India has successfully developed its first indigenous water-soluble fertiliser technology after seven years of research, marking a potential breakthrough that could transform the country from an import-dependent nation to an export-dominating force in specialty fertilisers.

The technology, backed by the Ministry of Mines and developed using Indian raw materials and Indian-designed plants, represents a true "Make in India" proposition that could significantly reduce the country's heavy dependence on Chinese specialty fertiliser imports.

"My aim was to make India, especially for specialty fertilizer, an export-dominating country, not an import-dependent country," Rajiv Chakraborty, President of the Soluble Fertilizer Industry Association (SFIA), who spearheaded the research initiative, told PTI in an interview.

India's overwhelming reliance on Chinese specialty fertiliser imports provided the impetus for developing indigenous technology. The country currently imports 80 per cent of its specialty fertilisers directly from China, while the remaining 20 per cent is indirectly traded through Chinese sources.

Barring 5 per cent of NPK formulations produced domestically, India is 95 per cent dependent on Chinese supplies for specialty fertilisers. This dependency has grown steadily since 2005, when European suppliers began sourcing from China to serve Indian markets, gradually building capacity and technology to capture global market share.

The development process was arduous, with Chakraborty describing the typical challenges of research and development. "R&D means a failure game a thousand times. Have you only succeeded once after failing for a thousand times? So it's common to every R&D process," he said.

The financial toll was substantial, with Chakraborty risking his business to pursue the breakthrough. "I risked my entire life in doing that, developing something, and I was almost out of the business at one point of time, because I was not able to focus on developing my business as a soluble fertilizer player," he revealed.

The technology has undergone multiple layers of government scrutiny and received Ministry of Mines support for developing a pilot plant, which is now ready for scale-up.

The technology is expected to reach farmers' fields within two years when large-scale production capacities come online. Joint venture discussions are already underway with leading fertiliser companies for commercial implementation.

"This will start coming to the market two years down the line, when we will see big capacities, and I think very soon it will bring self-reliance in specialty fertiliser at least," Chakraborty said.

The breakthrough technology offers several game-changing features that set it apart from conventional fertiliser manufacturing processes. Most significantly, it enables production of almost all types of soluble fertilisers through a single process, unlike existing methods that require different technologies for each product.

"This technology is special in terms of many things. First, one single process produces almost all the soluble fertiliser. Usually for every product there is a different technology, but this technology enables production of all products in one process," Chakraborty explained.

Environmental sustainability is a key feature, with the technology operating as a zero-effluent project with no emissions. This environmental consideration was instrumental in securing government support.

"This particular technology is a zero effluent project. There is no emission from this project. So that's why this was one of the grounds that the Ministry of Mines has taken into consideration and given it a project of national importance," he said.

The green credentials address growing concerns about pollution and the increasing difficulty of effluent disposal in industrial operations.

The indigenous development addresses India's longstanding reliance on foreign fertiliser technologies, which has imposed significant financial burdens through licensing fees and upgrade costs.

"Whatever technology we have today, especially in fertiliser, is actually borrowed technology. That is not our Indian technology. So for every borrowing, we have to pay a very big price," Chakraborty noted.

The dependency extends beyond initial acquisition costs. "We don't get upgradation with the technology. Then we pay another price for getting the upgradation. But if it is our own, we can keep on developing," he added, highlighting the long-term strategic benefits of indigenous innovation for India's fertiliser sector.

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