Govt approves new fertiliser policy

NEW DELHI: Cabinet has approved a new fertiliser policy, the minister for chemicals and fertilisers, Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters on Thursday. "It has been approved," he said on the sidelines of a conference, but did not elaborate. India, the world's third-largest consumer of fertilisers, needs 27.3 million tonnes of urea annually but production has been stagnating at about 20 million tonnes. In December, Paswan said the government wanted to revive production from idling plants and reduce imports. On Wednesday, the oil ministry said that urea plants would be given top priority in receiving natural gas from new fields.