'India to import 5 mt steel this year'

India will import five million tonnes of steel worth Rs 10,000 crore this year, according to Tata Steel Managing Director B Muthuraman.

With steel consumption growing 10-12 per cent annually, imports were likely to increase in the coming years, he said.

"In less than three years, India will import 10 million tonnes of steel worth Rs 20,000 crore," said Muthuraman, addressing the 2nd Asian Mining Congress. In 2006-07, the country imported 3.9 million tonnes of the alloy.

"The only way rising demand can be met without increasing imports is by adding five to 10 million tonnes of capacity in each year through greenfield or brownfield expansion."

However, this was not happening, as, apart from land acquisition problems, there was no transparent mineral policy, he said.

Muthuraman also broke the popular perception that India had abundant mineral resources. "The extent of mineral resources should be judged by its population.

According to estimates, the per capita iron ore reserves are just 10 tonnes, compared with Brazil's 333 tonnes and Australia's 2,000 tonnes.

The scenario was not very different for other minerals, he added. "When we export iron ore, we create investment opportunity elsewhere at the cost of value creation in our own country." said Muthuraman.