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In the fast changing global economic scenario, the country is striving hard to get its due place in the world trade market. Playing an important role in this regard, Indian Steel sector has succeeded in projecting its potential in the world market. Of late, Indian Steel companies have started exploring business opportunities in other parts of the world. This is certainly a new development shaping economy of the country. Growth is accelerating with continued robust expansion of steel plants. Besides, implementation of the National Minimum Common Programme (MNCP) announced by the UPA Government has given new direction to the growth rate in steel sector.
The Ministry of Steel is responsible for the planning and development of the iron and steel industry. The Ministry has undertaken new ambitious initiatives to support domestic steel industry match with strong global players in the sector. A new National Policy on Steel is being framed to promote steel industry. The long-term goal of the National Steel Policy is to achieve indigenous production of over 100 million tons per annum by 2020 from the 2004 level of 36 million tons. A multi-pronged strategy is to be adopted to move towards this long-term policy goal. On the demand side, the strategy would be to create incremental demand through promotional efforts, creation of awareness and strengthening the delivery chain, particularly in rural areas. On the supply side, the strategy would be to create additional capacity, remove procedural and policy bottlenecks in the availability of inputs such as iron ore and coal, and encourage the creation of infrastructure such as roads, railways and ports.
Today, India is the eighth largest steel producing country in the world. The finished steel production in the country has grown from a mere 1.1 million tons in 1951 to 36.193 million tons in 2003-04. Globally, steel output trends have remained on a firm upward trend. The rising demand had primarily been fuelled by the increased demand from China and other countries. The favourable trends in the international markets promised to continue for some more time as the United States and some of the leading European economies are showing early signs of recovery. World crude steel production for the 62 countries reporting to the International Iron and Steel Institute stands at 763 million tons for the first nine months of 2004. This is 8.7 per cent higher than the same period last year.
To meet increasing domestic and international demand of steel, the Government has launched series of new initiatives to achieve the target. Production capacities of different steel plants including those in private sector are being increased and attempts are being made to revive sick and closed units. Steel Authority of India (SAIL) is playing a major role in this field. It is a leading steel producer in the country with a turn over of around Rs.24,000 crore. Having a total capacity of over 12 million tons of crude steel, the company is based on 4 integrated steel plants and three alloy and special steel plants. SAIL has shown an increase in its turn over by 25 per cent i.e. a turn over of Rs. 13,026 crore in the first half of current financial year over Rs. 10,412 crore in 2003-04. This has been brought about as a result of improvement in product-mix and production of value added products such as plate mill plates, heavy structural , thermo mechanically treated (TMT), galvanised sheets, railway products and cold rolled non-grain-oriented (CRNO). Consistent collective efforts coupled with buoyancy in the steel market helped SAIL to achieve a profit of Rs. 2,512 crore during 2003-04. Accepting challenge of international competition in steel production SAIL has prepared a corporate plan 2012, which envisages the important strategic goals for the company. These include improving market share-growth in growth segments, profits by cost reduction and high value added products, quality across the value chain besides, ensuring availability of key raw material. They would also build customer centric processes, systems, structure and procedures. Last but not the least, focus would be on infrastructure and other issues that affect long-term growth of the company.
*Information Officer, PIB, New Delhi
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