Coal India, GAIL and RCF to invest Rs 3,095 Cr in fertiliser joint venture

Coal India, GAIL India, and Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers (RCF), three state-run businesses, will invest Rs 3,095 crore ($371.90 million) in their fertiliser joint venture in Odisha. Coal India will invest 13.64 billion rupees in Talcher Fertilisers to maintain its present stake after adjusting for an increase in project expenses, while GAIL and RCF will each contribute 17.3 billion rupees.

The three companies each own 31.85% of Talcher Fertilisers. Coal India will need approval from the federal cabinet for the injection because the business has reached its investment cap. They also stated that the cabinet is likely to make a decision in the coming weeks.

The government is attempting to raise Talcher Fertilisers' output in order to lower India's reliance on imported nitrogen-based urea fertilisers, which has resulted in an increase in project costs. The injection aims to revitalise Talcher and transform it into a 1.27 million tonne per year coal gasification-based urea fertiliser factory. During the previous fiscal year, India imported 22 million tonnes of fertilisers costing $15.3 billion.

"It was a collective decision of all promoters to infuse proportionate amount in equity, but Coal India requires approval to lift that 30% investment cap limit", a spokesperson stated. Emails requesting responses from Coal India, GAIL India, and the Indian finance ministry went unanswered. Calls to RCF's headquarters and an email sent to the managing director of Talcher Fertilisers went unanswered.