OREANDA-NEWS. July 23, 2015. MMDR Amendment Act Provides Transparency, Exploration & Welfare of Local People Auctions Route for Mining of Abundant Raw Material for Industry

Ministry of Steel will soon meet all the small and secondary steel producers to understand and mitigate their concerns. This was stated by the Union Steel & Mines Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in his inaugural address at Steel Mart-2015 in Chandigarh today.

Shri Tomar said, “Future of steel industry is bright as it has an important role to play in the Make in India campaign under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modi. I am happy that the steel sector contributes more than 2 % in GDP and it also creates 600000 jobs. Hence from the view of employment also this sector is significant”.

It is matter of pleasure and pride that India has obtained third place in the world in production of Steel. We are moving in the direction of becoming the second largest producer by 2020. The contribution of private sector will be significant towards this end and govt is committed to extend all possible help for facilitating private sector. As for the PSUs, by March 2016, SAIL's capacity should become 23 million tonnes (MT) per annum, RINL's capacity has also increased to 6.3 million tonnes per annum, which shall be further enhanced in coming years. SAIL’s capacity would also be enhanced to 50 MT by 2025, Shri Tomar added.

Besides, Govt of India is also working on enhancing the capacity through green field projects in 4 states. In this regard, MOUs have already been signed for the states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Under this plan, using Special Purpose Vehicle(SPV) route, a steel plant of 3 million tonne annual capacity would be created initially, which would later be enhanced to 6 MT in each of the four states. Thus a capacity of 24 MT would be added through this route, he said.

Consumption of Steel in India is 59 kg per capita, whereas world average is 216 kg per capita. This is an opportunity and we need to focus on marketing and creating awareness about utility of Steel. This will not only ensure quality and safety for customers but also help the industry, he added.

“Steel market is very dynamic. On one side, excessive import is a problem for steel industry which wants tariff and non-tariff barriers, on the other side consumer wants Steel products at lower price. Government is taking steps to take care of these concerns. We also need to improve productivity and reduce consumption of energy to remain competitive in the world. Mining sector has been going through a tough time. At the time of formation of NDA govt, there were numerous challenges in mining sector. Through amendment of MMDR Act, we have tried to address several issues like transparency, exploration & welfare of local people and region. After the auctions commence, there would be abundant raw material for industry in due course.” The Steel & Mines Minister also desired that there should be a long term vision while planning a road map for the future.

Steel Mart-2015, being held on 22-23 July, 2015 at Chandigarh, is the 4th International Conference & Exposition on India Steel industry organized by CII. This year’s theme is ‘Going global and sustainable’ with ‘driving make in India’ being the sub-theme.

During his Chandigarh visit, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar also met the Governor Haryana, Prof. Kaptan Singh Solanki and the Chief Minister, Haryana Shri Manohar Lal.