Steel industry saves Rs 34,800 cr forex

India has surpassed Japan to become the world’s second-largest steel manufacturer. Government steel-sector policies helped the economy save Rs 34,800 crore in foreign currency by cutting imports.

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Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia stated that government measures for the steel sector helped the country save Rs 34,800 crore in foreign cash by lowering imports. And, it added roughly 60 million tons (MT) of crude steel capacity.

The steel minister claimed during a news conference headlined “The 9 years of the government’s seva, sushasan, and gareeb kalyan focusing on the steel sector” that India had pushed Japan to third position to become the world’s second-largest steel manufacturing nation.

From 109.85 MT in 2014-15, India’s steel capacity climbed by 46% to 160.30 MT in 2022–23, he said, adding that overall output jumped by 42% from 88.98 MT to 126.26 MT.

During the same time span, per capita steel consumption increased by 43%, from 60.8 kilograms to 86.7 kilograms.

According to the National Steel Policy 2017, the country intends to increase capacity to 300 MT by 2030–31 and production to 250 MT. The goal is to raise per capita consumption to 160 kg. According to the steel minister, the impact of the government’s domestically manufactured iron and steel products (DMI&SP) strategy has resulted in an estimated Rs 34,800 crore in import substitution.

The government launched a Rs 6,322 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to stimulate local specialty steel manufacturing.

In discussing the achievements of public sector steel businesses, he stated that over the last nine years, units under the steel ministry spent Rs 90,273.88 crore of their own resources on capital expenditure (capex) and paid the government a dividend of Rs 21,204.18 crore.