The Chemicals and Fertilizers Ministry on Tuesday took an important step towards boosting India’s domestic Urea production and curtailing its dependency on imports. The ministry provided INR 1,257 crore interest-free loan to Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan Ltd (HURL) for its three closed Urea manufacturing plants at Sindri, Gorakhpur and Barauni. HURL is a joint venture between state-owned firms National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Coal India Ltd. (CIL), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) and Fertiliser Corporation of India Ltd (FCIL). The loan would help the three plants (having capacity of 12.7 lakh tonne per annum each) to start commercial production of neem coated urea by 2021 with expected repayment of loan within the next 8 years starting FY23. With this, HURL would add up to 38.1 lakh tonne of neem coated urea in indigenous production in Gorakhpur, Sindri and Barauni. The move would generate direct and indirect employment in alignment with the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign.