Imports of steel increased by 25.64% to 11.71 million tonnes (MT) (provisional) in the 2015-16, compared to 9.32 MT in 2014-15, as per information provided by Minister of State for steel, Vishnu Deo Sai. The domestic production of finished steel in the last financial year declined to 90.39 MT (provisional) compared to 92.16 MT in 2014-15.
The minister further stated that after the issue of quality control order, import of seconds and defective products by some unscrupulous importers were reported in respect of some categories of steel products. The government however does not maintain data on import, sale and storage of such sub-standard steel products standards-wise.
Further, the government has long-term vision of increasing domestic steel production capacity to 300 MT per annum by 2025.