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The Union Minister for Chemicals, Fertilisers and Steel, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, and the Chairman and MD of Madras Fertilizers Ltd, Mr Sukumar N. Oommen, at a press conference in Chennai on Sunday. - Shaju John

Chennai , Aug 1

THE Centre is working on a fertiliser pricing policy that will address the requirements of manufacturers such as Madras Fertilizers Ltd (MFL), according to the Union Minister for Fertilisers, Chemicals and Steel, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan.

Also, the Fertiliser Ministry is reconsidering the decontrol of urea marketing, which he said was a `blunder' by the previous Government.

At a press conference on Sunday during his visit to MFL at Manali, the industrial suburb north of Chennai, he ruled out disinvestment of MFL. "Disinvestment is out of the question as of this moment," he said.

According to him, Madras Fertilizers has suffered losses due to deficiencies in the new pricing policy that came into effect in April 2003. It resulted in MFL incurring a loss of about Rs 2,003 on every tonne of urea sold. Even on sale of complex fertilisers there were anomalies and these cost MFL about Rs 80 crore a year, he said.

A committee headed by the Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Mr Rehman Khan, has submitted a report, which observes that the policy was responsible for MFL's loss. If this was corrected, it would turnaround in a year's time, Mr Paswan said. On the decontrol of urea marketing, he said that the Ministry is "reconsidering the policy." It has called for a meeting of Agriculture Ministers of the States on August 25 to discuss the issue.

The MFL Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Sukumar N. Oommen, said that the company's net worth has been eroded with its accumulated losses in 2003-04 reaching Rs 206 crore against a net worth of Rs 175 crore. However, MFL was "in principle a sound company" and conformed to the efficiency norms prescribed under the pricing policy.

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