NEW DELHI- Scuttling Indian Know-How in Fertilisers

NEW DELHI Scuttling Indian Know-How in Fertilisers THE report of the so-called expert group on the choice of a foreign collaborator for the proposed 1,350 tonnes per day ammonia plants based on Bombay High gas has some curious features which deserve close attention before the government takes a final decision on it. It is understood that the choice of the group has fallen on a fresh entrant to the fertiliser scene in India, a US firm called C II Brown. To other bidders who have done some work in India for setting up fertiliser plants in the past in association with one or other Indian public sector agency have been rejected. According to knowledgeable sources, C II Brown is not among the leaders in the field and its experience in setting up large fertiliser plants, specially in the range of 1,350 tonne per day and above, is nowhere near that of some of the competitors, such as, for instance, Kellogs of USA or Haider Topsoe of Denmark.