New Delhi, May 30: Indian Farmers and Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (Iffco) will invest $1 billion, or about Rs 4,300 crore, to set up a phosphoric acid factory in Egypt and in other greenfield plants in the country. Besides, it would scale up the existing production capacity.

The phosphoric acid plant will have an installed capacity of 5 lakh tonnes per annum. The project will be executed through a joint-venture firm ? El Nasr Mining Co of Egypt. Iffco will have the management control with a 75 per cent equity and the balance will remain with the Egyptian partner.

Iffco will set up another phosphoric acid plant with 5 lakh-tonne per annum capacity in the Kutch district of Gujarat. The plant will be entirely owned by Iffco. With this investment, Iffco’s production capacity is likely to go up to 86 lakh tonnes per annum from 61 lakh tonnes at present, said chairman Surinder Kumar Jhakar. The investment will also ensure assured supply of phosphoric acid, a major raw material.

Iffco has set a target of 100 lakh tonnes of fertiliser production in the medium term.

The fertiliser major is planning to set up a DAP/NPK plant in Kandla with an installed capacity of 18 lakh tonnes per annum. It will produce 20 lakh tonnes of rock phosphate per annum to feed the phosphoric acid plant in India.

The setting up of these plants will entail a total investment of $800 million.

Iffco will invest the rest $200 million to fund its scheme for saving energy as well as expansion plans. This is expected to save subsidy worth Rs 800 crore per annum on the production cost of urea.

Iffco is targeting a debt-equity ratio of 2:1 for the $1-billion investment.