Industry body CII today pitched for making coking coal assets available to the domestic steel industry keeping in mind national interest.
Addressing members, Chairman of CII's National Committee on Steel C S Verma, who also heads state-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL), called for allocation of coking coal blocks to the steel industry.
"India's coking coal potential must be unleashed for the steel industry in the national interest," he said, adding that there was also a need for setting up washeries on war footing with appropriate linkages of coal supplies in order to reduce dependence on imported coking coal.
India has an estimated 33 billion tonnes of coking coal reserves in which state-owned Coal India Ltd has 90 per cent share. A Plan Panel had earlier said that these assets should be demerged from Coal India Ltd.
Coking coal is an important ingredient for steel making. Indian steel makers largely depend on imports to meet their needs draining hard-earned foreign exchange. SAIL alone imports around 20 million tonnes coking coal each year.
Highlighting issues concerning the sector, Verma said, "though adequate iron ore and coal resources are available in the country, ironically, ensuring uninterrupted availability of these two key raw materials for the industry remains a challenge."
He also called for a cohesive and comprehensive agenda for the new government in order to accelerate growth in steel sector for a capacity building of 300 million tons per annum by 2025. India's steel production capacity now stands at around 95 million tonnes.
There is a need to ensure availability of iron ore and coal mines to the existing steel plants and improve viability of the alloy, he said.
Impact of Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements with Japan and Korea on the steel industry and rationalising railway freight structure also needs to be looked at.
The meeting, attended by industry leaders and heads of various industry associations, emphasised the need for faster environmental and forest clearances on a single window basis.
