In a bid to steer the over $100 billion steel industry out of the rut, government is working on a new steel policy to strengthen the sector and ensure that the growth is evenly spread across all the related sectors. Steel Minister Chaudhary Birendra Singh has said that “We are in favour of a new steel policy and I am already on the job.”
The minister said that India led the world in growth in production and consumption last year, which has continued so far in 2016 as well. But, we need to ensure that this growth continues and for that we have to plan accordingly and come out with a policy that ensures that not only steel, but the related sectors such as iron ore, etc also grow.
Earlier, the government’s think-tank Niti Aayog too had pitched for a “new and dynamic steel policy” to bring the industry back on track as well as meet the target of 300 million tonnes (MT) capacity by 2025. Aayog in a Working Paper on the sector had said that there is need for a new and dynamic steel policy. Seeing the current situation of the steel sector, it may be unlikely to achieve the targets envisaged in National Steel Policy 2012 i.e. a capacity of 300 MT and production of 275 MT by 2025.
The Aayog felt that there is a need to examine the entire value chain associated with the industry, from raw materials to production of finished products, to discover the bottlenecks in the sector. Beside, Aayog had also said that banks and transport unions have to be consulted and brought onboard in formulating a new policy to ensure availability of long-term finance at competitive rates and smooth, efficient transportation of materials at uniform prices, respectively.