The Indian government plans to establish a urea plant in Iran for long-term imports of the fertiliser to India, a senior government official said.

"In order to ensure long term availability of urea in the country, the government is facilitating setting up of a urea/ ammonia joint venture project in Iran with capacity to produce 1.3 million tonne urea for import to India," Ananth Kumar, the Indian Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, was quoted as saying in a Business Standard report.

"The project is in a consultation stage to identify an Iranian JV partner," Kumar said during a parliament session in India.

India imports about 8 metric tonnes (MT) of urea to meet its total requirement of 30 MT, the report said.