Fertiliser industry
Topic: Manufacturing Industries of India: Location and Distribution · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 6 "Manufacturing Industries"
Meaning
The fertiliser industry makes plant nutrients for farms. It makes three main types:
- nitrogenous fertilisers, mainly urea
- phosphatic fertilisers, such as DAP
- complex NPK fertilisers, which mix nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium
The industry spread after the Green Revolution, when farmers began using much more fertiliser. Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Kerala give about half of India's output. Potash is wholly imported, because India has no commercial reserves of it. Most urea plants now run on natural gas brought by pipelines.
Example
The plant at Talcher (Odisha) is being built to make fertiliser by coal gasification, which turns coal into gas. Old plants at Gorakhpur, Sindri, Barauni and Ramagundam have been revived.
Don't confuse with
- "India has some potash reserves": this is a common exam trap and it is false. All potash is imported.
Related concepts
- Chemical industry
- Refinery locations in India
- Jamnagar refinery
- Pharmaceutical clusters of India
- Bulk drug parks