NFL National Fertilizers Limited

ABOUT NFL - National Fertilizers Limited

Incorporated in 1974, NFL is India's largest CPSE in Fertilizer Sector with a turnover of over Rs. 90 billion. It is the second largest producer of the key fertiliser Urea in India with an installed capacity of 35.68 Lakh MT with a 16% share in total urea production of country.

Introduction

NFL, a Schedule ‘A’ & a Mini Ratna (Category-I) Company, having its registered office at New Delhi was incorporated on 23rd August 1974. Its Corporate Office is at NOIDA (U.P). It has an authorized capital of Rs. 1000 crore and a paid up capital of Rs. 490.58 crore out of which Government of India’s share is 74.71 % and 25.29 % is held by financial institutions & others.

Vision & Mission

The company has a Vision i.e. “to be a leading Indian company in fertilizers and beyond with commitment to all stakeholders” and a Mission “to be a dynamic organization committed to serve the farming community and other customers to their satisfaction through timely supply of fertilizers and other products & services; continually striving to achieve the highest standards in quality, safety, ethics, professionalism, energy conservation with a concern for ecology and maximizing returns to stakeholders”.

Manufacturing Plants

NFL has five gas based Ammonia-Urea plants viz. Nangal & Bathinda plants in Punjab, Panipat plant in Haryana and two plants at Vijaipur at District Guna, in Madhya Pradesh. The Panipat, Bathinda & Nangal plants were revamped for feed stock conversion from Fuel Oil to Natural Gas, an eco-friendly fuel during 2012-13 / 2013-14. Vijaipur plants of the company were also revamped for energy savings & capacity enhancement during 2012-13, thus increasing its total annual capacity from 20.66 LMT from 17.29 LMT, an increase of 20%. The company currently has a total annual installed capacity of 35.68 LMT (Re-assessed capacity of 32.31 LMT) & is the 2^nd largest producer of Urea in the country with a share of about 16% of total Urea production in the country.

Company has a Bio-Fertilizers Plant at Vijaipur with a capacity of 600 tons of solid & liquid Bio-Fertilizers to produce four strains of Bio-Fertilizers viz. PSB, ZSB, Rhizobium and Azotobacter are produced.

Products

NFL is engaged in manufacturing and marketing of Neem Coated Urea, four strains of Bio-Fertilizers (solid & liquid), Bentonite Sulphur and other allied Industrial products like Ammonia, Nitric Acid, Ammonium Nitrate, Sodium Nitrite and Sodium Nitrate. The brand name of the company is popularly known in the market as ‘KISAN’.

The company has also started production of certified seeds under its Seeds Multiplication Program for sale under its own brand name as Kisan Beej.

Imports & Trading

Apart from manufacturing business, the company is also expanding its business, in a consistent & phased manner, by way of imports and trading of various agro-inputs like Non-Urea Fertilizers, Certified Seeds, Agrochemicals, Bentonite Sulphur, City Compost through its existing PAN India dealer’s network under single window concept.

Marketing setup

NFL Marketing Network comprises of Central Marketing Office at NOIDA, four Zonal Offices at Bhopal, Lucknow, Chandigarh & Hyderabad, 15 State & 3 UT Offices and 35 Area offices spread across the marketing territory of NFL.

The company has 10 Soil testing laboratories (6 Static & 4 Mobile) with annual capacity of testing around 65000 samples for Macro Nutrients and 10000 samples for Micro Nutrients and are fully dedicated to the testing of soil health helping farmers to facilitate balanced fertilization.

Research Centers

The company has a R&D set up at each Manufacturing Unit i.e. at Nangal, Panipat, Bathinda and Vijaipur as well as at Corporate Office (Noida) which are primarily focused and undertakes various innovation studies to develop new, efficient & safer processes, value added products and suggest implementation of energy saving schemes.

Implementation of Energy Saving Schemes

In order to meet the new energy norms stipulated under NUP-2015, the company is already in the process of setting up Gas Turbine Generators along with Heat Recovery Steam Generation (HRSG) Unit at Panipat, Bathinda & Nangal Units with a total project cost of INR 675 crore. The GTG-HRSG plants have been commissioned at Bathinda and Nangal while at Panipat the GTG-HRSG shall be commissioned by Oct 2021 subject to mobilization of foreign experts at Panipat. Besides this, the company is also implementing energy reduction schemes at its Vijaipur Units to meet these new energy norms. Major scheme i.e. revamp of Ammonia syngas compressor & turbine has been implemented in September 2020 whereas balance schemes   would be commissioned in a phased manner by December 2021.

Seeds Processing Plant at Bathinda, Panipat and Indore

The company has recently commissioned its two seeds processing plant at Bathinda and Panipat recently and one more plant at Indore is being set up. The company would be processing the seeds to be grown & harvested under its flagship Seed Multiplication Program which was otherwise being processed through outsourcing to third party. The total seeds processing capacity of the company after commissioning of all the 3 plants would be 1.20 Lakh quintals.

Setting up of manufacturing facilities for Agrochemicals at Bathinda

In order to make self-sufficient in Agro-Chemicals business, NFL is setting up an Agro-chemical manufacturing facilities at Bathinda with total Capex of the project approx. INR 12.57 crore.

