]

Why not use gas from KG basin? How do these costs hold up when we consider LNG import say from Oman which is considerably closer.

KG basin doesn't have enough gas. It is too less for India to use for all urea. So, imports Is must

Yes of course gas from KG basin, Oman or Qatar will be cheaper. KG basin being the cheapest since liquefaction and re-gasification will not be required. (However the article says that they are planning on using imported LNG as feedstock) But I do not think that Oman, Qatar or Iran gas will be much cheaper because
(1) Liquefaction and regasification is very capital intensive and expensive so a good portion of costs are for that part of the process
(2) Oman, Qatar, Iran etc may just take larger profits

Therefore I would say that
(3) It is quite easy to sign very long term supply contracts in the US at very low gas costs for onshore delivery of Natural Gas (near existing pipelines). Land, electricity in the US (Australia, Russia also) is infinitely available and really cheap. Capital is also cheap in the US. Any entity seeking a profit or trying to break even should set up the Urea plant in the US or Oman, Russia, Australia etc. Basically much cheaper to transport urea than gas when no pipeline is present.

(4) or just investigate pricing of long term Urea supply contracts vs domestically produced Urea.

I don't work in the field and so do not have accurate data. I am just hoping that those who are putting these Urea plants have done their homework - just that to me it does not appear India can be cost competitive with imported Urea when using imported LNG as feedstock.

We have cost in several areas -

Cost of capital, labour and raw material. When we invest in India instead of Qatar or Oan, the raw material cost will go up but labour cost will come down. The capital cost of setting a plant in India is also beneficial o Indian GDP. In addition, India will be creating strategic asset as urea is critical for food security.

Investing in US is not an option for India due to huge transportation cost of ferrying for 15000-16000 km. This is roughly 1 month journey for ships including loading, unloading and docking time for a 1-way trip . Comparatively, Qatar to India takes only 7 days including loading and unloading time. The loading and unloading time typically is 3 days

 

[HariPrasad-1]

What absurdity! Urea is key fertiliser. Without it there will be famine. How do you think agriculture is booming for last 40 years if soil quality is declining? Soil quality decline can be reversed by adding some other basic chemical.

You say this because you do not know the issues in detail and you do not know why farmers commit suicide. This chemical fertilizers and genetically modified seed is the root cause destruction of India’s farming sector, drought and flood. It is utterly wrong that without urea, the crops can not grown. If you have seen the episode of Satya mev jayate, the farmers doing organic farming has created record of highest yield in India. Agriculture sector has moved even ahead of that in a concept of Zero budget farming of natural farming in which farmers take bumper production with no external fertilizer either chemical or natural and with 40% to 10% water requirement. They takes unbelievable crop from their farm with only desi seeds and waste generated from farm itself.

UN nation has highly praised the Jivamrut based farming. I know atleast 2 farmers (Scientist) named Subhash Palekar and Bharat Bhushan Tyagi, who have got Padma award for their exceptional work in organic and natural farming. Niti ayog have consulted them for the mission of our PM to double the income of farmers.

This is a highly interesting subject. If you dig deep, you will come to know many miracles of organic and Zero budget farming. You will also come to know why urea is not necessary at all.

I will give you my own example. I have sawn the basmati rise with no chemical fertilizer and any insecticide. I hope to get more production than one get with chemical fertilizer. When I harvest the crop, I will share the result here.

No , Soil quality can not be improved by adding any chemicals.

 

[HariPrasad-1]

View: India needs to be geared to a single-minded pursuit of growth

Well, it depends on how do you define the growth. If you believe that GDP rise is the growth than I disagree with it. If growth means the rise in standard of living of marginalized people, than I agree with you. Imagine a scenario in which reliance will double its production and sale. Amabani will grow rich and few employment will be generated.

Now imagine a scenario if India’s agriculture sector is grown by 3.5 lakh crore. An unimaginable happiness and upliftment of masses will happen. Millions of farmers will have money in their hand to spend which will boost the economy because of redistribution of Income.

One cancer drug is sold in India for some 170 bn USD which is sold in US at some 65000 USD. When this drug is sold in US, its economy rises by 65000 usd while same drugs if sold in India will boost Indian economy by 170 USD. So GDP is subjective as well. If a car crash in accident, Economy rises because of sell of new parts and medical expense.

Yoga is some 84 bn USD industries in US. More yoga is done and practiced in India almost free. So I have lost faith in this measurement of GDP as the growth criterion and I feel a strong need to measure growth by some other index. I have seen people living very happily in 4 figure income than people with Income in 5 figures.

Modi has rightly said that there are two communities in india. One which needs the help and other, which can help them.

Once Vajpayee ji told that he will be more happy if he Can do grass root work for the upliftment of people with even moderate growth rate of around 5%. Vajapayee ji’s period of 6 years was a golden period of Indian economy inspite of very moderate growth rate of just 5%. INR appreciated against USD in last 2-3 years of his tenure. 6 Crore jobs were generated. Trade surplus happened by a huge margin of 20 bn USD. India exported huge amount of food grains which were rotten.

Nitin gadkari had rightly said that instead of spending Rs 60 K crore on refinery, if we spend same amount on methanol production, we can change the fate of india’s farming sector. We need to work on grassroot level and spend money there to ensure that wealth so generated out of investment reaches to bottom most people of wealth pyramid rather than same going into the vollets of few people.


I explored some rural area very intensively in last one year. What I saw there was thought provoking. I have begun my work on a small scale which I plan to expand inspite the opposition from family who always insist to enjoy the life with whatever god has given which is way more than my requirement. I will continue to share my experiences and what I have seen. My few effort can bring a big change in the life of people. I have bought the change in the life of one family at least.

 

[Haldiram]

RBI cuts repo rate by 35 basis points.