The Centre is contemplating to hike retail prices of urea by 10 per cent. The proposal is likely to be put up before the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs soon for its consideration.

A panel, led by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, had last year approved a new draft urea policy, which proposed partial freeing of retail prices, allowing companies to hike urea prices by 10 per cent in the first year of policy implementation.

The revival of the Namrup fertiliser plant depends on the finalisation of its funding pattern. The Planning Commission has suggested that the funding pattern has to be finalised before seeking in-principle approval for the project and hence the Department of Fertilisers may explore the possibility of open bidding and expression of interest for equity participation from private companies, said Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikanta Jena.

Move ensures uninterrupted urea supply to Indian market Govt not to drag Gulf nation to International Tribunal

The government has accepted the proposal seeking hike in prices of gas supplied by Oman to an Indian fertiliser plant in the Gulf nation to $1.5 per mmBtu for this year, a move that will ensure uninterrupted supply of urea to the Indian market.

New Delhi Oman has halved the price at which it will sell natural gas to an Indian fertiliser plant in the Gulf nation to $1.5 per mmBtu but has added an annual escalation clause.

Oman, which had previously proposed to raise rates of gas sold to OMIFCO’s urea manufacturing facility at Sur to $3 per million instead of present price of $0.77 per mmBtu, has revised its offer to charge $1.5 per mmBtu, sources in know of the development said.

Fertiliser ministry has sent a proposal to finance ministry for creating a sovereign wealth fund. This fund will help the government as well as private companies in the acquisition of mineral assets abroad.

The Union Cabinet will soon take a call on the vexed issue of whether to go for international arbitration at a London tribunal against Oman, which raised natural gas price from 77 cents to $3 per unit, leading to a sharp rise in the price of fertiliser imported by India under a long-term off-take agreement.

The finance ministry has rejected a request for increasing the price of urea imported from Omifco, an equal joint venture of Indian and Oman firms, in line with the higher gas price implemented by the Arab nation at the beginning of this year.

The medicine price regulator, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), has found a price fixing mechanism suggested by its parent ministry, chemicals and fertilisers, has failed to meaningfully lower the prices of key cancer medicines.

A group of ministers (GoM) headed by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar is expected to meet soon to finalise a pricing policy on drugs.

Tuesday's meeting to examine the pricing policy prepared by ministry of chemicals & fertilisers

On Tuesday, a group of ministers (GoM) led by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar will examine the proposed National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy (NPPP) prepared by the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers.

A high-level panel constituted by the health ministry is likely to suggest a system of negotiated prices for all new medicines approved in the country. The proposal to control the launch prices of drugs comes at a time when the chemicals and fertilisers ministry, responsible for deciding medicine prices, is busy preparing a national pharmaceutical pricing policy covering all essential medicines.

New Delhi: The fertilisers ministry has opposed the petroleum ministry’s move to snap supply of cheaper gas from RIL’s Andhra offshore field to units manufacturing potassic and phosphatic fertilisers, even as government is grappling with fall in production from India’s gas bowl. In a letter to oil minister S Jaipal Reddy, minister of state for fertilisers Srikant Kumar Jena said such a move would adversely impact the economics of several state-run manufacturers and hit production.