Birender Singh wants Joint Plant Committee to be more representative

Union minister of steel Birender Singh has asked the Joint Plant Committee (JPC) to expand its board to include representatives from hitherto unrepresented segments such as stainless steel, scrap and sponge iron.

Set up in 1964, the JPC is officially empowered by the ministry to collect data on the iron and steel industry. The aim is to give a sense of the demand-supply pattern. This is used in formulating guidelines for production, pricing and distribution.

"The secondary steel industry now forms more than 50% of the entire sector and, hence, it is important to have their representation at the board level," said the minister at the recent 25th Consumers Council meet.

There are a little over 2,000 units in the secondary steel industry, mainly micro, small and medium enterprises.

Currently, the board of JPC comprises seven members that include representatives only from integrated producers, such as state-owned Steel Authority of India, Tata Steel and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam.

"We are yet to get any official letter from the ministry to expand the board and so no work has begun on this. It is still at the discussion level at the ministry," said an official with the JPC, on condition of anonymity.

JPC underwent a transformation in 1992. After the industry was deregulated, it remoulded itself into a facilitator, focusing on offering a comprehensive data bank on the sector.

India is the largest producer of sponge iron and the third largest consumer of finished steel in the world. This industry constitutes around two per cent of gross domestic product.

Over recent quarters, the domestic industry has been going through a rough phase, with cheap imports from China, Japan and South Korea. Some relief came from the government through imposition of a minimum import price and safeguard duty, among others.