Indian steel industry to become stainless steel producer in the world: Minister

Chaudhary Birender Singh said that the steel sector is only an example of all-round development in India under PM Modi's leadership. On May 3 this year the Cabinet under Prime Minister approved two policies of the steel ministry and said that they are working on their implementation.

"We are very confident that steel sector will become more vibrant and dynamic after the ‘National Steel Policy 2017’ and ‘Policy for preference to domestically manufactured iron & steel products in government procurement’ becomes effective. The road map to implement the new policies will be finalized in the next six months to one year," he added.

Speaking of the SPU REVIVAL, he said that the three Steel Processing Units, Jagdishpur in UP, Bettiah in Bihar and Kangra in Himachal Pradesh are going to be operationalized within the next one year. This involves an investment of Rs. 500 crores. These units will produce value-added products like crash barriers, black pipes, TMT bars or GC sheets. Special Purpose Vehicle Route has been adopted by the Government of India for creation of Greenfield steel capacity in May 2015.

Talking about Zero Waste Production, the Steel Minister said that "a 120 MW power plant was inaugurated in April 2017 at RINL Vishakhapatnam using the waste gases of the steel plant. The Huge Fine dumps, waste slag, slime etc. from steel plants need to be utilized by using innovative techniques for Pelletisation of fines, slag-cement for slag towards a Clean & Green Steel Sector in India."

Singh said that steel industry needs to go for a paradigm shift and move from semi-finished/crude steel to value-added steel which will lead to better margins and improve competitiveness.

“We are hopeful that SAIL & Arcelor Mittal would soon formalize the Joint Venture for production of automotive-grade steel. This will be a big step-forward under the Prime Minister’s Make in India Programme” Singh added.

Enlisting new Schemes for Secondary Steel Producers in 2017-18, he said that the steel ministry will rate the ranking of Top-50 Secondary Steel/Smart Producers and awards will for best performing plants in secondary steel sector solely on the criterion of their products of BIS standards and cost effectiveness.

The Minister also announced the institution of Best Steel Structures Awards for best steel structures in PMAY (Rural and Urban), building projects, and roads made with steel reinforced cement concrete and other extraordinary structures using steel in abundance.

Chaudhary Birender Singh said that the GST regime is good for Steel Team as Goods & Services Tax Rates and slabs for raw materials like iron ore, manganese, coal etc. is in the bracket of 5 %. Semi-finished and unfinished goods is in 18 % bracket.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Steel Vishnu Deo Sai, Aruna Sharma, Secretary Steel, and senior officials from the ministry & the steel PSUs were also present on the occasion.

Pursuing a clear agenda of growth, the Ministry of Steel has had many firsts to its credit. In the year 2015, India became the third largest producer of steel in the world. Recent data shows that India is now looking at positioning itself as the second largest in the very near future.

In the last three years, there has been capacity addition at a steady CAGR of about 7%. There has also been an improvement in the overall capacity utilization.