A new “Made in India” brand for steel is in the pipeline, informed Jyotiaditya Scindia, India’s steel minister, while inaugurating the Indian Steel Association’s conference, “Steel Shaping the Future” in New Delhi on 21 November 2022.
The ministry has set up the two advisory committees, one on the integrated steel producers (ISPs) and another on the secondary sector to understand and resolve the industry’s pain points. “What are the levers, quality procedures required to be able to have that brand on the product?” the minister said, adding that the ministry is deliberating with these two committees, and private sector steel companies on the Made in India brand for steel. Efforts are on to come out with the “quality specifications and components of Made in India steel.
The minister said the backend integration work with the Ministry of Commerce & Industry is done. The latter will come out with a logo.
Emphasising on Atmanirbhar or self-reliance for India’s steel industry, Scindia elaborated that Indian producers must make not only for India but for the world. “The Made in India brand must rise. He gave the example of the new Airbus C295 facility in Vadodara where Airbus, for the first time, will put in place its stamp for producing C295 aircraft from India in the days to come. He added that sourcing of raw material for making that aircraft must also come from India.
The minister also pledged to put in place a strong policy foundation based on the three Cs of commitment, collaboration and confidence, which he said will lead India to the next era of growth, and allow it to become one of the most powerful economies on the global stage.
He said the government is looking at developing India as world class infrastructure hub by 2047 and hence the thrust on railways, airports, roads, engineering, automotive, capital goods etc.
Domestically made steel has led to savings of almost INR 22,400 crore in terms of imports into India.
He emphasised that at this day and age the role of the ministry cannot be that of a regulator but facilitator or collaborator. With this in mind, the ministry set up one advisory group for ISPs and a second for secondary mills to understand and resolve their pain points.
He said MoS is coordinating with other ministries as part of the Prime Minister’s vision of adopting a “whole of government approach”.
One of key challenges today s raw material and MoS has worked with the Ministry of Mines and Ministry of Coal and the process is still on. The government is looking at alternate sourcing of coking coal and has put in place a Coking Coal Mission “where we are looking at coal gasification with the MoC of almost 100 mntpa in future” Scindia said.
The minister also pledged that carbon emissions from the steel industry will be reduced by 30-40%
PLI update
The Ministry of Steel’s PLI scheme in areas of coated and plated steel, high strength steel, specialty rails, alloy steel products and electrical steel has culminated in 79 applications, from 35 companies, resulting in investment of INR 46,020 crore and increase in capacity of almost 26 million tonnes and employment generation potential of 69,785 people, Scindia said, adding that the scheme will give a new fillip to industry, value added production and demand in the coming days.
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