The steel ministry wants to revive 180 closed steel units around the country. |
A study group, constituted for revival the units with a total capacity of 5,400 tonne, had its first meeting last week in Delhi. |
"The current revival of the steel sector has enthused the government to make efforts to revive the closed units. This may act as a fillip to the construction sector since these units mostly produce construction equipment," said an official who attended the meeting. |
These private sector downstream units had been set up in the 1970s during the times of former steel minister, Mohan Kumaramangalam in a socialistic approach to create jobs round the country. |
Among the units being examined by the ministry include Andhra Steel, Canara Steel in Karnataka, Ellora Steel, Kanoria Steel among several others. Most of these companies figure as sticky assets in the books of large lending institutions and banks. |
These units had shut shop in the 1990s due to shortage of raw materials, erratic power supplies, pressures of globalisation, technical or managerial issues. |
These are downstream companies with an average capacity of 15-50 tonne. They melt scrap to make girders, angles, rods, bars etc for construction activity. |
The domestic demand for steel growing at 6 per cent this quarter has been fuelled by the construction and automotive sectors and therefore this revival plan may just click, say experts. |