NEW DELHI, March 18 -- India has built substantial fertilizer production capacity, especially in urea, but remains heavily dependent on imports. The vulnerability has come into sharper focus amid the West Asia war, which threatens key supply routes.

The reason is structural: domestic output is constrained by limited availability of critical raw materials such as natural gas, phosphate rock and potash, even as demand continues to rise. Mint explains.

India is the world's second-largest fertilizer consumer, but domestic supply hasn't kept pace.

The country imports about 60% of its diammonium phosphate (DAP) requirement and roughly 15% of its urea and nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK)-based fertilizer demand, along with intermediat...