NEW DELHI: The Indian steel sector is contributing to nearly 2% of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and employed over 5 lakh people., Steel Ministry said in the year end review report.
According to the statement, India became the 4th largest producer of crude steel in the world in 2010 as against the 8th position in 2003 and is expected to become the 2th largest producer of crude steel in the world by 2015. Going by estimate of Rs.4,000 crore investment per million tonne of additional capacity, intended steel capacity build up in the country is likely to result in an investment of Rs.8,70,640 crore by 2020.
Corporate Social Responsibility
All profitable Steel PSUs (Public Sector Undertakings) have earmarked certain amount based on the net profit of last year in terms of DPE (Department of Public Enterprises) Guidelines to fulfill the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Govt said in the statement.
CSR has been identified as an important parameter in the MoUs drawn up by all the PSUs with the Ministry of Steel. CSR activities focusing on environmental care, education, health care, cultural efflorescence and peripheral development, family welfare, social initiatives and other measures are underway in the Steel PSUs., said in report.
Promoting R&D in Steel Sector
In order to encourage R&D activities in iron and steel sector, Ministry of Steel is providing financial assistance under the following two schemes:
Financial assistance from Steel Development Fund (SDF) under the mechanism of Empowered Committee (EC)
68 R&D projects have been approved costing Rs. 544.34 crore with SDF assistance of Rs. 263.48 crore. So far Ministry of Steel has released Rs. 145.63 crore from Steel Development Fund (SDF). Out of 68 R&D projects, 35 projects have been completed yielding benefits to the industries, 9 projects have been stopped after midterm review and 24 projects are in progress.
Financial assistance from Government Budgetary Support (GBS) under the mechanism of Project Approval and Monitoring Committee (PAMC)
Under this scheme R&D project proposals in three broad areas namely (i) development of innovative /path breaking technologies (ii) improvement of quality of steel and (iii) beneficiation of raw materials in the Iron and Steel Sector are being proposed. So far 8 R&D projects have been approved costing Rs. 143.87 crore with Government Budgetary Support of Rs. 111.11 crore. So far Rs. 31.18 crore has been released up to 2010-11. The projects are at their initial stage.
Steel demand
The Ministry has initiated a study to assess the steel demand in the rural areas of the country and to examine the potential of increasing the level of steel consumption. The study would cover 300 districts, 1500 villages, 4500 manufactures and 8000 retailers spread over all the 35 states and union territories of the country.
Production, consumption and demand of Steel
In the next five years, demand of steel is likely to grow at a higher annual average growth of over 11-12% as compared to the average annual growth of 8% achieved between 1991-92 and 2010-11.
Capacity for crude steel production expanded from 51.17 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) in 2005-06 to 78 mtpa in 2010-11.
Crude steel production grew at 8% annually (CAGR) from 46.46 million tonnes in 2005-06 to 69.57 million tonnes in 2010-11.
Production for sale of finished steel stood at 66.01 million tonnes during 2010-11 as against 46.57 million tonnes in 2005-06, an average annual (CAGR) growth of 7%.
Consumption of finished steel has grown at a CAGR of 9.6 % during the last six years.
Export of finished steel during 2010-11 stood at 3.36 million tonnes while imports during 2010-11 stood at 6.54 million tonnes.
