Highlighting the inherent advantages of the secondary steel producers, which cumulatively produce around 57% of the domestic steel, steel minister Birender Singh on Wednesday asked them to explore and realise their full potential in the Indian steel ecosystem.
Speaking at the National Conference on Secondary Steel Sector in Delhi, he also asked secondary producers to form a single apex orgainisation to collectively present their issues to various stakeholders.
“That way you can voice your concerns better and we can also interact with you all on a common platform. I am sure you will give serious thought to this idea,” Singh said in his inaugural speech.
The minister said a plant in secondary sector has many advantages like less land requirement, lower capital investment, better energy efficiency, proximity to users and less dependence on logistics.
“I feel that the name ‘secondary’ for this sector is a misnomer. This is how the sector has been called traditionally, but the reality is that electric arc furnaces and induction furnaces produce 57 % steel, which is more steel production than the integrated steel plants. Add to this, the production capacities of sponge iron, pig iron, rolling mills and it gets huge,” Singh said.
The minister said that the secondary steel producers will play a key role in raising production, envisaged at 300 mtpa by 2030-31 in the proposed National Steel policy, which is to be sent for Cabinet approval in the current month.
The minister said that to promote and encourage growth of domestic steel industry, the ministry wants that Indian-made steel should be given preference in government funded projects. A draft Cabinet note has also been initiated to give it an effect.
For increasing consumption, the ministry has organised regional conferences in different parts of the country aimed at disseminating advantages of using steel-based structures.
“We are looking at new areas where steel-use can be promoted based on steel’s inherent strengths. Steel crash barriers, railway sleepers, bridges, roads, houses, buildings, community centres and other such end-use segments are being explored. Government of India has planned to spend INR 4 lakh crore on infrastructure in the Budget, which will result in substantial increase in consumption of steel,” he said.
The minister also announced two new initiatives to encourage adherence to quality and adoption of best practices by secondary steel producers. He wants to introduce annual awards for secondary steel sector and annual ranking of top 50 companies in the sector like the extant scheme for the integrated steel plants.
“On similar lines, we have decided to institute an award scheme for the Secondary Steel Sector units under various categories to recognise their contribution in nation building. We will identify and award the best performers in these areas so that they can be source of inspiration for other producers. We will finalize criteria for the ranking and select top 50 producers. We will call them Smart Producers and handhold them in their efforts to attain their true potential,” he said.
The minister hopes that the banks will recognise the objective in ranking and may give preferential or concessional terms to them. He belives that if small steel plants install refining units, they can give tough competition to main producers which they can not do now because of lack of capital.
“This bottleneck will soon be removed as banks are now having huge funds due to demonetisation. They will give these funds to small and medium companies at lower rates. I have full faith in the potential and capabilities of secondary steel producers,” he said.
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