Vedanta mulling steel foray, says it's exploring opportunities in India

We are trying to envision the time when urbanisation picks up in India, says Tom Albanese, CEO, Vedanta

At a time when imports from China are impacting the business of domestic steel makers, diversified natural resource company Vedanta said it was “mulling” entering the segment.

“We are trying to look around the corner. We are trying to envision the time when urbanisation picks up in India, when you see more government spending on infrastructure, higher expenditure by Indian families demanding higher quality households and more manufacturing capacity developing in India,” said Tom Albanese, chief executive.

Adding: “We want to be a premier provider of India’s aluminium, copper, oil and, possibly, steel.”

With domestic producers unable to compete on imports, the government in February had imposed a Minimum Import Price (MIP) of $341-752 a tonne on 173 steel products, for six months (since extended). The aluminium sector has sought a similar non-tariff barrier and Albanese said he hoped this would be implemented soon.

There are two challenges for the aluminium sector – rising capacity in China and large inventories with traders.