The Fertiliser Association Of India

Dear Friends,FAI Annual Seminar 2010 will take place from 29 th November to I" December2010 at Hotel 'The Ashok', New Delhi.The year 2010 has been a momentous year for the Indian fertiliser industry. Theyear witnessed significant progress in the reform process in the fertiliser sector. TheNutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) scheme was introduced for phosphatic and potassic(P&K) fertilisers w. e. f. 1st April, 2010. This is the first major step and we hope thatthe reform process will lead to many more such steps during coming months.It is in this context that the theme for the Annual Seminar 'Reforms in the FertiliserSector' has been selected. Various sessions of the Seminar have been finalized in thecontext of reforms needed in the areas of fertiliser pricing policy, production,marketing and use.FAI Annual Seminar is an international event which attracts more than 1200 delegates from India andabroad including senior government officials. The Seminar provides a unique opportunity for the delegates tomeet the leaders of Indian fertiliser industry, decision makers in the government and other stakeholders. It isa forum for those engaged in fertiliser business and agriculture to enhance the professional and businessinterest of individuals and organizations.I welcome you to join us for this prestigious event this year at New Delhi. The preliminary programme,registration form and other details are enclosed.We look forward to your early and favourableresponse.REFORMS IN FERTILISERSECTORSatish ChanderDirector GeneralIndia is the second largest consumer and third largest producer of fertilisers in the world. There was a totalconsumption of about 53 million tonnes of fertiliser products during 2009-10. India is also the largest importer ofraw materials, intermediates and finished fertiliser products in the world. Fertilisers willcontinue to play a dominantrole in the growth of Indian agriculture. India has made sustained efforts to ensure food security to its billion pluspopulation. However, the food security remains very fragile and efforts have to continue to increase the productivityof the agriculture sector. This requires availability of the right kind of fertilisers to Indian farmers. In view of theimportant role of fertilisers in Indian agriculture, government has played a key role in ensuring availability offertilisers to the farmers at affordable prices. Over the years, the cost of production/import of fertilisers hascontinuously increased which in turn increased the quantum offertiliser subsidy many-fold in the last 5 years. In fact,the fertiliser subsidy became so huge that it posed a threat to the fiscal management for Government of India (GOI).On the other hand, the regulatory environment including price controls stilled the growth of the fertiliser industry inthe country. Most importantly, the industry was unable to provide the fertiliser products which can ensure thebalanced fertilisation for Indian soils. This was reflected in less than desired crop response to the application offertilisers in recent years. Therefore, the stakeholders including the government, fertiliser industry and Indianfarmers needed reforms in fertiliser sector to get out ofthe morass.The government had taken a few steps for reforming the fertiliser sector during last few years but these small stepsfailed to make any impact in providing remedy to the prevailing situation. The government took a first significant stepby introduction of Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) scheme w. e. f. 1st April, 2010 for phosphatic and potassicfertilisers. The experience of the first crop season has been good. The policy enabled the industry to makearrangements for production and imports for the entire year. It is expected that after this positive experience, thegovernment will take further steps in reforming the sector. Urea being a major fertiliser product should also bedecanalisedand become part of NBS and the basket of products under NBS should cover more products to ensurebalanced fertilisation including application of secondary and micronutrients.TIIEI\IEAgainst this background, the FAIAnnual Seminar 201 0 has been devoted to the theme "Reforms in Fertiliser Sector".The deliberations in the Seminar among other things will provide an opportunity to debate issues related to thereforms process in the sector. It will also provide a peep into future developments in the sector which includeopportunities for investment, trade, promotion and extension services and logistics for storage and transportationoffertilisers.The Seminar will include four sessions broadly dealing with policy reforms, production technology, plant nutritionand soil health, and marketing and distribution offertilisers.