Fertilizer is a material that is added to the soil to supply one or more elements required for plant growth and productiveness. The major three elements are nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, the secondary elements are calcium, sulfur, magnesium, and other elements are boron, manganese, iron, zinc, copper and molybdenum. Fertilizers enhance the natural fertility of the soil or replace the chemical elements taken from the soil by harvesting, grazing, leaching or erosion. Artificial fertilizers are inorganic fertilizers formulated in appropriate concentrations and combinations supply three main nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (N, P and K) for various crops and growing conditions. N (nitrogen) promotes leaf growth and forms proteins and chlorophyll. P (phosphorus) contributes to root, flower and fruit development. K (potassium) contributes to stem and root growth and the synthesis of proteins. The common inorganic fertilizers include ammonia (82% nitrogen), NPK combinations, urea (46% nitrogen), super phosphate, mono and dibasic ammonium phosphates (containing nitrogen and phosphate), calcium ammonium nitrate, potassium chloride (muriate of potash). The primary nutrients supplied by fertilizers are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Their concentration in a fertilizer is expressed as percentage of N, P2O5 and K2O. In the case of nitrogenous fertilizers, nitrogen may be in the ammoniacal, nitrate (or a combination thereof) or amide form. Ammoniacal form of nitrogen is contained in fertilizers like ammonium Sulphate, ammonium chloride, etc. Nitrate nitrogen is contained in fertilizers like ammonium nitrate, calcium ammonium nitrate, etc. The amide nitrogen is contained in urea. Phosphate present in phosphatic fertilizers is in the water soluble form or citrate soluble form. India is primarily an agriculture based economy. The agricultural sector and its other associated spheres provide employment to a large section of the country's population and contribute about 25% to the GDP. The Indian Fertilizer Industry is one of the allied sectors of the agricultural sphere. India has emerged as the third largest producer of nitrogenous fertilizers. The adoption of back to back Five Year plans has paved the way for self sufficiency in the production of food grains. In fact production has gone up to an extent that there is scope for the export of food grains. This surplus has been facilitated by the use of chemical fertilizers. Though the soil in India is rich in silt, it lacks chief plant nutrients like potassium, nitrogen and phosphate. The increase in the production of fertilizers and its consumption acts as a major contributor to overall agricultural development.NPK mixture fertilizers are formulated & recommended by agricultural scientists to enhance the output of the crops by giving it specific and exclusive blend of plant nutrients. All the major plant nutrients like Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potash are mixed in different ratios to make it suitable for specific crops. These specific ratios of N P & K are called grades. The numbers in the grades name represents the percentage of N, P2O5 & K2O respectively in the mixture. NPK fertilizer plants are used for production of complex with different concentrations and types, such as inorganic fertilizers and biological fertilizers. These fertilizers can be obtained in the form of uniform granules from 1 mm to 4 mm size. These granules are white, cream, brown, gray or black in colour. Moreover, the production line can be optimized to manufacture different grades such as; and 8 :20: 14: 5, 10 : 15 : 10 : 4, 10 : 24 : 17 : 6, 12 : 16 : 22: 6.5, and 14 : 22 : 15 : 6 etc. There is a very good scope in this sector and new entrepreneurs should venture into this field. Few Indian Major Players are as under: Agro Chem Punjab Ltd. Aries Agro Ltd. Asian Fertilizers Ltd. Basant Agro Tech (India) Ltd. Bharat Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd. Bharat Fertiliser Inds. Ltd. Bharat Fertiliser Inds. Ltd. Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corpn. Ltd. Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals Ltd. Coromandel International Ltd. Deccan Sales Corpn. Ltd. Deepak Agro Solutions Ltd. Deogiri Fertilisers Ltd. Dharamsi Morarji Chemical Co. Ltd. East Coast Fertilisers & Chemicals Ltd. Fertilisers & Chemicals, Travancore Ltd. Ganges Fertiliser & Chemicals Ltd. Godavari Fertilisers & Chemicals Ltd. Good Value Mktg. Co. Ltd. Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Co. Ltd. Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd. Harshvardhan Chemicals & Minerals Ltd. Hind Lever Chemicals Ltd. Hindustan Agro Chemicals Ltd. Indag Products Ltd. Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co Op. Ltd. Indo Gulf Fertilisers Ltd. Karnataka Compost Devp. Corpn. Ltd. Kashi Urvarak Ltd. Khaitan Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd. Khushhal Fertiliser Ltd. Kothari Industrial Corpn. Ltd. Krishak Bharati Co Op. Ltd. Krishna Industrial Corpn. Ltd. Liberty Phosphate Ltd. Liberty Urvarak Ltd. M P Agro Inds. Ltd. Madras Fertilizers Ltd. Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd. Maruti Fertochem Ltd. Mittal Fertilizers Ltd. Multitech International Ltd. Nagarjuna Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd. National Fertilizers Ltd. Ocean Agro (India) Ltd. P L Agro Technologies Ltd. Paradeep Phosphates Ltd. Phosphate Co. Ltd. Pragati Fertilizers Ltd. Premier Fertilisers Ltd. Priyaanka Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd. Pyrites, Phosphates & Chemicals Ltd. Raashi Fertilizers Ltd. Rajputana Fertilizers Ltd. Rama Phosphates Ltd. Ramganga Fertilizers Ltd. [Erstwhile] Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd. Rewati Minerals & Chemicals Ltd. S F L Industries Ltd. Satyam Cement Ltd. Shiva Global Agro Inds. Ltd. Shree Acids & Chemicals Ltd. Shreeji Phosphate Ltd. Shri Ganpati Fertilizers Ltd. Shriniwas Fertilizers Ltd. Smartchem Technologies Ltd. Southern Petrochemical Inds. Corpn. Ltd. Sri Durga Bansal Fertilizer Ltd. Sri Krishna Fertilisers Ltd. Sulzer Chemtech Tower Field Services (India) Pvt. Ltd. Tata Chemicals Ltd. Tedco Granite Ltd. Teesta Agro Inds. Ltd. Trimurtee Fertilizers Ltd. Tungabhadra Fertilizers & Chemicals Co. Ltd. Udaipur Phosphates & Fertilisers Ltd. Unialkem Fertilizers Ltd. Zuari Industries Ltd.