Chairing the meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry, Indian Steel Minister Shri Beni Prasad Verma said on September 26 that annual demand for steel in India is likely to grow at an average of over 10 percent in the next five years as compared to eight percent growth during 1991-92 and 2010-11.
Expressing concern about fast depleting iron ore resources, the minister said that iron ore is a non-renewable natural resource and therefore his ministry is of the view that it should be conserved for long-term utilization of the domestic steel industry. Our policy should accordingly aim at value addition of iron ore within the country instead of exporting iron ore, Mr. Verma added.
Informing the members of the committee, the minister said that, in order to increase production of steel in the country, domestic steelmakers SAIL and RINL are in the midst of massive expansion plan. The major thrust of the modernization and expansion plans is to adopt the best modern technology, which in addition to being cost effective should also be energy efficient and environment friendly. Steel Minister Verma stated that the expanded capacity of Salem Steel Plant has already been commissioned, while the first phase of the expansion plan of RINL is likely to be completed and commissioned soon.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, India is expected to become the world's second largest producer of crude steel by 2015. Steel Minister Verma stated that, for the promotion of the steel sector, the National Steel Policy 2005 has recently been reviewed and the process for drafting a ‘National Steel Vision' has been initiated, a five-year strategy paper has been prepared for the promotion of the steel sector in the country and a policy paper on R&D has also been prepared with special focus on beneficiation.