PSUs should follow private players to ramp up production: Steel Minister

Steel minister Chaudhary Birender Singh has also called for snatching opportunities from competitors like China to emerge as a global player in steel

In order to emerge as a competitive force internationally in steel sector, Indian PSUs will have to follow practices of private sector firms that account for 80-82 per cent of the domestic production, Union Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh has said.

The steel minister has also called for snatching opportunities from competitors like China to emerge as a global player in steel.

"The PSUs, which contribute about 18-20 per cent of the steel production, should try to learn from the private sector, which accounted for the balance 80-82 per cent of the production, if India has to emerge as a strong and competitive force internationally," minutes of a recent meeting quoted Singh as saying.

The minister also underlined the need for strengthening the country's position in the steel sector, while focussing on the requirement of producing high quality alloy.

Over the policy restrictions on the Central and state governments to buy domestic steel, the minister clarified that there were some exemptions for high quality grade steel that is not available domestically.

Expressing confidence that steel demand was virtually guaranteed for the next five decades, the minister in the minutes pointed out: "We were behind in snatching competition from other competitors like China, and should use more of our native innovative instincts to become a major player in the global market".

Singh said the steel industry had come out of its crisis in the last 3-4 years and was in a position to look forward towards growth.

The National Steel Policy 2017 has set a target of 300 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of production capacity by 2030.

The production capacity in 2017-18 has reached 137.97 million tonnes (MT).

The world crude steel production in 2017 registered a growth rate of about 5.3 per cent as compared to the previous year. The global production in 2017 stood at 1,691.2 million tonnes.

With about 6 per cent share in the total world crude steel production, India occupies the third position behind China and Japan. The steel industry in India contributes nearly 2 per cent to the country's gross domestic product (GDP).