The Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the National Steel Policy 2017. The new policy is ordained to surge India’s steel production capacity by 2030 and help the domestic steel sector meet country’s steel requirements. The perennial vision of the government is to ensure quality steel fabrication and create an avant-garde and globally competitive steel industry.
Rimjhim Ispat Ltd, one of India’s leading steel manufacturers, ushered in the National Steel Policy, stating it will facilitate infrastructure-led growth and help the sector pull off great cost efficiencies.
"The steel industry is expected to grow from the existing level of 60 kg per capita to 160 kg per capita consumption by 2030, as contemplated by the Steel Policy 2017," said Yogesh Agarwal, Rimjhim Ispat Ltd MD in an interview.
India’s steel industry stands in need of investment worth Rs 10 trillion to produce more capacities. Under this policy, the domestic steel manufacturers will be preferred for government tenders pertaining to infrastructure projects.
Further, the policy will facilitate a production capacity of 300 million tonne and a significant increase in supply of domestic coking coal to eliminate major dependence on imports by 2030.
"The focus on infrastructure-directed growth will not only raise the demand but will also help us achieve unbeaten cost efficiencies behind our industrial units," Agarwal added.
"We are enthusiastic about the implementation of the new policy and its projected growth while we work in coherence with government to deal with issues like availability of raw material and debottlenecking logistics limitations," asserted Rimjhim Ispat Ltd MD.
According to the steel ministry, this policy is an endeavor towards routing the industry to achieve its objectives to deal with various obstructions like availability of raw materials, dependence on imports, high input cost, financial pressure etc.
Previously, the government took a handful protectionist measures for the domestic steel sector. The government had applied an anti-dumping duty on selected steel products imported from China and European countries along with introducing minimum import duty(MIP) on particular steel products for a year to guard the domestic industry from low-cost imports and to encourage steel consumption in infrastructure and housing sectors in the country.
“The government has taken these steps to safeguard the interest of local players as China clasps surplus capacity, impelling subsidized steel into Indian markets, asserts an expert from Rimjhim Ispat Ltd.”
