)
"The ministry has taken a decision to set up a forum for R&D in steel sector with proposed initial corpus of Rs 100 crore from Steel Development Fund (SDF)," said minister for steel and mines Narendra Singh Tomar said at an event organised by Assocham.
"Better R&D means better resource utilisation, better cost efficiency, better products and world-class exports...I will also urge upon the Indian industry to focus on the R&D initiatives in a big way to utilise locally available cheap raw material, to remain competitive in world market," he said.
Last month, the minister had given in-principle approval for setting up Steel Research and Technology Mission of India (SRTMI). The mission envisages increasing R&D investment from the present level of 0.2-0.3% of turnover to international benchmark of 1-2% of turnover by leading companies.
The production of the key raw material iron ore has gone down from the level of 218 MT to around 150 MT owing to various reasons, especially ban on mining. "In line with the recommendations of Supreme Court and the Shah Commission, we have revised mining guidelines in the country to make the process more transparent and efficient," he said.
Minister of State for Mines and Steel Vishnu Deo Sai said state-run steel firm SAIL is on a expansion drive to more than double its capacity to 50 MT by 2025 with an investment of Rs 1,35,000 crore.
"The expansion will be executed in two phases and will see the company's steel-making capacity go from the projected 23.5 million tonnes per annum in 2015-16 to 35 mtpa by 2020, the end of the first phase and then to 50 mtpa by 2025-26," he said.
