New Delhi, Dec 2 (UNI) India’s steel industry has called for Government support in terms of policy formulation and implementation, increased investments in domestic research, development (R&D) and rapid execution to build essential logistics infrastructure to leverage upcoming export opportunities and achieving the target of 300 MT steel production by 2030.
The industry has sought interventions like enhancing export orientation and presence in attractive products markets, strengthening domestic steel industry through policy support, efficient resource utilisation and achieving sustainable operations as it looks at acceleration towards the 300 MT steel production.
An analytical report on steering India into a US$5 trillion economy with steel by Ernst &Young and CII released on Thursday outlines key policy imperatives like focus on the integration of science and research labs, universities, government level agencies and industry level partnerships through a policy framework to promote advanced R&D activities.
The establishment of a nodal agency to provide structural review and policy support by seeking inputs from different stakeholders can address dimensions of technological upgradation, product innovation, skill development and productivity.
In line with the Government’s thrust on Atmanirbhar, tax benefits and other interventions could trigger smaller and medium scale mills towards producing high grade steel and help to open the market and make pricing more competitive.
The Indian steel sector has been vibrant and growing at a CAGR of about 5% to 6% year-on-year with V-shaped demand recovery post-COVID. As per India Ratings and Research’s November 2021 credit news digest on the sector, India’s steel production growth in 2HFY22 will be supported by strong consumption growth and preparedness of the sector participants with new capacities. During January-October 2021, India’s steel output was at 96.9MnT, up 20.6% yoy, due to higher export volumes and increased capacity utilisations, finds the analysis.
The Government is providing support to the steel industry for rapid growth through policy formulation and strict governance, says Saurabh Bhatnagar, Mining & Metals Consulting Leader, EY India. However, Industry players would have to play their part in demonstrating discipline in capital spends and foresight of investing in the right technologies for expansion, says Bhatnagar.
The report highlights the initiatives at the sectoral level such as forming consortium of leadership groups across steel companies and strong sector-level collaboration like in Japan, Europe and the US to help companies bring path breaking technologies and products, with funds and support from both the industry and the government.
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