India’s first indigenous water-soluble fertilizer pilot plant launched in Nagpur

Anupam Agnihotri, Director of Jawaharlal Nehru Aluminium Research Development and Design Centre (JNARDDC), inaugurates Phase I of a soluble fertilizer pilot plant in Nagpur.

India has completed its first indigenous water-soluble fertilizer (WSF) pilot plant in Nagpur, marking a significant step towards reducing the country’s import dependence on specialty fertilizers.  

Anupam Agnihotri, Director, Jawaharlal Nehru Aluminium Research Development and Design Centre (JNARDDC), on Monday inaugurated Phase I of a soluble fertilizer pilot plant in Nagpur.

Supported by JNARDDC-funded research, the facility was completed nearly a month ahead of schedule.

A media statement said that the commissioning of the pilot facility marks a significant milestone in strengthening India’s indigenous capabilities in specialty and value-added fertilizer production. The plant is expected to enable domestic manufacturing of all critical soluble fertilizers that are currently imported into the country each year.

Moving towards self-reliance

Planned for scale-up, the pilot plant is likely to be adopted by leading Indian fertilizer companies in the coming months, helping India move towards self-reliance in specialty soluble fertilizers.

JNARDDC, which is the nodal agency under the Union Ministry of Mines, continues to spearhead and fund indigenous research and development across multiple strategic sectors, including critical minerals, it said.

The green technology for producing specialty soluble fertilizers, developed by Ishita International, received JNARDDC’s support in April and has progressed from bench scale to pilot scale in record time, underlining the role of focused institutional support in accelerating the development and deployment of indigenous technologies vital to India’s self-reliance objectives, the statement added.

Published on December 23, 2025