Cabinet approves Assam's Namrup fertiliser plant proposed in Union Budget

New Delhi [India], March 19 (ANI): The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the proposal to establish a new brownfield ammonia-urea plant in Namrup, Assam.

On February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed setting up a fertiliser plant in Namrup, Assam, in her Budget 2025 speech.

The plant will produce 12.7 lakh metric tonnes of urea annually and will be built within the existing premises of Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited (BVFCL).

Under the New Investment Policy, 2012, the fertiliser plant will have an estimated total project cost of Rs 10,601.40 crore and a Debt-Equity ratio of 70:30 through a Joint Venture (JV).

Tentatively, the plant will be commissioned in 48 months.

Additionally, the Cabinet also approved National Fertilizers Limited (NFL)'s equity participation of 18 per cent in relaxing the limits prescribed in Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) guidelines and establishing an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) to oversee the process of setting up the Namrup-IV Fertilizer Plant.

The Namrup project will increase the country's domestic urea production capacity, especially in the northeastern region.

It will meet the growing demand of urea fertilizers of northeast states, Bihar, West Bengal, eastern Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand.

"The establishment of the Namrup-IV unit will be more energy efficient. It will also open avenues for additional direct and indirect employment opportunities for the people of the area. It shall help achieve the vision of self-reliance in Urea in the country," the government said.

In other news, the Union Cabinet today approved the 'Incentive Scheme for promotion of low-value BHIM-UPI transactions Person to Merchant (P2M)' for the financial year 2024-25.

The scheme for the promotion of low-value BHIM-UPI transactions will be implemented at an estimated outlay of Rs 1,500 crore. Only the UPI transactions up to Rs 2,000 for small merchants are covered under the scheme. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)