Cabinet approves National Investment Policy for Urea-2026 for Atmanirbhar Bharat (NIPU-2026)

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the Department of Fertilizers’ National Investment Policy for Urea‑2026 (NIPU‑2026). The policy seeks to attract new investments for gas‑based urea plants, aiming at self‑sufficiency. Key changes from the 2012 policy include separating fixed and variable costs for transparency, setting a Return on Equity band of 12‑16 %, and converting fixed‑cost foreign‑exchange exposure to INR after four years. These measures are projected to save over Rs 250 crore per plant relative to NIP‑2012. Currently, 33 urea units with 269.42 LMT capacity operate, but a production‑demand gap is met by imports, underscoring the need for additional domestic capacity.