Coal India gets board nod to form two JVs for revival of Talcher urea plant

Coal India (CIL) on Tuesday received in-principle approval from its board to form two joint ventures to revive Fertilizer Corporation of India's (FCIL) Talcher urea plant in Odisha, the state-run miner said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

A consortium of Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF), GAIL, CIL and FCIL has agreed to invest Rs 8,000 crore for the revival of the urea plant with a production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum.

Earlier, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed to form two separate joint ventures - one with state-run energy major GAIL and the other with RCF - to revive the urea plant and also build a power plant and coal washery facility at the site.

"The company will form two joint ventures... JV 1 for Coal Gasification with GAIL as a major partner (and) JV 2 - for fertiliser (Ammonium Nitrate) plants, coal mine, coal washery, power plant & utilities with RCF and CIL as major stakeholder," CIL said in its filing.

The revival of the Talcher plant is being seen as crucial as urea production in the country has not been sufficient to meet the demand.