New Delhi, Sep 11 (UNI) The Government on Tuesday said the Steel Ministry would give away awards to the secondary steel sector to encourage it as it plays a key role in the national economy and employment generation.

The awards would be given away on September 13 at a function here.



The Ministry said in a statement that strong performance of the secondary steel sector has added muscle to India’s steel production. Encouraged by the overall potential, the Government has taken various initiatives such as supporting energy efficiency projects and R&D activities, strengthening institutional support, protecting domestic producers from below-cost import from foreign countries and launching of an award to improve the performance of this sector.



Based on the present growth pattern, it is expected that India will rise to the second position after China. The National Steel Policy 2017 has set a target of 300 million tonnes an annum of production capacity by 2030. The production capacity in 2017-18 has already reached 137.97 million tonnes (MT).



This sector has certain specific advantages over the primary steel sector such as lower capital and land requirements and the capability to produce special sections and customised products. With these abilities, the sector is bound to play a major role in actualising the growth target of 300 million tonnes of steel production capacity by 2030.

The secondary steel sector comprises various sub-sectors such as sponge iron units, EAFs, IF units, re-rolling mills, cold rolling mills, galvanizing units, wire drawing units, and tinplate producers with annual production capacity of less than 1 million tonne and they meet the country’s demand for value added steel products.





India has achieved 103.13 million tonnes in 2017-18 against the production of 97.94 in the year 2016-17. Per capita consumption of steel is also steadily increasing and has reached about 69 kg per capita today.



World crude steel production in 2017 registered a growth rate of about 5.3 per cent as compared to the previous year. The global production in 2017 stood at 1691.2 million tonnes. With about 6 per cent share in the total world crude steel production, India occupies the third position behind China and Japan. The steel industry in India contributes nearly 2 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).



UNI SW SB 1729