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Advani all for Indian companies going global

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government is not against the entry of multinational companies, but wants to encourage swadeshi (domestic) companies to go international, according to Union Home Minister L K Advani.

He said there were some big companies in India which had the potential to become global players such as the fertiliser giant, Indian Farmers Fertilisers Co-operative Limited.

Speaking at a special function organised in Ahmedabad on Sunday, to ''dedicate to the nation'' the Rs 1.5 billion Kalol expansion project, Advani said such companies should acquire advanced technological know-how and be run on professional lines to become ''global giants''.

With expansion, the capacity of the Kalol ammonia plant has increased by 21 per cent from 910 metric tonnes per day to 1,100 MTPD while urea production has gone up by 37 per cent from 1,200 MTPD to 1,650 MTPD. The expansion project, with March 1, 1995 as zero date, has been completed within a scheduled period of 30 months.

Presiding over the function, Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Surjeet Singh Barnala said IFFCO had planned to bridge the country's large demand-supply gap in fertilisers by massive expansion of its existing units and embarked on rapid expansion since 1993.

Giving details about the expansion projects, Barnala said expansion of Aonla and Phulpur units had already been completed in December 1996 and December 1997, to produce an additional 1.5 million tonnes of urea annually.

The expansion of the Kandla unit to produce an additional 210,000 tonnes of phosphatic fertilisers was currently in progress, Barnala said, adding that it would be completed by October 1999.

The minister said IFFCO, with the capacity to produce 3.2 million tonnes of urea and 590,000 tonnes of phosphatic fertilisers had already become a leading producer of fertilisers in the country and planned to achieve 25 per cent share in production of nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilisers.

UNI