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 National Investment Policy for Urea‑2026 (NIPU‑2026). The policy seeks to attract fresh investments for gas‑based urea plants, aiming at self‑sufficiency in urea production. Key revisions 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 components to INR after four years to hedge foreign‑exchange risk. These measures are projected to save over Rs 250 crore per plant compared with the earlier scheme. Implementation will cover revamp, expansion, revival, brownfield and greenfield projects, addressing the current gap between domestic production (33 units, 269.42 LMT) and demand.