Major fertiliser manufacturers, including Deepak Fertilisers, Coromandel International and SML, are gradually expanding capacity to produce non-subsidised, crop-specific soil nutrients that offer higher nutrient-use efficiency and better absorption.
Farmers have increasingly adopted these “specialty fertilisers” over the past few years for crops such as fruits and vegetables, cotton, sugarcane, soybean and wheat. Their nutrient-use efficiency can exceed 80%, compared with much lower efficiency for heavily subsidised conventional fertilisers such as urea.
Over the past four to five years, Deepak Fertilisers has launched several crop-specific nutrient baskets for cotton, sugarcane, fruits and vegetables, including NPK-plus products, micronutrients, soil conditioners and water-soluble fertilisers used through drip irrigation.
“Currently, barely 30-40% of conventional fertilisers such as urea is absorbed by the soil, while the rest contaminates air and water resources. In the case of specialty fertilisers, nutrient-use efficiency can go as high as 80-85%,” Sailesh Mehta, chairman and managing director of Deepak Fertilisers, told FE.
Mehta said the company currently produces 0.4 million tonne (MT) of specialty fertilisers annually. Although these products are more expensive than heavily subsidised fertilisers such as urea and DAP, demand has been growing rapidly, albeit from a small base. Over the past four to five years, the company has conducted 95,000-100,000 demonstration plots to increase farmer acceptance of these products.
In FY26, more than 70 MT of heavily subsidised fertilisers—including urea, diammonium phosphate (DAP), potash and NPK variants—were consumed, resulting in a subsidy outgo of Rs 2.17 lakh crore. A significant share of raw materials and finished fertilisers is imported. Excessive use of urea, which currently attracts a subsidy of more than 90%, has contributed to soil degradation and affected crop yields.
“Products such as micronutrients, organics and water-soluble fertilisers are gaining traction as farmers look for solutions that can improve soil health and help crops withstand stress, particularly amid increasing climate variability. We are also seeing the opportunity expand across products such as seaweed, gypsum and other micronutrient-based solutions,” said S Sankarasubramanian, MD and CEO of Coromandel International.
Sankarasubramanian said the growing adoption of specialty nutrients reflects a broader shift in how farmers approach crop nutrition.
Most key ingredients for specialty fertilisers are imported, while product formulations are largely carried out domestically, an official said. The official added that usage of specialty fertilisers, though still much smaller than that of conventional fertilisers, is growing as farmers seek higher yields amid climate-related stress and increasing pressure to conserve water.
Rajib Chakraborty, president of the Soluble Fertilizer Industry Association, has called for allowing manufacturers of non-subsidised fertilisers to sell their products across the country under a single licence, instead of the current system requiring separate licences in each state. He also called for recognising non-subsidised water-soluble fertilisers as critical inputs and promoting their use by government agencies.
“Current manufacturing capacities are still insufficient to meet the requirements of the entire country. This creates a significant opportunity for further capacity expansion and, more importantly, for developing nutrient-use-efficient solutions and balanced nutrition programmes that can deliver better outcomes with less input,” said Bimal Deepak Shah, managing director of SML, which manufactures products including biostimulants and biologicals.
India’s specialty fertiliser sector—which spans water-soluble fertilisers, biostimulants and micronutrients—is currently valued at around Rs 8,232 crore.