As a coincidence, 1998 happens to be the silver jubilee year of NFL. To mark the occasion, union minister of state for chemicals and fertilisers AK Patel inaugurated here on Saturday the silver jubilee ceremony at Siri Fort auditorium.

In this silver jubilee year of NFL, the company has more than one reason to celebrate. For one, it was accorded the status of miniratna category I company on July 23 this year. For another, Vijaipur unit of NFL has been bestowed ISO 9002 certification in recognition of its product and services, according to NFL chairman and managing director Dinesh Singh.

NFL has planned a series of events to be celebrated throughout the silver jubilee year which include sponsoring of institutional awards, sports/cultural functions, promotional activities, social services and so on.

Meanwhile, as part of NFL's expansion plans, it has been implementing several schemes at its various units. As part of such expansion plan, union minister of chemicals and fertilisers Surjit Singh Barnala recently inaugurated the urea hydrolyser scheme at the Bhatinda unit of NFL at a cost of Rs 20 crore. The hydrolyser scheme is to control pollution while helping increase productivity at the unit.

A Rs 1,301.18-crore expansion plan for the Panipat project has already been submitted to the department of fertilisers. This Panipat expansion project will enable the company to raise the annual installed capacity from the existing 28.05 lakh tonnes of urea to 35.31 lakh tonnes. NFL's Nangal urea revamp project at a cost of Rs 127.25 crore is set to increase the existing capacity from 3.30 lakh tonnes to 4.78 lakh tonnes. This project is shortly being presented before the Public Investment Board.

As far as the 1998-99 performance, NFL has already shown encouraging signs in that it has achieved a sales turnover of Rs 458.29 crore with the gross profit touching the figure of 64.89 crore, which will result in a net profit of Rs 5.27 crore.

NFL generates substantial import substitution. Indigenous production of nitrogenous fertilisers and providing major boost for foodgrain production to the tune of 14 million tonnes per annum are some of the import substitution methods achieved through NFL.

Awards won by NFL in the recent past include Award of Excellence from the British Safety Council and the Award of Honour by the National Safety Council of the US for achieving zero-accident rate. Besides, Certificate of Merit has been awarded to NFL by the Indian National Productivity Council, NFL CMD Dinesh Singh has added.