‘Made in India’ steel to be mandatory in govt. projects

Visakhapatnam : Making use of ‘Made in India’ steel compulsory in all government/PSU-funded projects, raising per capita consumption from 61 kg to 160 kg, and increasing production from 120 million tonne to 300 million tonne by 2030 are the focus areas in the National Policy on Steel to be released shortly, according to Union Minister for Steel Chaudhary Birender Singh.

After reviewing the performance of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) here on Sunday, he told reporters that stringent measures like imposing anti-dumping duty and minimum import price (MIP) had led to fall in imports by 39% and increase in exports by 57%. Mr. Singh said the National Policy on Steel would be unveiled after receiving approval of the Union Cabinet. A Cabinet note had already been prepared to make compulsory the use of India-made steel in all the infrastructure, housing, and other projects by the Central and State governments and PSUs.

The Union Minister said that the per capita steel consumption had remained at 61 kg against the global average of 204 kg, and opined that if the locally made steel was consumed, automatically the per capita consumption would go up significantly.

Expressing concern over dumping of cheap steel in the domestic market, which was causing heavy stress on the steel industry, he said that the steps taken by the NDA Government had brought about a visible change in the past few months.

He said they had also decided to make BIS marking compulsory for secondary and other steel producers.

Captive mines

Stating that the Ministry of Mines was favourable to allot captive iron ore mines to RINL. He also ruled out the merger of RINL with NMDC.

Source: The Hindu

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