The Indian fertilizer industry has succeeded in meeting almost fully the demand of all chemical fertilizers except for MOP. The industry had a very humble beginning in 1906, when the first manufacturing unit of Single Super Phosphate (SSP) was set up in Ranipet near Chennai with an annual capacity of 6000 MT. The Fertilizer & Chemicals Travancore of India Ltd. (FACT) at Cochin in Kerala and the Fertilizers Corporation of India (FCI) in Sindri in Bihar were the first large sized -fertilizer plants set up in the forties and fifties with a view to establish an industrial base to achieve self-sufficiency in foodgrains. Subsequently, green revolution in the late sixties gave an impetus to the growth of fertilizer industry in India. The seventies and eighties then witnessed a significant addition to the fertilizer production capacity.

The installed capacity as on 30.01.2003 has reached a level of 121.10 lakh MT of nitrogen (inclusive of an installed capacity of 208.42 lakh MT of urea after reassessment of capacity) and 53.60 lakh MT of phosphatic nutrient, making India the 3rd largest fertilizer producer in the world. The rapid build-up of fertilizer production capacity in the country has been achieved as a result of a favourable policy environment facilitating large investments in the public, co-operative and private sectors. Presently, there are 57 large sized fertilizer plants in the country manufacturing a wide range of nitrogenous, phosphatic and complex fertilizers. Out of these, 29 unit produce urea, 20 units produce DAP and complex fertilizers 13 plants manufacture Ammonium Sulphate (AS), Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (CAN) and other low analysis nitrogenous fertilizers. Besides, there are about 64 medium and small-scale units in operation producing SSP.