Two years ago, India overtook the U.S. to become the third-largest steel producer in the world, but now finds itself a net importer of steel in 2015-16.
To address this and other steel issues, the Indian government has drafted and recently released a “National Steel Policy” for 2017. The policy aims for production target of 300 million metric tons per year by 2030-31, up from the current 122 mtpy, a reduction in imports and also a hike in the current production of a crucial raw material, coking coal.
India’s steel ministry says the policy is an effort in steel circles in India to steer the industry to achieve its potential and a strategy to overcome various hurdle such as high input costs, lack of availability of raw materials, and to try to achieve the 300 mtpy target in an environmentally friendly manner so that the country can reach its correspoding global efficiency benchmarks.
A major disadvantage that the Indian steel sector faces is the limited availability of essential raw materials like coking coal, both in quantity and quality. Most steel producers have to depend on imports to overcome this impediment, mostly from neighboring China.
The National Steel Policy aims at achieving increased domestic availability of washed coking coal so as to reduce import dependence on coking coal by 50% by 2030-31. Under the plan, India is aiming for per capita steel consumption of 160 kilograms per person from the present 61 kg.
India’s crude steel production in 2015-16 was 89.77 million metric tons. The country’s steel sector, the only silver lining in an otherwise bleak global steel economy last year, faced challenges. Heightened steel demand domestically in India could see it get there. In 2015, for example, India was the only large economy in the world where steel demand continued to grow positively at 5.3%, against negative growth in China at -5.4%.
The Steel Ministry is seeking comments on the policy draft from stakeholders and public.