The plant is expected to be completed during 2021-22.

Revival of closed Urea plant of FCIL at Ramagundam Plant in Joint Venture mode

The Company through a Joint Venture Company namely Ramagundam Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (RFCL) along with EIL, FCIL and other partners for revival of closed Urea plant with annual installed capacity of 12.71 LMT.  The cost of project was INR 6338.16 crore with equity participation of 26% each of NFL and EIL, 11% each of FCIL and State of Telangana, 14.3% of GAIL  and 11.7% of a Consortium led by M/s HTAS, Denmark. The project was commissioned on 22-03-2021.

NFL has also been mandated to market 100% of Urea to be produced by RFCL. 

Agriculture Extension Services

The company is also playing a pivotal role in extending various agricultural extension services such as educating the farmers on judicious use of fertilizers along with total know-how on improved and scientific methods of cultivation to improve soil productivity. The company is providing support to the farmers by undertaking soil analysis for Macro & Micro Nutrients through its static & mobile soil testing vans for balanced use of fertilizers.

The company participates in various Krishi Melas organized by leading agriculture universities for direct & effective communication with farmers.

The company is presently having 6 static and 2 mobile soil testing laboratories. Using these soil testing labs, the company is undertaking soil tests for macro & micro nutrients and also providing soil health cards to the farmers to enhance balanced use of fertilizers.  Apart from this, the company is also having 100 Kisan Suvidha Kendra’s (KSKs) to provide all agro products and services to the farmers under single window concept.

Sustainable development

NFL has taken various initiatives in adopting best practices for Environment Management, Energy Conservation and Social Upliftment leading to sustainable development.

Use of cleaner and greener fuel i.e. Natural Gas as feed and fuel in NFL Plants.

One of the major milestones achieved by NFL in this direction is switchover of all its fuel oil feedstock plants at Nangal, Panipat and Bathinda, to Natural Gas (NG), the cleaner and energy efficient fuel. With this initiative, Company’s 100% Urea production is now based on gas as feedstock. In addition to above, specific energy consumption has also come down by more than 20 %.

NFL has also switched over the support fuel in the coal fired boilers at Panipat, Bathinda Nangal to NG from fuel oil. This has eliminated use of fuel oil besides improving reliability and reducing carbon footprints.

100 KW Solar Power Plant at Corporate Office has been commissioned in August’ 2014 is running satisfactorily. Also, 90 KW Solar Power Plant at Bathinda Unit has been installed in December 2014.

To increase the subsoil water level, Manufacturing Units of NFL have installed Rainwater Harvesting.

All conventional lights at Units and Corporate Office have been replaced with LED lights.

Development of Township at Vijaipur as Mini Smart City:

Under new development model as per directives of the Hon’ble PM during CPSEs Conclave 2018, NFL has committed to convert its Vijaipur Township into a mini Smart City by March 2022.

In order to build mini smart city at Vijaipur Unit, the company is currently undertaking various activities such as Zero Water discharge, Modern Sewage System, Solid Waste Management System, Rain Water Harvesting System, CCTVs, High Speed Wi-Fi, LED Lighting etc.

Corporate Social Responsibilities

Company is constantly working towards inclusive growth in society through CSR. Through its CSR programmes, Company is supporting sectors like health, education, skill development, environment and empowerment of underprivileged sections of the society. One of the major CSR projects of FY 2020-21 that the company undertook was for Training of Apprentices at a budget of Rs. 152.78 Lakh over and above the minimum mandate of 2.5% of total manpower. The project was envisaged to help youth in various placements linked skill training and capacity building through practical industrial experience.

In addition, as per the need of the hour, Company supported Government’s efforts to control the Covid-19 pandemic. Under this initiative, the company provided Cold Chain Equipments for storage of vaccine in Chandigarh to support the Government’s COVID-19 vaccination Programme. Company is also installing Oxygen Plants in some Government Hospitals in many districts. Ensuring adequate oxygen supply is the most critical need of the hour in the country.

The Company undertook many CSR projects in the health sector. To strengthen the medical infrastructure, the company provided Advance Life Support Ambulances in Government hospitals in district Basti and district Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh. These Ambulances will provide service to critical patients and to those who require care. Also, the company provided Medical equipment in the District Hospital, Basti (U.P.). In addition to this, Fowler beds were provided to Civil Hospital, Nangal to supplement the existing facilities.

In the area of education, all the Units of the Company have supported Government Schools in their vicinity through provision of school desk & benches, IT enabled smart boards, swings, fans, RO facilities etc. The Nangal Unit adopted a Government School in Khamachon village, Nawashehar for renovation and transformation through provision of latest educational tools like smart classes, computers, educational toys etc. Also, Bathinda Unit installed Smart Classrooms in Mahant Gurbanta Das School for Deaf and Dumb in Bathinda.

The Company also installed 325 no. LED Solar Street Lights in villages near Nangal Unit for providing proper lighting in the area for the local residents. Solar street lights are environment friendly as they use renewable form of energy and require less maintenance.