The Steel and Mines Ministry has been working to fix minimum import price (MIP) for various steel products and a note has been sent to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) for its approval.
“The ministry is looking into the industry’s suggestion to impose minimum import price on steel products and it has been sent to the PMO last week,” said Vishnu Deo Sai, Minister of State for Steel and Mines.
The domestic steel industry is facing a tough situation due to cheap imports from countries such as China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
At an Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) event on Wednesday (December 23), he said that the ministry is in talks with state-run iron ore miner, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), to explore the possibility of further reducing the iron ore prices.
The steel sector is a major contributor to non-performing assets (NPAs) and public sector banks are burdened with gross NPAs of around Rs 2.67 lakh crore at the end of March 2015.
Now that winter session of Parliament has ended, we will sit with our senior minister and look into the challenges being faced by the Indian steel sector and explore possible solutions, said the minister.
He also said that total investment in setting up four ultra mega steel projects (UMSP) will cross Rs 1.5 lakh crore mark as the government aims to produce 60 lakh ton steel. “Apart from producing 10 lakh ton of steel if we add the cost of mining, the investment amounts to about Rs 6,000 crore.”
He said that the Centre has signed an agreement letter with Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh in this regard and is in talks with Karnataka government for a three million ton steel plant.
National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) is focussed upon exploration of coking coal resources across India. “By doing this we will not only become self-reliant in terms of coking coal but we can reduce import dependence and help save valuable foreign currency,” he informed.
We are hoping that steel companies invest about one per cent of their total sales business on research and development so that government is able to fulfil growing demand as part of its ambitious ‘Make in India’ initiative, the minister added.
BW Reporters
Haider Ali Khan is an alumnus of IIMC. He holds a degree in English Journalism from the prestigious campus. His passion includes Aviation, Technology, Politics and Sports.
