The Indian government has commenced work on a new National Steel Policy as the previous one framed in 2012 is considered to have outlived its usefulness, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
He said that the Ministry of Steel is of the view that mere changes to the National Steel Policy 2012 will not be sufficient to address the present challenges of flood of imports, rising costs of imported raw materials and mounting debts of local steel producers.
Hence it is felt that a ‘new dynamic national steel policy’ should enhance the effectiveness of government’s role as a ‘facilitator’ for future growth and sustainability of the domestic industry, the official said.
According to the official a working paper indicates that the Indian steel industry is valued at $100 billion contributing to around two percent of the country’s Gross National Product.
India has emerged as the third largest producers of steel at 89 million mt per year, after China and Japan and followed by the US but the Indian steel sector continues to be in doldrums, the paper said.
It noted that under current domestic and global situation in the steel industry, the goal should be to strive towards making the steel sector profitable either through direct government intervention or independent regulators though the latter is preferable.