Mumbai, July 30 -- The two organisations will jointly take the project from concept to execution through an SPV, aligning with the recently approved National Investment Policy for Urea-2026.

In a major boost to the Centre's recently approved National Investment Policy for Urea-2026 (NIPU-2026), GAIL (India) Ltd and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd (RCF) have signed an MoU to jointly establish a gas-based fertiliser project in Maharashtra through a special purpose vehicle (SPV).

The proposed facility, with a planned capacity of 1.27 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA), is envisaged in the Vidarbha region along GAIL's Mumbai-Nagpur-Jharsuguda Natural Gas Pipeline (MNJPL), which was partially commissioned in October 2025.

The partnership brings together integrated energy major GAIL with RCF, one of India's largest urea producers, combining strengths in natural gas and fertiliser manufacturing. Both organisations will collaborate from the conceptualisation to the execution of the project.

Deepak Gupta, CMD, GAIL, said, "The proposed fertiliser project aligns with GAIL's strategy of creating long-term value through natural gas utilisation and contributing to India's energy security objectives. This collaboration combines GAIL's strengths in the natural gas value chain with RCF's rich experience in fertiliser manufacturing and project execution."

He added that the partnership is aligned with NIPU-2026 and the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India). The new policy framework aims to attract investment in gas-based urea plants, adding eight to nine new units with about 10 million tonnes of annual capacity to reduce import dependence. It replaces the earlier NIP-2012, which expired in 2019.

S Shivakumar, CMD, RCF, stated, "Leveraging RCF's extensive experience in fertiliser plant operations, project development and marketing, together with GAIL's robust gas infrastructure and energy expertise, this partnership has the potential to create a world-class fertiliser facility."

The formal agreement was signed by Sanjay Agarwal, Executive Director, GAIL, and Jyoti Patil, Executive Director, RCF, in the presence of Gupta and Shivakumar. Senior management teams from both companies also attended the MoU ceremony.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Infrastructure Today.