The country’s joint venture project with Russia, with an investment of around Rs 20,000 crore with a manufacturing capacity of 2 million tonne (MT) of urea annually is likely to be completed in the next two years, a senior official with Indian Potash (IP), has said.

PS Gahlaut, Managing Director, Indian Potash, one of the JV partners in the project, said state-owned Projects & Development India (PDI), the consultant for the proposed plant in Russia, has submitted the pre-feasibility report last week.

“Urea plant should be ready within the next two years,” Ghalaut told FE. Three Indian state-owned enterprise – IP, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF), and National Fertilizers (NF)-, are expected to take a call on the pre-feasibility report soon, he said.

A delegation led by PDIL, along with representatives from IPL, RCFL, and NFL, recently visited Russia. Gahlaut said that the proposed urea plant will act as an assured supply source for the country.

An industry official said that overall imports of fertilizers of all varieties in FY26 exceeded 20 MT out of which 10 MT was urea shipments. Out of the total consumption of around 40 MT of urea in FY26, around 30 MT is produced domestically from 32 odd units.

The plant, a 50:50 joint venture between Russia’s Uralchem and India’s IP, RCF and NF, is expected to come up at Togliatti in Samara, Russia.

Uralchem’s investment of around Rs 10,000 crore will be in the ammonia plant. The three state-owned enterprises – IPL, RCFL, and NFL – will invest Rs 4,500 crore, Rs 4,500 crore, and Rs 1,000 crore, respectively for setting up an urea manufacturing unit. The entire quantity produced will be imported to India for domestic consumption.

The Russian JV will be the biggest such joint venture project after Iffco and Kribhco’s ‘Oman India Fertiliser’ which produces around 1.65 MT of urea annually.

In December, 2025, to ensure long term supply of fertilizers and curb volatility in prices, India and Russian companies had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for forming a joint venture for building a large urea manufacturing facility in Russia. The MoU was signed in New Delhi in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Uralchem group includes three major Russian companies — Uralchem JSC, Uralkali PJSC, and Toaz JSC — with a cumulative production capacity of about 25 MT.

Last week, the government approved importing 2.5 MT of urea bypassing the Strait of Hormuz over the next two months to boost supplies ahead of the kharif season. Urea will be sourced from countries including Russia, Algeria, Nigeria and Oman by IP.

The supply challenges in urea emerged as the West Asia conflict hit six key production centres — the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bahrain. These countries account for 30-40% of global urea trade.

Indian Potash, one of the three agencies authorised by the government for urea import along with NF and RCF, received offers for supply of 2.5 MT urea over the next few months. The prices offered by suppliers are in the range of $935-959/tonne, far higher than that in February.

India imports about a third of its fertilizer – urea, Diammonium phosphate (DAP), NPKs – Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K)) and potash consumption of around 65-70 MT annually.