Indian micro-fertilisers association seeks ease of doing business, regulatory reforms

IMMA roundtable highlights India’s potential to emerge as a major global manufacturing base for micronutrients, customised fertilisers and specialty plant nutrition products.
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AMIT DAVE

An industry-government roundtable organised by the Indian Micro-Fertilizers Manufacturers Association (IMMA) brought together senior representatives of Government and the micronutrient, specialty fertiliser and plant nutrition industry.

The 3rd IMMA Industry–Government Roundtable, held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, on September 17, focused on three major areas that the industry believes could significantly improve the operating environment and global competitiveness of Indian manufacturers

The three were: Ease of doing business and regulatory reform; enabling exports of Made-in-India micronutrients and specialty fertilisers; and GST rationalisation for Fertilizer Control Order (FCO)-notified plant nutrition products.

Identifying challenges

The Roundtable organised by IMMA, an industry association representing manufacturers engaged in micronutrients, specialty fertilisers and allied plant nutrition products, also sought to move beyond identifying challenges and develop specific, implementable proposals that industry can place before the concerned Ministries with supporting data and documentation.

In the session on “One nation, one licence: Building a digital regulatory architecture”,  Rahul Mirchandani, President, IMMA, urged the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare to consider developing a national digital fertiliser licensing data stack. It could fundamentally simplify the process of obtaining and renewing licenses and state marketing permissions.

IMMA proposed that states could seek a standardised national set of documents, obtain these directly from the digital stack and process applications within clearly defined timelines.

“The objective should be simple: submit once, verify once and use many times. A One Nation, One Licence architecture need not take regulatory authority away from the states. It can give every regulator access to the same verified information and make approvals seamless, transparent, frictionless and time-bound. Digitalisation can simultaneously strengthen compliance and dramatically improve ease of doing business,” said Mr Sameer Pathare, Vice President, IMMA.

Digital data stack

Responding to the proposal, Subodh Kumar, Deputy Secretary (INM- Fertilizers), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, said the concept of a common digital data stack and a “One Nation, One License” framework was an idea that could be considered for implementation.

In the session on India’s potential to be the micronutrient and specialty fertiliser factory of the world, panellists focused on exports and India’s potential to emerge as a major global manufacturing base for micronutrients, customised fertilisers and specialty plant nutrition products.

They, however, highlighted difficulties caused by delays in obtaining export no-objection certificates and approvals.  

Prakash Kamble, Deputy Director, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), said changes in the approval framework would require coordination between DGFT and the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.

Panelists, all IMMA members, proposed a mechanism permitting their manufacture and export where the product is labelled as “goods meant for export/not for sale in India”.

Key focus areas

The session was on GST 2.0, in which the IMMA members sought 5 per cent GST for all Fertilizer Control Order (FCO) notified products. Panelist identified several issues, which  they said continue to require clarification and rationalisation.

These included the inverted duty structure, where input taxes can be higher than the GST applicable to finished products, creating accumulation of input tax credit and additional working-capital requirements for manufacturers.

They highlighted instances where identical or substantially similar products face different tax treatment depending upon pack size or classification, and sought greater clarity over GST applicable to customised fertilisers and mixtures of fertilisers.

The Roundtable identified “One Nation, One Licence”, FCO regulatory reform, product authentication, export liberalisation, time-bound digital export approvals, export-only formulations, global market access, and GST rationalisation as key focus areas.

Published on September 19, 2026