Steel sector to get Rs 150 lakh cr investment in 5 yrs

The Indian economy should expect an investment of Rs 150 lakh crore in the steel sector in the next five years. Of this, public sector undertakings will invest about Rs 60,000 crore. This was announced by Union Minister of Chemicals, Fertilisers and Steel Ram Vilas Paswan.

Talking to the media on sidelines of the meeting of the parliamentary consultative committee on steel in Chandigarh, the minister said a rapid expansion of the steel industry was indispensable to keep up the pace of economic development.

He said the steel sector was growing at a rate of 12-13 per cent and the production of steel in the current year was 50 million tonne. The target for 2010 is 80 million tonne and by 2020 the aim is to attain a production of 200 million tonne.

He added that of the two major inputs required for the steel production (cocking coal and iron ore), there is a shortage of cocking coal in India.

"We heavily rely on import to meet the shortfall as we can produce only 4 million tonne of cocking coal against the required 14 million tonne," he said.

The minister apprised that the ministry was exploring the possibility of collaboration of SAIL, MMDC and RINL to jointly scout for the possibility of new mines in India or buyout overseas to meet the demand deficit.

He also talked about the possibility of merger of Maharashtra Electros Ltd (MEL), Bharat Refractory Ltd (BRL) and Nilanchal Ispat Ltd to bridge the gap between demand and supply of iron ore.

He said the public sector has one third of the market share so private players manipulate the steel prices.

"Even if we decrease the price it does not profit the consumers. So a mechanism should be evolved to create a consensus among the public and private sector to maintain the price stability," he said.

He said the number of dealers in the recent past has increased from 200 to 1,280, including those from the weaker sections of the society.