The Narendra Modi government is expected to save foreign exchange worth Rs 40,000 crore per annum by shifting to nano urea liquid, which will boost crop production and increase farmers' income, government officials told CNBC-TV18.

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Nano urea was indigenously developed through the proprietary technology at the Indian Farmers' Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd's (IFFCO) Nano Biotechnology Research Centre (NBRC) in Kalol of Gandhinagar district.

Nano urea liquid has increased crop yield by 8 percent versus regular urea. It has been found to be very effective in increasing the nutritional quality and productivity of crops, according to officials.

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By 2025, through eight urea plants, India will produce 44 crore nano urea bottles per annum, which will be equivalent to 200 lakh million tonnes (MT) of conventional urea, and this will make New Delhi self-reliant.

For this fiscal, India's total fertiliser subsidy bill is likely to touch Rs 2.5 lakh crore and the urea subsidy bill is expected to be Rs 70,000 crore, officials said.

Coming to rabi crop demand, India needs to import 50 lakh MT of DAP (diammonium phosphate) fertiliser.

In May this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the world’s first nano urea liquid plant by IFFCO near Kalol town of Gujarat's Gandhinagar district.

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The first plant at Kalol has been set up at an investment of Rs 175 crore and has the capacity to produce 1.5 lakh bottles of 500 ml per day.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)