New Delhi, September 29 (IANS). The Central Government is soon going to release the new National Steel Policy for public consultation. The objective of this policy is to increase the steel production capacity of the country to 600 million metric tonnes (MT) in line with the aim of making India a 'developed nation' by the year 2047.
Steel Secretary Sandeep Poundrick, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, said the new National Steel Policy is almost ready and it can be made public within the next one week for stakeholders' opinions and suggestions. He said that this policy is being prepared keeping in mind the vision of 'Developed India 2047'.
Poundrick said the proposed policy would include various trade measures to discourage imports of cheap and low-quality steel. Provisions like safeguard duty and anti-dumping duty can also be included in these, so that the domestic industry can be protected from unfair competition.
In the new policy, special attention will also be given to enhancing the competitiveness of small and medium scale steel producers. The government aims to strengthen them through better technology, cost efficiency and price competitiveness.
The revised steel policy that the government is working on is also likely to include production targets for green steel, specialty steel and stainless steel for the years 2035 and 2047. This is considered an important step towards making India's steel industry more sustainable and globally competitive.
Earlier this year, the government had said that India's crude steel production capacity is currently about 222 million tonnes per year. With this, the country is moving towards the target of 300 million tonnes per annum capacity set under the National Steel Policy by the year 2030.
According to Steel Ministry data, finished steel production during April-July of the current financial year increased by 4 percent to 54.3 million tonnes as against 52.2 million tonnes in the same period last year.
Consumption of finished steel increased by 7.8 percent to 55.9 million tonnes in the same period, compared to 51.9 million tonnes a year ago. The main reason behind this growth is the increasing demand from highways, railways, ports and other infrastructure projects.
The Indian steel industry has also performed strongly on the export front. Steel exports increased by 35 percent to 22.9 lakh tonnes in the April-July period as against 17 lakh tonnes in the same period last year. In value terms, exports increased by 29.4 percent to Rs 18,105.4 crore.
At the same time, crude steel production increased by 2.6 percent to 56.3 million tonnes, whereas it was 54.9 million tonnes in the same period last year.
–IANS
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