GAIL, RCF plan 1.27 million t/y urea plant

India’s GAIL (India) Limited and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited (RCF) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly establish a gas-based urea plant in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, the state-owned gas transporter said in a stock-exchange filing on 29 July. The proposed facility will have capacity of 1.27 million t/y and will be built along GAIL’s Mumbai–Nagpur–Jharsuguda Natural Gas Pipeline (MNJPL). The two companies will develop the project through a Special Purpose Vehicle.

The GAIL–RCF plant is the first project to be announced under India’s National Investment Policy for Urea-2026 (NIPU-2026), approved by the Union Cabinet on 15 July, and its 1.27 million t/y capacity matches the standard plant size envisaged under the policy. As we reported in July, NIPU-2026 aims to add 10 million t/y of new domestic urea capacity through 8–9 new gas-based plants, part of a broader fertilizer security package designed to close the gap between India’s domestic urea output — 29.33 million tonnes in 2025-26 — and consumption of about 40 million t/y.

The MoU was signed by Sanjay Agarwal, Executive Director (BD & Start-up) of GAIL and Jyoti Patil, Executive Director (Project, Corporate & Co-ordination) of RCF, in the presence of Deepak Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of GAIL, and S. Shivakumar, Chairman and Managing Director of RCF.

“The proposed fertilizer project aligns with GAIL’s strategy of creating long-term value through natural gas utilisation and contributing to India’s energy security objectives,” said Gupta. “We are pleased to partner with RCF, a leading fertilizer company with proven expertise in the sector. This collaboration combines GAIL’s strengths in the natural gas value chain with RCF’s rich experience in fertilizer manufacturing and project execution. Further, this partnership between GAIL & RCF is aligned with Government of India’s recently approved National Investment Policy for Urea-2026 (NIPU-2026) towards Atmanirbhar Bharat.”